What made you decide to be a PA?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

annospree

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2008
Messages
13
Reaction score
1
Hello. I am considering med school vs. PA school and am wondering if I would be a good fit as a PA. I have found SDN to be a valuable resource of experienced clinicians, and was wondering from all the other PA's out there, what made you decide to be a PA? Did you consider med school? If so, why did you decide against it? Are you satisfied as a PA?
Thanks for your valuable input!

Members don't see this ad.
 
I can't speak as a PA, but I can speak as an applicant and student. I had been involved in volunteer patient care for some time before coming to college. Initially, I began school in Forest Ranger training, and then switched to Underwater Welding. It was in the required EMT class for my diving instruction where I realized that I could make a career out of what I already loved to do. A school counselor recommended a career in medicine, and the light bulb got a lot brighter. I initially began as pre-med, but after learning of the PA option realized how perfect it was for me. I'm an older student, and the thought of graduating medical school in my late 40s wasn't ideal for me (although there are surely people who do it). I knew I would be vastly content with the scope that the PA profession offered me, allowing me to practice medicine along with a physician. I've gathered thousands of patient care hours (I'm starting to lose count) and am looking forward to better applying my love for science to my love for people.

That's my personal story. I'm about to start my PA program, so I'll let you know the rest as it comes! I do still at times wonder if I should have made the jump of extra years for med school, but I've met enough excellent Doctors, some who have already offered me post-PA-graduation employment, to know that I'll have great opportunity to operate in a most efficient and enjoyable capacity when I'm ready.
 
Last edited:
pa is a good second medical career after prior work as a medic, r.t., rn, etc
typical med school applicants are not good pa school applicants because they generally lack medical and life experience.
that being said there are a number of lower tier programs that will take folks right out of undergrad. this is a disturbing trend in pa education and is producing lower quality graduates than typical programs 10-20 yrs ago.
as far as my personal story- I became an emt in high school, worked as an er tech through college then went right into medic school and worked as a medic for 5 yrs before becoming a pa. I never really considered md as an option although after being a pa for a few yrs I considered going back and doing DO but financially it didn't make sense at that point to go 1 million dollars into debt(tuition plus lost pa wages) to get a position which would pay a bit more but not allow me to break even financially until retirement at the cost of missing my kids growing up.
as a pa I work far more hrs than the docs I work with so as far as the lifestyle thing they have it hands down. I work around 200 hrs/mo. the docs in our group are not allowed to work more than 108( 16 eight hr shifts-most work 12-14 eights while pa's do 16-18 tens and twelves).
if I could go poof and be a doc would I? you bet. if there was a 2 yr bridge program would I still do it? you bet.
go to medschool.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Members don't see this ad :)
Being a female, the thought of being in school for that long was very unappealing. I wanted to have my career and start my life sooner than that. I also am interested in the surgical field and that tends to be a very family unfriendly specialty. I didn't want to be working 60-80 hours a week for the rest of my life in addition to a 5 year residency and 1 year fellowship.

The PA profession allows me to still practice medicine, but I only have to go to school for approximately 2 years. I can do an optional 1 year residency. I can work in my trauma surgery field until I decide I want to start a family. Then I can either take some time off or change to working part time in a doctor's office to get a more family friendly environment. Down the road I can always go back to EM and trauma.

I like the fact that I can get done a lot sooner, I will have a lot of flexibility in my specialty and hours, and it is much more family friendly.

I also do not have a problem with the fact that I will always work with a physician and will never be truly autonomous. My ultimate goal is to gain a long standing professional relationship with my SP and he or she will begin to trust my knowledge and skills.

If I could become a PA in the same time i could become an MD AND if I could change specialties as an MD without going back and doing another residency, I would probably do MD. But the things I want from MD are not possible. When weighing the pros and cons of MD vs PA for me, PA wins hands down.

Now I just hope the career meets my hopes and expectations.
 
There is no substitute for shadowing experience. If you can lay the groundwork now, no matter which road you take and no matter how rough it gets, you will have the rock-solid knowledge that you chose the best possible path. There are too many variables to really account for, but some of the big ones are time spent in school, debt load, intensity of day-to-day studies, geographic location, which specialty/ specialties you end up working in, practice setting... it goes on.

At this point the dilemma probably feels pretty binary: either this OR that. But as you spend time shadowing MDs and PAs, you might find that you like certain aspects of one career over another, but only in certain contexts. It's a complicated thing, and it's worth digging a little deeper before you commit to one path or another.

Remember that PA school pre-reqs are not the same as 4-year med school pre-reqs, and even a licensed PA can't get advanced standing if he/she wants to go back and do an MD program. Likewise, an MD who for some reason wanted to be a PA would have to do the entire PA program like everyone else.

So figure out what you want to do in medicine, where you think you'd be most happy doing it, and which approach or practice philopsophy feels like the right one for you. Only when you know that kind of thing does the choice seem fairly clear.

I chose PA, and 5/8 of the way through school I'm still glad I did. I was able to boil it down to "I want to be a PA because ____," and just as importantly I was able to say "I don't want to be an MD or DO because _____." The actual reasons should be yours alone, but you need to be secure in your answers to both the "why" and "why not" questions. Good luck to you.
 
I think a clear understanding of each profession will allow you to make the choice best for you. That can be best done through shadowing a physician and a PA.

Pros to being an MD IMHO are autonomy, higher pay, chance for advancement into upper tier management, and higher prestige. Con is the long training program with high indebtedness, long hours in training, and disruption of family life.

Pros to being a PA are shorter training periods with lower cost and ability to transfer laterally into different specialties. Cons are lack of autonomy and lower pay.

I will graduate PA school in December, and chose PA because of my desire to continue in a medical career after the military and because of my age (50). Med school would have me on social security practically before I was finished and still in debt to my eyeballs. Graduating at 50 owing 70K is a bit easier to manage than finishing residency at 55 owing 250K.

Good luck in your choices.
 
Hello. I am considering med school vs. PA school and am wondering if I would be a good fit as a PA. I have found SDN to be a valuable resource of experienced clinicians, and was wondering from all the other PA's out there, what made you decide to be a PA? Did you consider med school? If so, why did you decide against it? Are you satisfied as a PA?
Thanks for your valuable input!

Age and experience. I was a former NAVY medic and respiratory therapist with 9 years of medical experience; and in my early 30's. I was READY to practice, and didn't care for the time or money involved in med school. Besides, anybody who's half awake knows that you probably won't become rich in medicine; Even with an MD behind your name.
 
Top