describe your lifestyle as a practicing physician assistant

[starlitez7]

Hi,

I will be starting pa school this summer and will finish it off in 2013. I just had some questions as to how you feel your current lifestyle is as a PA.

 

Do you feel a lot of stress? Do you feel more stressed out than a physician?

Do you feel that your hours are good? Is it true that Pas get all the undesirable hours that doctors do not want?

Are you satisfied as a PA?

Do you feel like you have time for yourself?!

 

I'm just wondering because sometimes it scares me to think about my future lifestyle as a PA!

[doubledown10]

Okay, I’ll bite on your questions, but you have to know up front that you’re going to get a lot of different answers from people that take the time to responds.

My first civilian job out of the Army and out of my ER residence was a nightmare. 8 hour shifts for a private physician group and their mentality was more, faster, and more no matter what. The nurses were total crap because somebody, somewhere in their educational process empowered them with the false notion that what I say are suggestions and not “Orders”. Every small thing I would order would be questioned, which is fine. If you have a better way to do something, I’m open to discussion. But every single order, that’s a bit much. And the PAs there, drones, totally drones. No autonomy, no forward thinking. Just seeing Otitis media and BS like that. Not to mention that we had a tyrannical supervising NP who was a man hater. 8 hour shifts means that you have to come to work more often to make your nut roll, which is a turn off for me. I don’t work because I have some amazing passion for helping those that don’t want to help themselves, I work because it affords me my lifestyle, which I will get into here.

I am a partner now in a private physician group, which is rare. Having PAs be full partners is not the norm. I was lucky enough to get into one and it’s awesome. I have no stress at all at work. I mean it, not one bit. I work 6p-6a and never change those hours. Have an amazing relationship with my nurses and charge nurses. I make a boat load of cash and I get productivity bonuses. Not too shabby at all. Malpractice is covered and I get to see whatever patients that I want. For instance, one hour before I started replying to this, I treated a simple pneumonia and then went and ran a code on an old lady with smoke inhalation that was found down. Last night my last two patients were an ear infection and a GSW to the groin. So I take the good with the bad. The docs I work with are all really down to earth people and we disposition our patients fast. I work with great guys and we have a blast at work. No stress. Now this is not the norm, believe me. Especially right out of school.

My hours are of my own choosing. When I first started with this group, the physicians made our schedule so it was all over the place. We wrestled away the scheduling duties from them and now I work 15-17 twelve hour shifts per month, depending on how it falls, and I get a five or six day weekend every other week. There is one other guy like me that works the night shift. If I’m not the one, he is. Our schedules are mirrors. I only work nights because my wife is a neuro ICU nurse and she works nights. It’s good to be on the same schedule. The other PAs I work with are all super talented guys and we decided on a fixed schedule. So I can tell you what day I’m working ten years from now. And if we need a different day off, we have per diem dudes that will come in and work a shift or two for you. So this is again not the norm you can expect. By no means should you have anybody pooping all over you and giving you the worst hours possible. Be assertive and don’t allow anybody to use you. It takes a while to build up a rapport and if you’re the low man on the pole, that’s what you gotta do until you build up some seniority.

Am I satisfied as a PA? the short answer is yes. The long answer is if I wasn’t I would do something else.

Do I have time to myself? When I was working 8 hour shifts, I had to work more often to make my money. Nothing could really be planned around that because I would rarely get more than two days off at a time. Now, I take off to Lake Tahoe for six days at a time and never think twice about work. When I have to work six in a row, it sucks a little bit, but those six days off are awesome. And I snowboard as much as I want and I’m a full time student in a doctorate program and knocking things out left and right. You’re experience might differ, especially right out of the door. I have a lot of education behind me so I get let off the chain in the ER than the other PAs, which is very satisfying for me.

I'll tell you this, there are not too many PAs that I know that don't like thier life of the lifestyle that being a PA provides for them.

[EMEDPA]

I work longer shifts as well and 75% of the time I work solo nights. I also work some per diem gigs at a rural emergency dept and a local level 1 trauma ctr in the main dept.

I work 170-180 hrs/mo or so(the docs in the group work 120-140/mo) and have time for mtn climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, distance running and time with the family..

minimal stress but do deal with some frustration occasionally. being a pa is good but if I had to do it over I would have gone to medschool, done an md, mph program followed by a dual em/fp residency. I am not a partner in our group(none of the pa's are) but we get great full benefits, production bonuses, cme, etc and retirement at 25% of yearly income level. we keep full time benefits all the way down to 80 hrs/mo.

[starlitez7]

doubledown and Emedpa! Thanks for your input! I am really glad to hear that you are able to make time for yourself and your family! I really put importance in that, so that is definitely good to know!

