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For practicing PA's: Would you do it again?


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I would say 75% of the people I care for do not know what a PA is. I have been called a Physicians accountant, Personal Assistant, "kinda like a medical technician". Had a lady today..."So you're a Dr in training? Are you trying to become a nurse? You should continue your education...get a medical degree of some sort...you would be good at this." This was after I nailed her diagnosis and spent 40 min of clinic time with her explaining all the things about her upcoming surgery that doc doesn't have the time to do due to the fast paced practice. A majority of folks know what an NP is, but PA does not carry the same title recognition. I wish often that people understood the work I had to put in to get to where I'm at and the duties I am responsible for.I try to  make it a habit to advocate any chance I get. I've even had to discuss with nurses at the hospital that yes, I can order that.

 

Would I do it again? Abso-fricken-lutely. Great doc. Great challenge. Great reward (most days). It has set me up for opportunities and goals for myself and my family. This is the job I coveted 8 years ago when I was working in a lab in a basement of the hospital or washing out bedpans on the inpatient floor.

 

Wouldn't trade where I'm at right now.

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Henry - Welcome to PA forums.  Can you please give us all a brief synopsis of who you are and where you are in life?  You have posted a whooooole lot of questions on a PA PROFESSIONAL FORUM, ie: a forum where professional PAs meet to discuss ideas/topics.  While we are not snobs and won't "exclude" those who are not PAs, there may be better ways for you to find the answers to your questions --- such as reading through the scores of pages on this site to see if your "questions" have already been "answered".  It sounds like you are a pre-PA student, and potentially still a high school student, so you could also probably get any remaining questions answered by asking them on the Pre-PA page instead of the professional PA page. 

 

Good luck on your endeavours.

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So here's the kicker - in theory I would not have the children that I have or the wife that I have if I had gone to medical school.  I would not have helped the people that I have helped.  I would not have saved the people that I have saved.  So, no.  No, I would not do it differently.  As much as I would like to have patients understand who I am, what I do, my qualifications; as much as I would like to avoid having docs talk down to me when I take care of a complex patient in a manner that is aimed at protecting the patient's life, I would still not do anything differently.  Life is good. 

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  • Moderator

YES if I had the same knowledge I had when going into it

 

 

Now looking back I would have told myself to go after med school

 

 

BUT 

this would all change if we get the congress to free us from the stupid regs in place, ie order VNA and Hospice and sign all the forms we need to.  Also, need to disassociate with the doc's.  If these occur (and the VNA and hospice might happen sooner instead of later) not so sure

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If you had the choice..especially in todays day and age...would you become a PA again?

 

In this hypothetical, am I once again about 30 or so before I get serious about pursuing medicine? Am I still interested in starting a family within the next 5-10 years? Do I still have a liberal arts bachelor's degree and a big pile of student loans I'm barely making a dent in with my stupif $30k a year jobs?

 

Then yes, totally.

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Mine has been a long, interesting and diverse career path.  With that in mind, I would go to PA school again everytime.  However, had I known then what I know now, I just would have done the MD with either dual boarding in ID and EM or Trauma Surgery.  Nothing has pulled me away from EM after 25 years, nothing will, so the only real benefit of having done medical school at age 25 would have been just picking a job elsewhere if I desired.  In reality - not likely.

 

I function as a highly autonomous PA doing exactly what I want to do.  There would be no reason to do therwise.

 

G

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Mine has been a long, interesting and diverse career path.  With that in mind, I would go to PA school again everytime.  However, had I known then what I know now, I just would have done the MD with either dual boarding in ID and EM or Trauma Surgery.  Nothing has pulled me away from EM after 25 years, nothing will, so the only real benefit of having done medical school at age 25 would have been just picking a job elsewhere if I desired.  In reality - not likely.

 

I function as a highly autonomous PA doing exactly what I want to do.  There would be no reason to do therwise.

 

G

the situations enjoyed by you, george brothers, boatswain, and me (at least part time) are fairly unique em pa positions not accessible to most em pas. between us we probably hold a significant portion of the high quality solo em pa positions in the country.

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Guest Paula

the situations enjoyed by you, george brothers, boatswain, and me (at least part time) are fairly unique em pa positions not accessible to most em pas. between us we probably hold a significant portion of the high quality solo em pa positions in the country.

 

I wonder if you guys are a dying breed?  Hope not but the newly minted PAs will need EM residency that aggressively teaches and mentors PAs to practice the high level of care that you enjoy.  Plus autonomy is needed more and more to keep PAs in rural and underserved areas. 

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Guest Paula

Omg I'm so tired of these post. I swear I'm never logging in again.

 

Ha ha.  History keeps repeating itself.  We'll have another newbie start the same thread in a few months and we will all fall for it again.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
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huh?

He's saying that it sounds like you're sufficiently similar to a previous poster, in terms of asking questions, that you might as well be (or perhaps are) the same person.

 

It's a suspicion that crops up when you've been participating on a board a long time, with a never-ending crop of newbies asking the same questions--some of them start to run together, and some make you swear you've talked to that same person before.

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He's saying that it sounds like you're sufficiently similar to a previous poster, in terms of asking questions, that you might as well be (or perhaps are) the same person.

 

It's a suspicion that crops up when you've been participating on a board a long time, with a never-ending crop of newbies asking the same questions--some of them start to run together, and some make you swear you've talked to that same person before.

I m just asking questions which I think are important..and these questions will help others also. I am NOT a troll if thats the worry. :)

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You may not be a troll, but you are asking questions which have been answered over and over on these boards.  Furthermore, you haven't given anyone any perspective of who you are.  You certainly don't seem someone who is willing to do a little bit of work to search this site for the (numerous) older posts asking the exact same question. 

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