Duality Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I tried searching the forum for a similar post but couldn't find anything. What did you used to do before you became a PA? And why did you decide to leave your old job to pursue PA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilso2ar Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 EMT-B for four years while I was going to undergrad. Great experience and worked with great people. I loved that job. If I did not get into PA school when I did I was going to go to paramedic school. I worked in this position because my ultimate goal was to apply to the local PA program. Prior to that I was a dairy farmer on my family's farm. I left that position for medicine because I like days off and an hourly wage over single digits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmood Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Therapy Aide for about 10 years, starting in high school and through college. In that time I did outpatient pediatrics, outpatient sports, and inpatient rehab (mostly strokes, TBIs, ortho, SCI). Stopped the month my PA program started. The inpatient experience especially helped inform my choice to be a PA. I went everywhere in that hospital and got great exposure to a lot of medical fields and careers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Caveman. We had to use stone tablets and rocks to take notes in the early years. No kidding, ambulances had just progressed from advertising "oxygen on board" in their Suburbans (Funeral homes before municipalities took over). Think "Mother, Jugs, and Speed" for a reference (movie for the younger generation). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 10, 2015 Moderator Share Posted June 10, 2015 er tech and paramedic. before that, security guard outside a private residential community for rich snobs.before that sold lemonade and home grown avocados on the side of the road, of course I was 7 then. as far as EMS, I hated BS calls and getting lost...and lifting 350 lb pts with benign self limited illnesses down 6 flights of stairs... I liked the medicine part of being a paramedic, not the driving around all day part...If GPS had existed then and I had a driver and BLS crew to do the lifting I would probably still be a medic today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 "Think "Mother, Jugs and Speed" for a reference (movie for the younger generation)." Wow, 1976. I remember watching it in the late 1990s and marveling at the way things were done. 20 some years later, I'm not sure any fresh EMT would recognize anything in it. (except that guy from the Jello commercials and 'Mr. White'.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolute Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 paramedic and TEMS paramedic. dido what E said....if not packing them down stairs trying to figure out how to get them un-wedged from between the bed and wall of the back bedroom of a 10 ft wide trailer, or from between the toilet and tub.... then thinking... how in the h**l did hey fit there in the first place? Getting lost was great...it only seemed to happen when we had a true emergency. Enjoyed being on the TEMS unit, a very highly motivated group of individuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I've had too many jobs lol.... While in college I worked at Office Depot and eventually as an IT consultant as an intranet manager assisting all of the DBAs. The company was eventually bought out and sent all the jobs overseas which made me decide to not work in IT anymore and to no longer be a computer science major. After noticing that everyone I worked with had degrees unrelated to computer programming (psych, liberal arts, history, etc), I figured it didn't really matter what degree you had, its the skills and experience you know that will get you the job you want. So I decided to get into advertising, as it was a subject I always enjoyed. Eventually I graduated with my degree in advertising, unfortunately I was apart of the first graduating class after Sept 11th which resulted in graduating to no job as the first budget companies cut is their advertising and marketing budgets. This lead me down a very long and eclectic career path since after trying to find a job for 9 months, I was now considered an experience employee without experience and couldn't even get a job to work in the mail room or even for free as a volunteer / intern. This lead me to a wide variety of jobs after getting mauled by a parrot while working at PetCo for a month just to pay the bills while looking for an advertising job which included: Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland, Promotions & Public Affairs Intern at the Orange Country Fair, 2 years as Customer Service Rep at the Verizon Wireless call center, 2 years as an Administrative Expenses Consultant for a cost negotiation firm, 6 years as a VP of Procurement and Executive Management of a CD-ROM / DVD-ROM manufacturing and packaging company. Stuff I did and still do on the side include PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (Divemaster before that), Emergency First Response Instructor, Free Lance Graphic Design (specializing in packaging and invitations), After Toshiba decided to bow out of the HD vs Blue-Ray battle, the industry began a rapid decline as the shift from physical media went to digital storage and streaming services. There were 72 licensed replicators in the US, 2 years later there were only 22. I knew my time with this company was limited and the work environment became hostile. So I asked myself if I really wanted to continue this route of working in a corporate environment dealing with saving companies money and maximizing profits / productivity / efficiency along with the uncertainty of where the market was going or should I look for something that was more rewarding to me and in a stable industry. That's when I decided I needed to make a change and began shadowing my sister who is an ER physician (my dad was also an ER physician before he passed away) and eventually figured out that I wanted to be a PA after shadowing others in their job roles within the hospital. 