However, I am waiting to hear back from some females as well!

Another question is: Which specialty do you feel gives you the best lifestyle as a PA?

[EMEDPA]

em and hospitalist work are shiftwork and allow for a lot of time off, trading shifts, bunching shifts together and taking long stretches without using vacation, etc

the downside is nights/weekends/holidays. if you work 7 on/7 off( a fairly common hospitalist schedule for example) you will miss xmas and new years every other yr...as well as spring break when the kids are off....

[andersenpa]

Do you feel a lot of stress?

 

Stress is a function of (in)experience. With experience comes confidence and ability. As the years go along, I find stress is no longer about potential unknowns, but rather how a patient will react to an established treatment for an established diagnosis. Those situations become less and less frequent.

 

Do you feel more stressed out than a physician?

 

I guess none of us really have any way of knowing that. They don't know our stress level and we don't know theirs since we're not in each others shoes. The only one qualified to answer that might be a PA who has gone on to MD.

 

Do you feel that your hours are good?

 

Not great since there are plenty of hrs to work, and I think we all would like to work less. 60+/week can be a drag sometimes. But that's the price you pay for certain specialties.

 

Is it true that Pas get all the undesirable hours that doctors do not want?

 

In specialties where the docs and PAs have similar roles (FP, peds, EM) that may be the case. Surgery PA roles are more distinct from surgeons. They operate, we assist. They do a lot of up front work (consultation etc), we do the postop care. A big generalization but true for many surgery specs.

 

Are you satisfied as a PA?

Yep. Good job. If you can find a good practice it can be a very rewarding career- to work with docs/RNs/etc that are friends, not just coworkers....with skill you can carve your niche and define your role, advance your scope, etc.

 

Do you feel like you have time for yourself?!

 

Wish I had more for my kids but my wife gets to stay home so that's a trade off I can accept for now.

 

I'm just wondering because sometimes it scares me to think about my future lifestyle as a PA!

 

You can make your job the way you want it to be, but you may have to relocate to find the dream job that meets your criteria for hrs, pay, or specialty.

 

 

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[Kayla2013]

emedpa, why would you chose med school over PA? My major is school is Health Science (pretty much pub health) and I for sure want a Masters but was also thinking about a MPH/MD program.

Starlitez nice topic, I wonder the same things as well.

[doubledown10]

I agree, EM or hospitalist work is the best for time off. I'm in a unique situation in that I actually have a say in my schedule. The other PAs that I work with and I have final decision in who works when. The Hospital tells us their requirements and we make it work between us. Like it was said, I bunch all my shifts together and then have a bunch of time off. Our schedule is set so I know five years from now that I will have certain days off. And true, we miss some holidays, but you have to take the good with the bad. At one place I worked, I would work 16 days in a row and take the rest of the month off, which I thought was more than an even trade.

 

And I agree, the more time you have on the job, the more experience you get, the less stress you will have. In every place that you work you will have individual personalities that you will either be able to overcome or not. Eventually, you will find that sweet spot in between where you can come to work with confidence and have a good time while you're there. And I know it's cliche, but never take it home with you. Being a PA is not who I am, it's what I do. When I take off my scrubs, I forget about everything that has to do with work and don't think about it again until my iPod calendar goes off and reminds me of my next shift.

[EMEDPA]

docs just have more freedom in their practice; anything/anywhere/anytime. for me to work the way I do I have to work nights/weekends/rural.

[debtooker]

And I agree, the more time you have on the job, the more experience you get, the less stress you will have. In every place that you work you will have individual personalities that you will either be able to overcome or not. Eventually, you will find that sweet spot in between where you can come to work with confidence and have a good time while you're there.

So, how long til the average PA hits the sweet spot??

[familygal]

Starlite:

Maybe I can give you some of my insight on your questions, as a relatively new-er grad (2008). I don't generally feel stressed, however the first year was stressful for me, but as you learn more it becomes more natural and less stressful. It really varies as to whether or not I feel more stressed out than a physician (depending on the situation, experience, personality), but all things considered, I probably feel the same amount of stress as the physicians I've worked with, just stressed by different triggers I suppose. I guess I can say that I would probably feel the same amount of "overall" stress eventually as a doc than I do as a PA; its just me. Remember, if you own a practice and run a business, that brings on a whole set of its own stressors! My hours are great, and have been at both of my jobs. I certainly feel I have time for myself. It can be very job-dependent as to how your hours go, but in my limited experience, there are plenty of jobs out there that can offer you better hours as a PA if that's what you are looking for. I am very fortunate as to where I live that there are TONS of PA jobs available (Texas).

 

I am also getting to the point in my career where I feel more confident with patient care and the relationship with my supervising docs as to where I stand, as well as the direction I want my career to take.