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NEED HELP finding a suitable specialty


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Hey all,

I'm pre-PA at UW-Madison, and am one of those people how gets so much peace of mind knowing exactly what I want to do in the future. I've been trying to find the perfect specialty for myself according to some criteria and I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as to which specialty would suit me best:

 

-interesting field, with lots of variety, and intellectually challenging

-good hours (maybe 8-5, somewhere around that general area, not a crazy amount of call, etc.)

-very good salary+benefits

-hands on but also requires just as much thinking and decision making (using pharmacology, physiology, etc.)

-most importantly would allow me to be able to love what I do, as well as to be the best possible father/husband I hope to be.

 

I've looked a lot into CT/CV, and general surgery, ER medicine, and ortho, and all of those interest me a lot, it just seems like they wouldn't be so "family-friendly" as a career. Thoughts?

 

Any advice is MUCH appreciated,

thanks so much

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Every PA I've talked to has told me something along the lines of: "I was absolutely sure I wanted to pursue _______, but after a year of school/rotations/etc., I decided that specialty was not right for me". I think it's a good idea to keep an open mind and just let your interests decide for you naturally.

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Your only decision at this point is whether or not you want to be a PA. Shadowing may give you some ideas of your eventual specialty, but frankly nothing is as much a help as your clinical rotations.

 

There are a number of decisions, like do you want to be across the table from your SP or across the state. In a hospital or in an office. At one place or at many. In a big practice or a little one. Besides helping choose a specialty, your rotations will help you choose the best environment for you.

 

Maintain an even strain. In life, the answers seem to come at the right time.  Good luck!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 6 months later...

Do what you love. It's amazing how much you can put up with on the other fronts if you wake up each morning thinking "I am looking forward to being at work today".

My sister just started practicing as a Hospitalist NP about 7-8 months ago. One of the first things she told me after her first few weeks was that even though she is utterly exhausted at the end of one of her 12-hour shifts (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday each week) she loves it and couldn't be happier. It's the first time in her life (she's 32) that she been headed to work and not dread it or wish she was headed someplace else instead.

 

It really struck a chord with me and was the push I needed to finally pursue my longtime desire to become a PA. (I was a dental hygienist for 11 years and always knew there was something else waiting for me that I would actually love, but kept trying to find it every way else besides through PA school for so many reasons - mostly family and finances).

 

So, while good hours oriented toward family are always a bonus, trust me when I say they'll never make you happy if you don't love what you do first!

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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