Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Does anyone know if any hospitals in Miami, Fl. hire PA's for their critical care units? Or in South Florida? 

 

Any experienced ICU PA's there or elsewhere find they are satisfied with their positions in the ICU (allowed to do procedures/ sufficient amount of autonomy/ used appropriately in the team model / happy with pay, etc)?

 

Looking to gain more knowledge about PA's in the ICU/critical care field, any info is much appreciated! 

 

Thanks :)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

There are a lot of factors that go into PAs in the ICU being satisfied.  I worked in 1 unit where, for the most part, we all were pretty happy.  There are many other places, however that PAs aren't.   Type of ICU, supervising physicians (are you working with CV surgeons/trauma/pulmonary/internists?), autonomy, work hours, +/- academic hospital where you have residents working along side of you...In my experience, the midlevels had the most positive experience when we did not share patients with residents, had set hours, no call, rotated weekend coverage, and had positive, trusting relationships with our supervising docs (it was MICU).  Also, the concept of an open or closed unit makes a difference as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yellow24,

I know a PA who is the chief PA mangaing an AP run ICU in Fort Myers area.

They cover the ICU 24/7, so lots of autonomy, procedures, etc.

 

I have been doing trauma/critical care for 22 years and love it.

Fortunate enough that I work only day shift as those type of jobs are become less frequent.

We are moving towards model of AP ICU coverage 24/7.

We have lots of autonomy, procedures, have a leadership role in the ICU where we are the go-to resource person for the residents on service.

We also have an AP post graduate fellowship in Trauma/Critical care.

The APs, residents, and fellows work side by side and have great working relationships.

 

The need for APs in the critical care setting is increasing so there will be opportunities out there.

 

In my experience, it is tough to get EVERYTHING on your wish list for the "perfect" job. You have to decide what are the top 3 or 4 "musts"

and can you accept the rest? For example, we felt the pay structure for APs where I work was on the low side.

The network restructured the salary ladder about 4yrs ago which made it a bit better for people at the bottom of scale, not much better for those

near the top. However, when I compared the salary to the other great things about the job, I was willing to accept a bit less $$ to work at great place:

great hospital, great colleagues, great docs, a place I enjoy coming to every day. No amount of $$ could make up for that.

I had been offerred up to $10-20K for other jobs and chose not to leave because those other factors  were more important that the almight dollar.

 

1yr ago the hospital had trouble recruiting APs for many open positions and the issue was salary. They did a market review and we recently got a significant salary increase of almost 9%. So in not leaving for the $$ I stayed in a job I love and the salary increase was a very happy bonus.

 

IMHO, the search for the biggest salary and top buck is a bit over-rated. Some places pay the big bucks for a reason...they are not good places to work and have to offer top dollar to get people to come work there. There are several hospitals around here that are like that and that is why I didn't chase the $$.

 We all need to make a living, we all want to be paid fairly,  but at the end of each work day, it will be the job, the work, your interpersonal relationships with colleagues and staff that will matter more to your job satisfaction than your paycheck.

If you are miserable at the end of each work day will all that extra $$ you are making really matter?

 

Just a long $.02 from an old timer PA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to the Physician Assistant Forum! This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn More