Moderator EMEDPA Posted October 20, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 20, 2014 the more things change, the more they stay the same... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbingle Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 RC Davis and I used to talk about a future with "Type A" and Type B" PAs. I think we may be getting closer to that every year.A Type A PA has significant prior experience and/or completes a residency, accumulates significant extra training in their specialty and constantly strives to fill gaps in their knowledge and expand their scope of practice. They are proud of their profession and strive to make it better, often at great personal sacrifice. A Type B PA has little or no prior experience and has a narrow set of professional goals and/or may see being a PA as a job, not a calling to practice medicine. As long as they get their paycheck and a guaranteed vacation every year they are happy. They don't think twice when people say "physician's assistant" or hear docs say " A PA could never do XYZ" This is said much more eloquently than I ever could, but in a previous thread when I mentioned I was concerned about money as motivating factor, and was blasted, this is essentially what I was referring to and what Im seeing in the ER, I just didnt know how to express it. IM not as good as communicating the "why" as EMEDPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbingle Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 And, my Quote button never works. I mean what else is there, hit the button, window pops up, I type and post. It never quotes like the rest of you. Sigh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted October 20, 2014 Moderator Share Posted October 20, 2014 And, my Quote button never works. I mean what else is there, hit the button, window pops up, I type and post. It never quotes like the rest of you. Sigh! hit the quote button then write under the little box, not in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBanner Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 I agree with the type A and B differences. I've noticed in my own brief career that there are PA jobs and there are real PA jobs. In other words, there is "punch in/punch out" work and there is serious clinical work where you need to be on top of your game and treat medicine as more of a vocation than a job. I think you can see these differences in a lot of careers, though. Saying that the profession will grow doesn't really tell us anything, because those vacancies will be filled by the constant growing influx of new grads. What matters is how the landscape of the PA profession will change. I see retail clinics exploding and the market for "less-skilled" jobs continuing to grow. With fewer and fewer serious clinical employers willing to take on new grads, the highly skilled will probably see their career capital increase and newer grads will have a harder time finding work initially, shuffling into the retail and community clinics. Additionally, lateral mobility will soon be extinct, I think. It's all about specificity of experience now, not just plain old years on the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyM2 Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 This is said much more eloquently than I ever could, but in a previous thread when I mentioned I was concerned about money as motivating factor, and was blasted, this is essentially what I was referring to and what Im seeing in the ER, I just didnt know how to express it. IM not as good as communicating the "why" as EMEDPA. Warning: This is a rant. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. Guess what? PAs will always make more money than janitors. And why not? PAs spend a lot of time in school, often accumulating significant debt, have to get certified and licensed, have to maintain certification and licensing, take on significant responsibility, and can't afford to run around accumulating misdemeanors on their records. Why do we keep thinking a money motivation is a bad thing and why do we keep wringing our hands over income inequality. I never made over $300k per year and it doesn't bother me at all that some people make $1,000,000 a year or even a lot more, as long as they didn't break the law. I would advise anyone to use their talents to maximize their income and minimize their taxes to accumulate wealth....and be proud of it. Some people, like Mother Theresa prefer to spend their lives in sacrifice to their fellow man. That's wonderful if they want to make that choice. The rest of us should be free to earn as much as we can without suffering the criticism of the income inequality zealots. Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBanner Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Move outside of the greater metropolitan area and the communities are often starving for any provider with a pulse and a script pad. They will pay VERY well if you (seem to) know what you are doing. Yep, supply and demand 101. Highly skilled PAs will always be highly employable, in any market. One of the problems in medical employment is market saturation, and this affects the generalists and the "low-skilled" the most. Almost everyone wants to live in a certain metro area, either because that's where they are from, that's where their spouse works, or they're averse to the isolation of a rural job. Well when you have more providers than available work, employers get choosy, make lower offers, and pinch benefits. It seems to me the only way to get those coveted rare and valuable traits in a PA job (autonomy, impact, big compensation, and control of lifestyle) is to have rare and valuable skills to offer in return. I see that as either being VERY experienced in a general specialty (EM, IM, FP), or being highly skilled in a subspecialty (derm, CT surg, interventional rad, etc). The rest of us need to be ok with taking time to build our value while working sub-optimal jobs to pay the bills, or get into some other venture outside of clinical practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbingle Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 JohnnyM, lets start a new thread .....not high jack this very productive one. That wasnt my intension. I think it could be a good discussion so peeps can understand the differences and why people feel one way or the other. PEACE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febrifuge Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 At first, I was all ಠ_ಠ but then I read this part Please, no one mistake me *describing* this reality with me *endorsing* it. There are many societal reasons why women are expected to care for children or aging parents, and I'm not discussing those here, just bringing up the reality than in a large population, a statistically significantly larger number of women will make employment decisions based on these factors. And I was like ¯\(°_o)/¯ yep I can't argue with that. For what it's worth, making PA wages allowed me to stay home with my daughter for pretty much the first 4 years of her life, and it has been awesome. My wife also preferred it that way, since she has a career she likes, is good at, and gets paid well for. I can flip the switch and work more hours whenever we as a family decide I need to, basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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