Physician vs. Physician Assistant?

[JustiLynn]

I don't know what to decide because they are both wonderful careers. I want to go the physician assisting route, but the clinical experience hours are really putting me out of it. I graduate May 2018 and I have no clinical care experience hours or certification so I can even get those hours. I don't know what to do. Should I go to medical school instead?

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[Mongoosie]

You also need clinical experience for med school though? And volunteering? You still almost have 2 years, so you can probably get quite a lot done.

 

[SHOCKandAWESOME]

fwiw I'm a PA and I'm gearing up to go to medical school. See my post here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/practicing-pa-making-the-switch-to-md.1206409/#post-17861167

 

[Goro]

Only you can answer this. In the mean time, shadow both.

I don't know what to decide because they are both wonderful careers. I want to go the physician assisting route, but the clinical experience hours are really putting me out of it. I graduate May 2018 and I have no clinical care experience hours or certification so I can even get those hours. I don't know what to do. Should I go to medical school instead?

 

[Gurby]

fwiw I'm a PA and I'm gearing up to go to medical school. See my post here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/practicing-pa-making-the-switch-to-md.1206409/#post-17861167

Very helpful for answering "why not PA?" at interviews. Thank you!

 

[Moko]

Shadow and get more experience before you decide. If you know you need more clinical experience before applying, then volunteer or become a tech or scribe to fill those requirements. Take time off after graduation if that's what it will take.

You should only do medicine if you will not be satisfied with any other career (including being a PA). To make medical school your default career choice because you can't 'get the hours' is just absurd and lazy thinking. And as another poster mentioned, you'll need clinical experience for both options.

 

[acromion]

Go to NP school, take a bunch of fluff courses, then you can practice independently and get your pick of jobs by virtue of the aggressive and well funded nursing lobby.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I don't know what to decide because they are both wonderful careers. I want to go the physician assisting route, but the clinical experience hours are really putting me out of it. I graduate May 2018 and I have no clinical care experience hours or certification so I can even get those hours. I don't know what to do. Should I go to medical school instead?

You can become an ED scribe, and work with both PAs and doctors (depending on the hospital).

 

[NimbleMind]

Go to NP school, take a bunch of fluff courses, then you can practice independently and get your pick of jobs by virtue of the aggressive and well funded nursing lobby.

You don't even need to physically go to NP school anymore. Just enroll in one of the many online programs, cheat your way through the unproctored tests, and there you have it: A prescription pad and a license to kill. (don't even try telling me that they can adequately proctor online tests. I know first hand from a friend in an online NP school that it's ridiculously easy to cheat on these tests)