PA's who are in med school

[EMDream]

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I'm a PA student in their last few months of rotations. I am curious if there are any previous PA's who transitioned onto med school or thoseo f oyu who have PA's in your class able to lend their insight. I plan on practicing as a PA for at least 2 years first, as i have a few pre reqs to finish and of course the process itself. I know I am at no advantage in the application process but I am curious how once you're in, how is it with the previous knowledge you learned in pa school and on the job, do you find that y ou were able to work while being in medical school because you required less time than others because of the background? Study less? It won't make much of a difference either way as i know what i want ultimately, and that's the training of a md residency. I just want to know how much of a leap i have on things with my former education. I knownthere are no short cuts 🙂
My fiance is in medical school and it seems like I have a great background for some classes (like gross anatomy, and of course learning the history and exam, as well as the pathology of diseases) but there areas that would be fairly new such as embryology, the depth of histology. Thanks for any insight.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

One guy in my class is a former PA for a surgery group. He says the background helps in some areas (like anatomy) and not a bit in others (biochem for example), like you say. He doesn't work currently, nobody in my class does besides this one guy who does a few modeling shoots a year.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Regarding working--I don't think that anybody is going to cut you a break for being a PA, so anything that was said in one of the several "Do any of you work?" threads will apply to you.

My class has several people who work, but since it's taboo to talk about it we try to keep it under wraps.

On other PA threads I've been in on (and there have been a few), your questions have been answered many times over. I wouldn't go into it thinking that you'll spend less time studying on the grounds that it's just a bad idea to think so regardless of your background.

Best advice--don't view it as a stepwise career move or having a leap on things. Focus on your prereq's and the MCAT as far as becoming a doctor is concerned. Those will be your true first steps into getting into medical school.

 

[Bandit]

not saying it was easy, but I worked as an ER PA full time throughout the first 2 years of med school. startinthird year now. all doable.

if you were a good PA, your life in med school is much much much easier

 

[MadameLULU]

There's a PA in my class and she worked during the preclinical years. I think she was fine and had no problem with it. We're now doing rotations and I know people are afraid to be on her team b.c she knows her stuff.

 

[NonTradMed]

No PAs at our school but we got two nurses. They don't work though. I don't know any that do, although I'm sure some med students do work (part time).

 

[EMDream]

not saying it was easy, but I worked as an ER PA full time throughout the first 2 years of med school. startinthird year now. all doable.

if you were a good PA, your life in med school is much much much easier

Fanastic to hear. You're an inspiration 😀

What did you find toughest in med school as a previous PA? Where do you find that PA education misses the boat, or I should say can't manage to fill in due to time restraints? Do you feel like your knowledge base is "filled in" more? That's something that bugs me about being a PA is I wonder what information they didn't have time to teach me.

 

[EMDream]

Regarding working--I don't think that anybody is going to cut you a break for being a PA, so anything that was said in one of the several "Do any of you work?" threads will apply to you.

My class has several people who work, but since it's taboo to talk about it we try to keep it under wraps.

On other PA threads I've been in on (and there have been a few), your questions have been answered many times over. I wouldn't go into it thinking that you'll spend less time studying on the grounds that it's just a bad idea to think so regardless of your background.

Best advice--don't view it as a stepwise career move or having a leap on things. Focus on your prereq's and the MCAT as far as becoming a doctor is concerned. Those will be your true first steps into getting into medical school.

I think I'm an inefficient searcher, all I found were ad nauseum PA vs MD threads.

I know that being a PA won't make it any different as far as being ALLOWED to work, I'd just be sneaky about it if that were the case. 🙂 But ti is interesting that they have this "law" on working (interestingly enough so did PA school we had to get permission for extenuating circumstances but some snuck around that too) although I understand the principle of commitment to medicine taking priority.

Thanks for you input 🙂

 

[Mistress S]

No PA's in our class, we do have one NP though (I know, different training, but there must be some similarities coming in as a mid-level provider). She actually does work a little, our school has no specific policy against working during the first two years that I know of but the kind of part-time work most of us could get wouldn't pay enough to justify taking the time away from studying. She can pick up a few shifts here and there and earn enough to make it worth her while though, so that's an advantage. Obviously she also has an advantage in physical exam skills, otherwise I think she still studies a fair amount. I could be wrong, but from talking with NP and PA friends my impression is that the depth that med school goes into is just so much more for most subjects than is covered in their programs, maybe having some familiarity with the material gives you a slight edge but you're still going to have to work hard to learn what you need to do well in med school. Good luck!

 

[Wizard of Oz]

I had a blurb about admissions that nobody liked even though I thought it was clever...

I just thought of a true geek analogy. Think about the first time you learned about activation energy and catalysts...

USMLE I is like...

Anyway you're asking about working during school and so forth. My opinion is that you can get away with it, but my advice would be just like everybody else. Start off on vacation and see how you are adjusting to the pace first. Then go back to work if you can. That's what I did even though I'm a med tech and not a PA (my title used to say "PA school reject").

I think that if you are serious about medicine, you have to dedicate yourself to it and walk everybody else's walk. In other words, be a med student who sometimes works as PA, not a PA who also goes to medical school. In my case, I'm still a med tech who happens to be going to medical school, and I am under-performing as a result even though my background is stronger than that of most of my classmates.

Your clinical skills (M3/4) will be better than everybody else's, but your matching ability will be more based on step I, which is still basically a science test that PA's don't have a great advantage on. It really depends on what your goals are. If you are just talking about passing, yeah, you'll do well. If you think that it's gonna give you an advantage to match a super-competative specialty, it won't save for the contacts/research opportunities that being a PA might garner you.

So to get back to your question, you asked "how much of a leap?" My advice is to think of it as the same leap that everybody else has. You might be pleasantly surprised, and if so, wonderful! But the best words I can say to you is when you decide that you definitely want to be a doc, aim all of your weapons at the MCAT and its prereq's. I'm sure that being a PA will give you no advantage on a physical science or organic chemistry test, yet this is how the adcoms will judge you first (see above referenced quote for explanation).

 

[dr4ku]

Once you matriculate. And that is the more difficult part of medical school really. Getting in is 80% of the battle. Then, med school is just volume. There will not be anything "difficult". The concepts aren't hard at all. It is the amount of info that is difficult to consume, distill down and then reproduce under pressure.

Now, as a PA, your advantage will be in your knowledge of some basic disease processes and your anatomy. That will allow your brain to focus on the coursework you may find more challenging like biochem, neuro or micro. But, even there, your knowledge of clinical medicine, antibiotics and other chemotherapies will be helpful.

Get your degree and go for it!

 

[lilnoelle]

Theres a thread about this in the non traditional forum. Maybe you were the Op though, I don't remember. If you haven't seen it, check it out.