PA's avg malpractice?

[Intrepidation]

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I am currently undecided between PA and MD at the moment.

I want to do primary (EM or FP) care, and for primary care, I feel MD's are a bit overtrained. PA's are *made* for primary care, it seems, so it is looking like a better option for me, both time and cost-wise.

My question is in regards to the typical PA's malpractice insurance. How does it compare to a doctors, and how much of it is typically covered?

This is in no way a deciding factor, other than long term family budget.

 

[deleted6669]

most pa's have their maslpractice included in their benefit package from the practice or their hospital, so the cost is zero. best of luck-e

 

[Intrepidation]

Danke. That is more or less what I figured.


For what I want to do, it just seems to be a closer fit than becoming an MD.

I understand you are leaving the PA profession? Any particular reason, other than the desire to be a doctor? Was there anything lacking about working as an EM PA-C?

 

[deleted6669]

I want to expand my scope of practice to include more difficult cases and sicker patients. I live in a fairly large city, so lots of docs around for the really cool cases. I could move to the middle of nowhere and run a solo ER with incredible scope of practice, but my wife isn't quite ready to move to blue hills, maine or somewhere in the midwest or texas where pa's can run the whole show with minimal oversight. I like being a PA, the money is good, but I'm getting a little bored of only doing cool cases when the docs are busy. I used to be a medic, so I miss running codes and treating DKA, active seizures, etc. on a regular basis. I still do every now and then, but not as often as I would like. best of luck in your decision. being a pa makes for a great lifestyle, so don't let me tarnish the idea for you-e

 

[Intrepidation]

Well i've noticed that for the purpose of starting a family, PA seems to be the way to go. Plus, i'm thinking about going rural to get some money for school. I don't mind going rural here in texas.

Did PA school require you to keep EMT certification? I know some are doing that now.

Even after becoming an MD or a PA, I was planning on volunteering as a medic every now and then.

We all need our paramedic kicks sometime, and once you work in the ambulance, you'll always want to go back!

I had a cool idea regarding primary care in rural areas/paramedics in the pre-MD forum a bit ago- it involved training paramedics more to do some more complicated procudres, and to equip the rig for full blood testing so that triage can be performed at the scene and take pressure of the ER.

Even thought of a cool title: 'Doctors of Triage Medicine' or, DTM.


🙂

 

[deleted6669]

I worked as a paramedic in philadelphia all the way through pa school so I had to keep my certs up for that, although the program did not require it.
there is a company in colorado that is putting pa's on ambulances, pretty cool, huh?
if you want to stay in texas and do er check out bowie memorial hospital. the entire ED staff, including the chief, is pa's.

 

[Intrepidation]

Thats cool. Can the PA's w/ the EMS in CO right scripts on the scene? It sure would decongest alot of the ER's if they could..

Texas is really good about their rural programs. If you are taking RN/PA/NP/MD and you commit to a certain town, the state of texas will pay for half of your education and the town will pay for the other half. MD's can also opt to either:

a) recieve a 15K stipend each year during residency, if the commit to the town for as many years as they recieve the stipend for

or

b) recieve 50K from a community to open up a private practice in the rural community.

So, i could really come off ahead if I go to PA school all expenses paid plus working as a paramedic (which i'll have by then).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[deleted6669]

I think the colorado company mostly uses pa's on critical care transports instead of sending along a doc

 

[Intrepidation]

emed, a few last questions.

A few of us were discussing the PA profession on the student doctor chatroom, and ended up with a few questions I know you can answer.

1) Are there any restrictions at all as to what types of scripts you can write?

2) Do you go over each pt. with the attending; just have him/her sign the chart; or does the attending have no part in most cases?

3) Any other restrictions on procedures as ar as EM is concerned?

The reason I ask is because many people in the chat acted like they'd seen a ghost when I told them PA/NP's can write scripts and suture, and etc...

 

[deleted6669]

PA scope of practice varies by setting based on agreements between the pa, md, and hospital. some pa's only do physicals all day long, some pa's run emergency departments by themselves with md backup available by phone only.
pa's in all 50 states can write for any medication that is not a narcotic. pa's in most states can also write for narcotics up to the level of vicodin( dea schedule 3) and many states even allow for pa's to have their own schedule 2(unlimited) dea license. supervisory requirements also vary by setting. some present every pt to the md. some never present any. I have to have 10% of my charts cosigned within 1 week. the vast majority of my pts never see an md unless I ask for a second opinion. I do all the same procedures in the er as my md colleagues(suturing, fracture reduction, I+D abscesses, etc. hope that helps-e