1 year later I had finished all the science prerequisites for PA school, had my EMT-B, 12 lead EKG cert, phlebotomy license, ACLS / PALS / NRP and landed a job as an ER Tech. Now I'm 4 months away from graduating and I've loved everything about what I've done and observed as a PA student through this point in my rotations and as a healthcare worker before that. IMO, this is where I should have been all along, it just took me 12 years to realize that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medic25 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 er tech and paramedic. hated BS calls and getting lost...and lifting 350 lb pts with benign self limited illnesses down 6 flights of stairs... I liked the medicine part of being a paramedic, not the driving around all day part... The beauty of being a fly car paramedic. I would show up in my SUV, evaluate the patient, and if it was BS the patient got handed off to the BLS ambulance. If I was feeling nice I could help them down the 6 flights of stairs, but usually I'd just leave it to the gung-ho young EMT's :) "Think "Mother, Jugs and Speed" for a reference (movie for the younger generation)." Wow, 1976. I remember watching it in the late 1990s and marveling at the way things were done. 20 some years later, I'm not sure any fresh EMT would recognize anything in it. (except that guy from the Jello commercials and 'Mr. White'.) Great movie, but I'm more a "Bringing Out the Dead" fan; best EMS movie of my generation. The narcan revival alone makes it a classic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted June 11, 2015 Moderator Share Posted June 11, 2015 The beauty of being a fly car paramedic. I would show up in my SUV, evaluate the patient, and if it was BS the patient got handed off to the BLS ambulance. If I was feeling nice I could help them down the 6 flights of stairs, but usually I'd just leave it to the gung-ho young EMT's :) Great movie, but I'm more a "Bringing Out the Dead" fan; best EMS movie of my generation. The narcan revival alone makes it a classic! RISE UP, IIIIIIII BE BANGIN'!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 11, 2015 Moderator Share Posted June 11, 2015 Great movie, but I'm more a "Bringing Out the Dead" fan; best EMS movie of my generation. The narcan revival alone makes it a classic! Joe Connelly (the author) is a friend of mine from NYC medics. he was on team 1 in Haiti in 2010 with me and helped us pack for Nepal last month at the NYCM office in Harlem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWR Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 First I owned a boarding agrooming kennel on Long Island. I showed West Highland Terriers in Westminster Kennel Club Show in NYC. I used to groom Louie Armstrong's 2 shnauzers in the 60's among other famous people in NYC. Then moved back to Long Island and had a kennel there for 15 years. Owned part of a hotel in Melbourne, Fl. Also owned a limousine company in NY prior to 911. I owned a company that made desserts for 20 restaurants on Long Island. Always loved medicine and graduated from Harlem PA program 1986. Bought a medical center in Queens, NY with various specialists as tenants and owned my own practice for many years. Sold building at the top of real estate bubble and moved to Houston. Practice part time now. That is about my whole work life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted June 11, 2015 Moderator Share Posted June 11, 2015 First I owned a boarding agrooming kennel on Long Island. I showed West Highland Terriers in Westminster Kennel Club Show in NYC. I used to groom Louie Armstrong's 2 shnauzers in the 60's among other famous people in NYC. Then moved back to Long Island and had a kennel there for 15 years. Owned part of a hotel in Melbourne, Fl. Also owned a limousine company in NY prior to 911. I owned a company that made desserts for 20 restaurants on Long Island. Always loved medicine and graduated from Harlem PA program 1986. Bought a medical center in Queens, NY with various specialists as tenants and owned my own practice for many years. Sold building at the top of real estate bubble and moved to Houston. Practice part time now. That is about my whole work life. I'll bet you learned a ton about certain famous folks through how they treated their pets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 First I owned a boarding agrooming kennel on Long Island. I showed West Highland Terriers in Westminster Kennel Club Show in NYC. I used to groom Louie Armstrong's 2 shnauzers in the 60's among other famous people in NYC. Then moved back to Long Island and had a kennel there for 15 years. Owned part of a hotel in Melbourne, Fl. Also owned a limousine company in NY prior to 911. I owned a company that made desserts for 20 restaurants on Long Island. Always loved medicine and graduated from Harlem PA program 1986. Bought a medical center in Queens, NY with various specialists as tenants and owned my own practice for many years. Sold building at the top of real estate bubble and moved to Houston. Practice part time now. That is about my whole work life. And I thought I had a diverse background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Szen Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Joe Connelly (the author) is a friend of mine from NYC medics. he was on team 1 in Haiti in 2010 with me and helped us pack for Nepal last month at the NYCM office in Harlem. That is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyM2 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I've had too many jobs lol.... While in college I worked at Office Depot and eventually as an IT consultant as an intranet manager assisting all of the DBAs. The company was eventually bought out and sent all the jobs overseas which made me decide to not work in IT anymore and to no longer be a computer science major. After noticing that everyone I worked with had degrees unrelated to computer programming (psych, liberal arts, history, etc), I figured it didn't really matter what degree you had, its the skills and experience you know that will get you the job you want. So I