A day in the life of an active duty Army PA?

[PMAESE]

I've been browsing old threads the past few days looking for some info on what a day in the life of an active duty Army PA might be like. Several members have posted similar threads and have received small tid bits of info from which I've put together a pretty disjointed picture of daily life. I'm very familiar with AF but from what Ive gathered, Army is a whole different beast. Some of what Im looking for from Current or Recent Army PA's:

 

-What time does your day begin/end?

-What do you do during the day?

-Do you see many dependents or mostly AD?

-Lots of training/experience?

-Any problems with loan repayment/bonus?

-Will you/have you re-upped?

-Do you like it?

I understand there will be crazy long days and nights ect...but Im mostly looking for what the average day is like for you.

Any other info you would like to share would be appreciated. Feel free to PM me but I would prefer an open post so that others can share the wealth.

About me: PA-C, MMS, Just over a year out of school. Currently working ER. would enter active duty O2-E4. Prior service AF medic 4yrs (4N051) 2 yrs Active Reserves.

Thanks in advance for you time.

Pablo.

[trout]

Let's see, I'll bite. I get to work at 0530 to review labs/rads from the day before. Sickcall starts at 0600 and I see 10-15 patients with acute complaints (URI, migraine) and people who are trying to get out of PT. Sickcall ends at 0800-0900 and I start seeing my appointments. I see 20-30 patients a day, all active duty. I see 80% ortho (sore back/knees/shoulders, shin splints...) with a lot of these chronic. My next most popular complaint is psych. I finish my last patient at 1600 and write notes until 1700 or so. But, there is really no call, so you usually have weekends off, unless there is a required training or field exercise. Training opportunities are out there, but you have to fight for them, I haven't been impressed. Experience is great- if you love ortho. My deployment got me lots of ED type experience, but back in garrison, you don't see emergencies. I had some problems with loan repayment, but it all got straightened out eventually.

I don't hate the army, but I don't plan to stay in after my current commitment is over, even though I've got 11 yrs of active service. I miss seeing a variety of patients (I can't really remember how to treat diabetes or COPD anymore, much less run a code). I disliked deployment, but I hate garrison even more. I don't like the BS of being a soldier-- PT tests and ranges and writing profiles for whining soldiers. I HATE, HATE, HATE the Army's electronic medical record system.

Army PA's get assigned to a line unit and they deploy every other year. Anyone who tells you different is lying and/or a recruiter. Deployments are interesting from a medical standpoint but they are no fun. At higher ranks (>O-4) you may run a clinic, but plan on spending at least 7 yrs with line units.

Also, if you have a Master's and >2 yrs of experience, you should come in as an O-3. The pay +benefits at that rank are not bad. Not what you might make on the outside, but I don't have any complaints about my pay. Most people don't join the military to get rich, as you know.

[apkt]

Trout -

 

Thanks for sharing that. So you''re working 5daysx12hours/week while garrisoned? One of my first questions was going to be "when do you find time to exercise" - but I'm sure that the Army is the one place that ensures you DO find time for fitness even when working 60 hour weeks.

 

As for your deployments - are line unit assignments typically at the FOB level? And has the 6 month BOG limit been put in effect yet?

 

Again, thanks for your insight.

 

 

 

'

[d2305]

Sounds familiar. I would rather see active duty than dependents. I had to see both at my during my last tour. It's a difficult decision to get out with 11 years invested.

[trout]

PA's don't get to do scheduled PT with their unit because they are running sickcall at 0600. I wake up at 0300 to work out on my own before work. Other PA's in my unit work out at lunchtime (I write notes during lunch) or after work (I am much to tired after work to exercise). Other people just don't work out. You have to pass PT tests, but commands usually leave their PA's alone when it comes to organized PT. As for where you are during deployment- it depends on what kind of unit you deploy with. I am assigned to an artillery battalion, and during my last deployment, I was pushed out off the FOB with a company sized unit. When one of my medics broke his ankle halfway through the deployment, I went on patrols every other day for the final 6 months. I did read that they are changing the deployment cycle in 2014, but I'll believe that when I see it happen.

[3GeronimoPA]

Dang dude, I wake up at 0400 to crank out PT before 0630 sick call and thought that was rough! As a medic I patrolled often and none of my PA's had to go out unless they wanted to. I'm about to deploy the first time as a PA and I wouldn't let one of my platoons go out without a medic so I understand why you went. I haven't taken a PT test since I've been to my unit and don't see one coming. That could be a dangerous thing if the next guy doesn't see himself being a self-motivator at 0400.

 

As far as the life,

0400- wake up

0445- PT (I drag my treatment squad with me since they help me run sick call)

0600- Shower at gym

0630-0900 - Sick call and try to sneak 15 min for oatmeal. Can do it about 25% of the time. I usually miss breakfast.

0900-1200 - q20min appointments

1200-1300 - catch up on notes or take care of last minute stuff like the BN Commander wanting me to do a physical for a PL he just got a Ranger School slot for etc. My medics may bring me lunch and sometimes I can sneak to grab something to go.

1300-1440 - q20 min appointments (except Tuesdays which I use that time to train my medics)

1440-1800 - catch up on notes, clinic required training (HIPPA, Detainee ops etc), chart reviews, reading new bull-crap SOPs that people create to get OER bullets, Periodic Health Assessments, Pre-confinement physicals for jail birds, go to my Bn and make my rounds to BC and unit 1SGs, plan training/MEDEVAC/basic MDMP with Med PL/PSG for upcoming field exercises/deployments, do unit required paperwork, ask my medics about their lives and family, and tell my CPLs to get the hell away from me until they make SGT. It's a motivator to promote :D.

1800-1830 - drive home in traffic and freeze my balls off because its Alaska and my truck seats are -10 degrees

1830- I arrive home, play with kids/wife/and canine while pretending to have energy, eat dinner, pass on studying for an hour to stay a smart PA because I'm scared my family will hate me so I'm putting it off until I deploy.

2200-2300 - I lay down and look at the alarm clock and think, "It could be worse, I could be in Afghanistan".

 

This is assuming that there is not a night jump(Airborne) in which case I get out of clinic 20 minutes before sustained airborne training begins. Time on target is typically 2300, I get back to the unit by 0200. I get home at 0300 after turning in my weapon, and I'm at least back in the clinic by 1300 the following day. I am convinced that no Doc in their right mind would do this job. If they put Docs in this job, the Army's reputation would be so bad that they would not be able to get Docs at all. So I am convinced the Army came up with IPAP to churn out a metric-sh*t-ton of PAs to put in these jobs and have more to replace dudes that get the hammer and get worn out. Things are rough when military schools become your vacation. Fortunately I'm idealistic about the Army, the infantry, and medics so I will push hard while here and hope I can find a bit of a less time demanding job for my next assignment. I volunteered for this knowing it would suck as far as time. Better me doing it than some guy who doesn't care about training medics, putting time into developing his 70B into someone who can do great things for the unit, or seeing what the 1SGs need from the med to make things better for their companies.

[d2305]

I delegated much of the training and supervision to my senior enlisted.

[Heathster]

Trout and Geronimo are right on target. I have nothing to add except that I got out after paying back the four years for IPAP (with 10 years in). I miss being an Army PA, but not enough to want to go back! LOL

[doubledown10]

This thread might be a bit old, but I know that Geronimo is a solid provider and spot on with his run down of the day. It's an exact mirror of what my days used to be like when I was AD. Like Heathster, I popped smoke after I paid back my ADSO and spent 3.8 years of my four year ADSO deployed. Civilian life as a PA is pretty awesome. And Heathster, I had 17 in when I left!

[uscbigdawg]

I hate to be vague, but it totally depends on your unit and what liberties you have with your time.

 

While in Korea, my PA's rotated Medical Officer of the Day duties with other PA's/Doc's where they did 12 hour shifts 2-3 days a week. They held down the installation's urgent care facility ER while the others worked the family practice side on "off" days with 2 days off per week. Only 'special' duties for MOD's were to check in with the confinement facility on base and its medic (hence how I came to work with them) for any detainee medical needs including confinement physical exams.

 

My next set of PA's were all attached to our aviation brigade. All were APA-C's (flight surgeons) and occasionally, but not regularly did PT with us in the morning. In garrison, at the aid station their day generally was:

 

07:00 - Breakfast

08:00 - Sick Call

11:30 - Lunch

13:00 - Command duties, conducting/attending training or follow up appointments (usually what they did)

16:30 - Pop smoke

 

While deployed, they did 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, usually from 07-1900 and then between the PA's and Doc's rotated being on call for emergencies while the medics worked the nights (1900-0700). We looked out for a couple of PA's (not in our brigade) that were out at FOB's and on FST's as occasionally they got hammered by opposing fire.

 

Hope that helped. Being at a BCT is way different than working the hospital, so experiences will vary. As a medic, I was glad that I NEVER worked in a hospital and hope to avoid it as much as possible as a PA.

 

Rich

[Francee]

Wow! Thank you all so much for this! I needed that kind of insight, because I always thought I wanted to work at the TMC....

