New Grad ED Offer

[centosan]

Hey guys/gals. So first and foremost, I am a new graduate. I have always wanted to do Emergency Medicine. And I have tried applying to EDPA residencies that are commutable from home (familial obligations aren't allowing me to leave at the moment). I've gotten so far as the interview with two of the residencies near here, but was unfortunately rejected... With that said, I can't wait another year just to reapply for residency and have thankfully received an offer from an ED in a large acadmic center associated with a huge health system.

 

During the interview, I had a very good vibe with the Chief PA and the director of PAs in the ED; and noticed how big they were on PA education, which really drew me to the spot. They hold monthly PA lectures which apparently is worth 1 Cat 1 AAPA cred. And an annual PA conference. Large ED with full physician backup round the clock and ED residents who also love to teach the new PAs. Two mains, one run by the residents, and the other run by PAs. One fast track and observation unit run by PAs. The chief PA rotates new grads 50% fast track and 50% main after shadowing a senior PA for 1-2 months.

 

The offer:

90k starting

12hr x 3 shifts/week (question about this down below), variable shifts with minimum 3 nights/month and 1 weekend/month.

No night or holiday differential. Starts only after minimum hours are covered (see below). Differential will be at a fixed rate of 75/hr.

2.2k CME, I believe DEA/professional organizations is reimburseable utilizing CME. Unfortunately it isn't seperate.

403b with 6% match

Health/dental/vision covered

Life insurance/disability covered

Malpractice covered

 

With that said, there is no "official PTO" time. Basically, even if we are scheduled 36hr/week, we are only required to meet a minimum of 126.5hr/4weeks, which translates to ~1650hr/year. However, if you do the math, that's around 31-32hr/week, much less than the 36hr scheduled. So the difference of 4-5hr/week can be considered for OT or saved in a "PTO bank" to be used down the road. At least that is my understanding from the explanation during the interview. Thus it allows doubling up on shifts and taking the rest of the month off. All this I get and expected going into the ED life (mainly from all the reading I've been doing on this forum).

 

I believe I've read similar on this forum elsewhere so this isn't a bizzare thing, but just how the ED schedules their shifts. So my two primary questions are:

-when I received the official offer they gave the offer on a biweekly rate without an hourly rate. I was wondering to calculate an hourly rate, do I divide by the 36hr/week or by the 31-32hr/week? (a couple of my friends got hired by the same health care system in the same hospital, but they received their offer in the form of an hourly basis).

-when decidiing to utilize the 4-5hr difference/week as OT, would it be cashed out at the end of the year then? Considering sometimes you can work more than the minimum per week, whereas other weeks you'll be working less - depending on the scheduling.

 

Thanks ahead for your help!

[EMEDPA]

to get an avg salary I would just divide 90k into hrs worked. 90000/1650= 54.55/hr. not a bad deal.

the draw to this job is the teaching. take it.

[MediMike]

Agreed.

 

Sounds like a great on-boarding process, as well as plenty of exposure to a variety of patients. 

 

For hours worked salary sounds pretty good, benefits are great.  The $75/hr after minimums are met is pretty awesome as well!

 

I'd say go for it.

[GreatChecko]

Im at a similar situation.  It's a great environment to start in. Go for it.