decided to get into advertising, as it was a subject I always enjoyed. Eventually I graduated with my degree in advertising, unfortunately I was apart of the first graduating class after Sept 11th which resulted in graduating to no job as the first budget companies cut is their advertising and marketing budgets. This lead me down a very long and eclectic career path since after trying to find a job for 9 months, I was now considered an experience employee without experience and couldn't even get a job to work in the mail room or even for free as a volunteer / intern. This lead me to a wide variety of jobs after getting mauled by a parrot while working at PetCo for a month just to pay the bills while looking for an advertising job which included: Jungle Cruise Skipper at Disneyland, Promotions & Public Affairs Intern at the Orange Country Fair, 2 years as Customer Service Rep at the Verizon Wireless call center, 2 years as an Administrative Expenses Consultant for a cost negotiation firm, 6 years as a VP of Procurement and Executive Management of a CD-ROM / DVD-ROM manufacturing and packaging company. Stuff I did and still do on the side include PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (Divemaster before that), Emergency First Response Instructor, Free Lance Graphic Design (specializing in packaging and invitations), After Toshiba decided to bow out of the HD vs Blue-Ray battle, the industry began a rapid decline as the shift from physical media went to digital storage and streaming services. There were 72 licensed replicators in the US, 2 years later there were only 22. I knew my time with this company was limited and the work environment became hostile. So I asked myself if I really wanted to continue this route of working in a corporate environment dealing with saving companies money and maximizing profits / productivity / efficiency along with the uncertainty of where the market was going or should I look for something that was more rewarding to me and in a stable industry. That's when I decided I needed to make a change and began shadowing my sister who is an ER physician (my dad was also an ER physician before he passed away) and eventually figured out that I wanted to be a PA after shadowing others in their job roles within the hospital. 1 year later I had finished all the science prerequisites for PA school, had my EMT-B, 12 lead EKG cert, phlebotomy license, ACLS / PALS / NRP and landed a job as an ER Tech. Now I'm 4 months away from graduating and I've loved everything about what I've done and observed as a PA student through this point in my rotations and as a healthcare worker before that. IMO, this is where I should have been all along, it just took me 12 years to realize that. Interesting. Most of this would make a great personal statement, without the melodrama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Interesting. Most of this would make a great personal statement, without the melodrama. Good thing that phase has long passed by lol... Glad to take my PANCE this coming November. =o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duality Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Great movie, but I'm more a "Bringing Out the Dead" fan; best EMS movie of my generation. The narcan revival alone makes it a classic! Going to have to watch just for this part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKPAC Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I was in the US Air Force. Surgery tech, anesthesia tech and paramedic. Trained combat flight medic. Did undergrad work while in AF mostly at taxpayers expense (thank you!) then went to PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Before I was a PA, I was a student for 17 years. Before that, I was a baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpRegulated Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Interesting. Most of this would make a great personal statement, without the melodrama. Melodrama would be easy to add. You know, something about the unspeakable horror and pain of being attacked by a parrot gone wild, the fear of having to live the rest of one's life with disfiguring injuries, and how an EM PA with incredible suturing skills, a pleasing bedside manner, and warm gentle hands inspired the poster to reconsider life and become a PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Melodrama would be easy to add. You know, something about the unspeakable horror and pain of being attacked by a parrot gone wild, the fear of having to live the rest of one's life with disfiguring injuries, and how an EM PA with incredible suturing skills, a pleasing bedside manner, and warm gentle hands inspired the poster to reconsider life and become a PA.Lol! My life flashed before my eyes! All I saw where a bunch of blue and green feathers and blood splatter. After the parrot was thrown into the cage, it began to charge me. I quickly slammed the door shut where a sudden "thud" occurred from the parrot running into the door. I was happy to escape with my life. Had it not been for the careless efforts of the EM PA in fast track and the Psych PA who helped me through years of coping with the horrors of this incident, I don't think I'd ever have gotten my life together and pursue becoming a PA and changing lives for others. It's my goal to work in exotic animal trauma, preferably at a level 1 trauma center that deals with exotic animal attacks... How's that for melodrama? Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpRegulated Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 How's that for melodrama? Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelseff Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Before I was a PA I had a Bachelor's degree in Pimpology and got a Masters in Mackonomics... ???? Sent from my S5 Active...Like you care... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrelight74 Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Medical assistant and scribe. Prior to that, stay at home wife struggling with infertility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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