lizabeth897 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hello all, I am getting ready to start PA school in June, and I have some concerns, because I have a 3 month old baby and do not want to become so involved in a career that I end up having very little time for her. My question for you all is this.. How many options are there for finding part-time PA work? My plan when I finish school is to be able to work part-time until my kids are older and in school. I just want to know how practical and reasonable it is to assume that I will be able to find work easily for part-time. How often do you come across this and what exactly does life as a part-time PA look like, i.e., how many days/hours per week are you working? Is it possible to ask off weekends and holidays, etc. I feel that I am taking somewhat of a risk in entering PA school with this plan in mind, because I am really not open to working full-time right away because it is so important to me to have time at home with my children. Thoughts? Thanks everyone for your input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 30, 2011 Moderator Share Posted March 30, 2011 part time with benefits may be hard to come by but some larger hmo's like kaiser and providence will give you benefits at 20 hrs/week. another option with more flexibility is multiple per diem/on call type jobs which pay well/hr but have no benefits. you have 100% control of the schedule. you say I am available x,y,and z days and either they schedule you or they don't. of course you may end up with no shifts if your availability is very limited and does not match their needs. I have 1 full time( 15 shifts/mo), 1 part time( 1 weekend=2 shifts/mo) and 1 per diem(0-2 shifts/mo) jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradtPA Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 How practical it will be really will depend on how much student loan debt you will need to carry to graduate PA school. Private PA education routinely costs $100,000; if you have a large debt from undergrad attached, it may not be practical to Work 20 hours a week. As an example, I incurred $75,000 debt for school. Payment over ten years is almost $1,000 per month, which is over 20% of my take home pay full- time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterallsummer Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Working as a PCT for my hospital, two 12's a week, I get full time benefits, so yes there are certainly hospitals that do it, though it may be hard to come by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdavis Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 This is difficult... Part time work MAY be available, but most if not all part-time positions pretty much desire a person experienced enough to step in and pick up the pace with minimal hand holding/ teaching. I would never hire a part-timer w/o significant experience... I do not want to invest the time and effort of teaching someone and my attendings certainly do not want the increased liability. Better to get some experience first. This is the classic baby/family vs career conundrum... And in many ways is generationally acceptable or not. Different thread. But to answer directly, at least in the Carolinas there are darn few PT jobs if any for inexperienced PAs. Good luck and congratulations on the baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cecilia Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 it depends on what field you want to go into. if you look on craigslist or any other source of PA jobs, you will find many are part time. I have three kids, and found a job that allows me to work around their schedule. That is one of the great benefits of being a PA,..you can jump into many different fields...and some fields are friendlier to a mom that others. When I was starting to look for a job, I was interested in ortho..but all jobs required long hours that I could not give them. Another in neurosurgery required 8-5 plus being on call during the night. Some employers may work with you and with you a special schedule too. That happened twice to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_me Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 one way to get around the part time work but lack of money to pay back loans---NHSC has a part time option...only problem is finding a place willing (needing) a part time PA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrjames Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I work part time so I can still be a mom to my (small) children, although I did work full-time for 1.5 years as a new grad until having my first baby. We're in a small town, so this is specific to my institution, more specifically to my clinic, but we would likely hire a new-grade as a part-timer IF they had done a rotation with us AND they were OUSTANDING. I get a fair amount of input into PA/NP hiring, and we would jump at the chance for an awesome new grad PA over a new grad NP or even one with experience (most of the time). to be honest, we would probably preferentially hire someone who can work full-time, but that's where doing a rotation with us would come in. If we know what you are capable of, then we'd be willing to work with that. I think it can be done, but it may depend on how flexible you can be geographically and with your specialty. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browndog Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Emed, are your full time shifts 12s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted April 2, 2011 Moderator Share Posted April 2, 2011 Emed, are your full time shifts 12s? My regular shift is 11 hr nights. sometimes I do 16 hr nights if they can't fill the shift before mine. at my per diem jobs I do 8's. in a regular month I do around 180 hrs. for the next few months I am doing 200-220/mo because we are short staffed. we have hired replacements but it takes a while to get licensing issues, credentialing, etc taken care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
convulsed Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I'm going to school FT right now with a Part time PA position and in the process of being credentialed for per diem position for a respected hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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