winterallsummer Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 What sort of opportunities have you had to travel as a PA, either in or outside of the US? Did you enjoy the experience? Was it affordable? How difficult is it to see the world working as a PA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 What sort of opportunities have you had to travel as a PA, either in or outside of the US? Did you enjoy the experience? Was it affordable? How difficult is it to see the world working as a PA? Travel is one of my passions. As a PA I've worked (weeks) in Oman, UAE, Pakistan twice and Nepal. I also lived and worked in Egypt for two years. I've done a lot of personal overseas travel besides that. If travel is a priority for you I suggest that you get a PA job with one of the following: State Department, Peace Corp (as a employee not volunteer), SEAVIN (Egypt), CIA or get a job in the UK. There's also a few jobs in places like the new PA program in Saudi Arabia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterallsummer Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 Nice great advice. So what was it like working overseas? Are you still supervised by a doc? Was it difficult not having the kind of resources most US hospitals have? What were the pros and cons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdEM Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 What type of jobs does the CIA offer? I've never heard of going that route... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemedic13 Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 What type of jobs does the CIA offer? I've never heard of going that route... They offer all kinds of jobs. As far as being a PA goes though: The CIA's website shows jobs available. But they won't tell you much about what you are doing, and I am guessing former employees can't really talk about it either. It appears similar to what the state dept. and civilian military PAs are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 22, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 22, 2011 they could tell you but then they would have to kill you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmj11 Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Maybe the CIA has one of those memory erasers like MIB. I actually interviewed with them in 1990. I did not go to the next level because of what I heard (and how it would interfere with my family life as a father of 5 young children). At that time, the new PA hire would live the first 2 years in the DC area. They would go through training and then be ready at a moment's notice to be deployed with a CIA "team" anywhere in the world. The mission could last from a few days to a couple of months and you would be medically supporting the team. You could not tell your wife where you were going or when you would be back. Then, once you had earned their respect, you would get a fixed assignment overseas. There you would supply medical support for CIA "employees" so they could try and avoid the local medical system. But that was 20 years ago. Who knows how they use them now. Pros and Cons? All pros, in my opinion, the only con is (speaking of long-term living overseas), for me at least, being away from family in the states (was parents, now it is my grown children in college). In my experiences overseas, in each case I had an American-trained MD/SP except for my two yeas in Egypt where I worked beneath the radar in the village of garbage. Maybe one other con is the lack of understanding who we are. In most of the developing world, you are either a doctor, a nurse or a clerk. So you must choose which title suites you. It makes you feel very uncomfortable calling yourself a doctor. You certainly don't fit into the other roles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hadzee Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 On a related note: how necessary is it to get an MPH for overseas PA work, if at all? I've seen the dual programs and I might be interested in research (may-be), but mostly I'd want to do clinical work (disclaimer: as far as I can tell right now). Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcstout Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 If travel is a priority for you I suggest that you get a PA job with one of the following: State Department, Peace Corp (as a employee not volunteer), SEAVIN (Egypt), CIA or get a job in the UK. There's also a few jobs in places like the new PA program in Saudi Arabia. Of course, there is also the US armed forces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemedic13 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Of course, there is also the US armed forces! True that... being a Navy PA in Italy sounds like it would be a blast. They have some other great ports too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrarian Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 All of the Major Military Contractors hire and deploy PAs ... Civillian PAs also work in overseas military hospitals ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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