HanSolo

If you're in NY, I'd suggest Maine or Vermont. Lots of autonomy to be had, decent wages, much lower cost of living. Lake Champlain is very nice, and in Maine you could be near the ocean (although you'd need a wetsuit!). I suppose that doesn't help with the snowy winters, though. I'm not very familiar with PA practices laws in NY to make a decent comparison, and most of what I can offer about nearby states is from word of mouth. In the end, as I am sure you are aware, so much is practice/hospital specific.

PTO is a little low. 401k until some period of time is common. Salary seems fine especially for what you're doing. Sounds like a neat job! I'd get clarification on anything you think is missing such as the on call rate, tail coverage, days off for CME. If it's not in writing, then it doesn't exist.

It's helpful to write something personal and non-medical related about a patient in your note. Gives an easy talking point for next time. Something like, "Likes golf, headed to Florida in March."

Have you thought about moving into some sort of specialty care or inpatient medicine? Might be a big change and may even have an initial pay cut, but I think you need to get yourself out of the window-less cubby of sinusitis. Perhaps out of that particular realm of medicine entirely.

You're discovering that PAs are utilized in different roles across different specialties, and even different roles within the same specialty. Ultimately, you'll find there some PAs are happy with what they have and others will strive toward more responsibility, per say. You need to figure out what sort of work will make you satisfied. Ultimately, even if you are doing basic rooming tasks, there is still a lot to learn from each patient. Read their charts, look at the provider's notes, and look up everything that you don't know (which may understandably be a lot right now). To be honest - being an MA is pretty "middle of the road" pre-PA experience. Seriously look into pre-hospital work. It's probably the most bang for your buck in terms of autonomy and decision making. Can you get into PA school with "middle of the road" experience? Absolutely. However, you'll thank yourself later when you are on clinical rotations and you have previous experience of managing a patient on your own.

These are two completely different career paths. If you think you would really enjoy being a police officer, then I would encourage you to explore that. I would not view this decision as, "if I become a police officer, how will it look on my PA school application." If that's the thought you are having, then you should just apply to PA school.

I would argue that this concept is a terrible idea to begin with. Anyone who has ever worked EMS knows people call 911 for ridiculous reasons. This only reinforces that behavior. What kind of care do they expect them to provide, anyway? Maybe they'll have a mobile lab? But yes, NPs are pretty much everywhere now, and pre-hospital is a common route to PA, not NP. This ultimately stems from NP independent practice. Can't send us out there without a supervising physician, right?

Undergrad is way different than a professional program. Not comparable.

Stay in NC. You'll thank yourself when your first student loan payment is due.

Article has a stupid title but I actually think this technology will be quite useful. It's not about replacing clinicians; rather, it's about analyzing patterns in a patient's medical record that would flag them for further review for certain conditions. However, I don't think this will ever be fully implemented in the US. In order for this technology to work properly we'd probably need a national EMR or health record database. In order for that to happen, we'd probably need universal healthcare...

First few months are tough because everyone is still trying to prove themselves to a certain extent. It's easy to feel lonely since so much of the focus is inward during didactic year. It gets better as you move along, especially once some of those walls go down and people become comfortable with each other. I didn't really find "my people" until about 4-6 months in. In the meantime, your school should have some mental health resources for students. Absolutely no shame in reaching out to them! That's what they are there for. I'd also highly recommend finding a personal outlet. Whatever hobby or hobbies you liked doing before school you should continue to do during school.

Is there no remediation option or ability to repeat the failed rotations? I think your best chance is to work through the program you were attending, if possible.

So they're saying no one can know what the content of the material are until they are published? Maybe they aren't aware the report has been published already and that we've read it... Seems like they're dodging the question.

Edit: Tried to post a link; didn't work. I suggest going to CAPA's LinkedIn page. It's one of the most recent posts. Thanks for reaching out to them and posting your letter, Joelseff. I actually drafted one last night but wanted to re-visit it before sending. Will send it tonight.

Just got around to reading most of the report this article was referencing https://futurehealthworkforce.org/ Essentially the role in California is to greatly expand the role of NPs, including independent practice. Nowhere is there any talk of removing restrictive legislation on PAs. Saw a tag on linkedin about how proud CAPA is of being involved in this report. Honestly, I would be embarrassed. Major opportunity missed here. For an organization that claims how much they are trying to advance OTP, I can't help but feel this is a major setback for our profession.