What Is Your 'Typical' Day (Week) Like?

[whoRyou]

I am curious what is your typical (although I know there is nothing 'typical' when it comes to healthcare) work day/week look like as a PA?

[Acebecker]

I work in urgent care.  I work T-W-Th, 11 hour days.  Every 5th weekend as well.  On a typical Tuesday I get to work at 8, try to sort through a few labs, phone calls, etc...  First patient is supposed to be at 8, but generally not roomed until 8:15.  After that it's see Pt, order any meds, labs, imaging or DME they need, chart.  Repeat 25-30 times.  Follow up on labs throughout the day, phone calls as needed.  I sometimes take a break at 12:30 to eat something, but often eat a bite or two in between patients.  Usually it only takes 3 patients to finish eating my lunch if it's super busy.  In between patient runs I revisit labs from the previous week and phone calls that need f/u.  Wednesday isn't much different except that I have fewer labs and phone calls to take care of, but more follow-up calls from the guy who works on Mondays - the Pts he saw calling and saying, "I'm on day #3 of my Zpak and I'm not better yet..." type stuff.  Thursday is usually my quiet day - by quiet I mean that I see two fewer Pts on average than on my other two days. 

 

Pretty standard stuff.  On average I see mostly URIs/allergies, but there are a good portion of musculoskeletal injuries in there as well.  On my busiest days I'll see 10 Pts with URIs, 8 w/ msk injuries, a few w/ UTIs, 1-3 lacerations, an abscess or two, a couple of rashes, and a migraine.  But it can vary.  Last week I had 5 Pts with abdominal pain in a day, get a few Pt's with vaginitis, and in a college town there are generally 1-2 concerned kids with possible STIs each week.  I generally have to consult the general surgeon, ortho surgeon, hospitalists, or ENT at least once/wk to get Pts admitted for something or other.  Calls down to the ER are common, "Hey... I've got a Pt with XYZ and needs IV fluids," or somesuch and the ER docs are great, "Send 'em down."  The problem with our setup is that our clinic is attached to the hospital so Pts think they're going to the ER when the come see me.  It's fun, challenging.  Sometimes overwhelming.  But not a bad job at all.

[Soulfari]

Acebecker, do you enjoy having 4-day weekends? Do you use it all for leisure, or do you moonlight/supplement work? 

That is a schedule that I'm very interested in, mainly for short term travel opportunities. 

 

Just looking for some insight on working those shifts (pros & cons, etc). 

[Acebecker]

Love having 4 days off, but the 3 days in a row gets a little killer.  90-104 Pts in 3 days can be a bit much.  I would rather have a 2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 3 off schedule.  That'll never happen.  I do not use it entirely for leisure - I am picking up a part time wound care gig and I work as an EMT/ambulance based clinician in my off days.  But it's pretty leisurely.  I have a family with several small children so I get so see them grow up on the days that I miss...  It's not bad at all. 

[AREID]

Work 5-6 days a week. I work every other Saturday. Hours are 9-6 with a one hour lunch. I'll average about 25-30 patients a day. I work in a family practice so I see everything you would expect to see in a family practice. No discrimination as to what I can or cannot see. I deal a lot w OBs as well and see them from the initial visit until 35 weeks GA when I pass them off to the OB/GYN. I do a fair amount of cosmetics also (Botox, fillers, etc). I also see a lot of uninsured patients. This is where the real learning happens because these patients wait until they are really sick to seek care which allows for some pretty interesting cases.

 

 

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[myironlung]

botox in FP? nice

[EMEDPA]

typical week:

3 days at primary job: solo overnights at stand alone er satellite facility.

1-2 days/week (average over a month) at one of 2 rural critical access jobs. 1 job is solo 12 or 24 hr shifts, the other is 10 or 12 hr double coverage with a doc.

typical month works out to 180-220 hrs total between 3 places.

(also 10+ hrs/week working on stuff for doctorate at 1 class/semester x 4 years).