...I want to help carry some of the load you all have to carry on a daily basis, but I don't want to set myself up for failure/misery either. I remember how much I use to complain about having to see a different provider each time I went to the TMC. Now that I have matured a little more, and understand the ratio I seriously would like to help. Thank you all so much for all of the long hours, missed lunches, and moments of utter frustration, I want to be JUST like you when I grow up!! LOL I really do want work with soldiers because that is who I mostly relate to. The ones who are hard headed and need to be spoken to a little rougher at times and pampered at other times, and even the ones who scare tactics (kinda like me). I was diagnosed with PFPS almost two years before I finally stopped with all the crazy Ft Bragg running and ruck marches. I was so eager to gogogo because I wanted to make SGT so badly and I knew that I wasn't as competitive if I couldn't run. When I PCSed to Fort Carson I wanted to go PLDC, and then I was recommended for the SSG Audi Murphy board and I had to run and ruck and jump and pretty much walk a tight rope, dive off a 50' board into an 8 oz glass of water, and set myself on fire (no not literally) to progress through to completion. Needless to say, I made it but I suffered severally throughout the entire year and a half. My knees would swell, it sometimes felt like I was tearing at my ACL, but I was "highspeed" and just had to keep going. After a PT test oneday, my 1SG forced me to go to the TMC and schedule an appointment. During that appointment, my provider was a PA. She almost cursed me out when she saw how long I'd been going to sick call for my knees and that I'd keep over doing it with my knees. She finally got fed up with me, after noticing that her words where going into one ear and out of the other, and told me to put my hand on her knee. When I did she lifted her leg, it felt just like GLASS!! She looked at me and said, "You feel that? Yeap that's where you're headed. Stop it now!" With the fear of God in my heart and big alligator tears in my eyes I shook my head yes. She sent me to physical therapy, and I actually went that time because I didn't want to have glass for knee caps. LOL I will never forget her.

 

What's the saying, "Pain is only in your mind?" Yea umm not mine, I limped for over a year after I got out of the Army, and depending on the weather I may pick up a slight one even now. As I sit here typing this message right now my left knee is aching, because I've been sitting for too long and I'm cold. I have so many reasons why I want to work with service members and veterans, but that story is my major motivator - so that I can be that voice of reason for some other "highspeed" soldier.

[Francee]

Wow! Thank you all so much for this! I needed that kind of insight, because I always thought I wanted to work at the TMC....

...I want to help carry some of the load you all have to carry on a daily basis, but I don't want to set myself up for failure/misery either. I remember how much I use to complain about having to see a different provider each time I went to the TMC. Now that I have matured a little more, and understand the ratio I seriously would like to help. Thank you all so much for all of the long hours, missed lunches, and moments of utter frustration, I want to be JUST like you when I grow up!! LOL I really do want work with soldiers because that is who I mostly relate to. The ones who are hard headed and need to be spoken to a little rougher at times and pampered at other times, and even the ones who scare tactics (kinda like me). I was diagnosed with PFPS almost two years before I finally stopped with all the crazy Ft Bragg running and ruck marches. I was so eager to gogogo because I wanted to make SGT so badly and I knew that I wasn't as competitive if I couldn't run. When I PCSed to Fort Carson I wanted to go PLDC, and then I was recommended for the SSG Audi Murphy board and I had to run and ruck and jump and pretty much walk a tight rope, dive off a 50' board into an 8 oz glass of water, and set myself on fire (no not literally) to progress through to completion. Needless to say, I made it but I suffered severally throughout the entire year and a half. My knees would swell, it sometimes felt like I was tearing at my ACL, but I was "highspeed" and just had to keep going. After a PT test oneday, my 1SG forced me to go to the TMC and schedule an appointment. During that appointment, my provider was a PA. She almost cursed me out when she saw how long I'd been going to sick call for my knees and that I'd keep over doing it with my knees. She finally got fed up with me, after noticing that her words where going into one ear and out of the other, and told me to put my hand on her knee. When I did she lifted her leg, it felt just like GLASS!! She looked at me and said, "You feel that? Yeap that's where you're headed. Stop it now!" With the fear of God in my heart and big alligator tears in my eyes I shook my head yes. She sent me to physical therapy, and I actually went that time because I didn't want to have glass for knee caps. LOL I will never forget her.

 

What's the saying, "Pain is only in your mind?" Yea umm not mine, I limped for over a year after I got out of the Army, and depending on the weather I may pick up a slight one even now. As I sit here typing this message right now my left knee is aching, because I've been sitting for too long and I'm cold. I have so many reasons why I want to work with service members and veterans, but that story is my major motivator - so that I can be that voice of reason for some other "highspeed" soldier.