Souzou Posted July 2, 2011 There are many reasons I'm interested in being a PA. However, the main reason I want to go to PA school, besides not being able to envision myself practicing anything but medicine, is because of the rumored 'family friendly' hours for PAs. Many PAs have told me that this profession (of course depending on the specialty) tends to be more female/mother friendly, but I'm not sure if this is all talk or not! I have been shadowing a PA for quite some time and I really love what she does. She works great 'family-friendly' hours (10-5), but she has also been working for quite some time. Of course I'm not expecting to work 40 hrs/week as soon as I graduate, but knowing the hours will be more normalized than a Physician's hours someday is definitely a positive as I want to be around for my kids. Any input on this?
SocialMedicine Posted July 2, 2011 Practicing medicine as a PA or MD (unless you find yourself in a "assistant" role) is stressful and time consuming. I work in internal/HIV medicine and I go home when patients labs, follow ups, and visits are complete. If someone walks in at 545PM with a complicated issue than I am staying until 630. If I get 10 phone calls and 60 labs come in before the day ends than I will stay another hour to complete those tasks. Also, when I go home I typically have to reference several cases encountered during the day since I am not very senior. Hospitalist and others may be more shift work and transfer care to another team when that period ends. Im sure if the relaxed hours was important for you it could be found , you might have to sacrifice something else in your negotiation though.
Contrarian Posted July 2, 2011 Maybe-Maybe Not, its Practice/Specialty/Contract specific... There are many reasons I'm interested in being a PA... According to your profile... YOU are already a PA.
bradtPA Posted July 2, 2011 "better hours than the doctor" is a myth. Why in the h377 would he pay you $90,000 to live on easy street? He/ she expects you to work those nights and weekends instead, and expects you to pull the call to ease his/her workload. Look, I have a decent schedule working essentially 8:30 to 6 PM M-Th then work two Fridays and two Saturday's per month. But compared to the MDs I am getting the shaft. They work 9-2:30 PM, no call, no weekends, no Fridays. Who has it better off?
dale_in_van86 Posted July 2, 2011 "better hours than the doctor" is a myth. Why in the h377 would he pay you $90,000 to live on easy street? He/ she expects you to work those nights and weekends instead, and expects you to pull the call to ease his/her workload. Look, I have a decent schedule working essentially 8:30 to 6 PM M-Th then work two Fridays and two Saturday's per month. But compared to the MDs I am getting the shaft. They work 9-2:30 PM, no call, no weekends, no Fridays. Who has it better off? The MD........?
Moderator EMEDPA Posted July 2, 2011 Moderator better hours and lifestyle is the myth of the pa profession. docs pay us to do the work they don't want to do at the places they don't want to do it and at the times they don't want to be working so they can be home with their families. case in point, my schedule this month I requested 130 hrs. I have 208. my schedule this week: 15 hr day shift, 14 hr night shift, 11 hr night shifts x 5= 84 hrs. none of our docs work over 160 hrs/mo and the vast majority do no more than 140 with the avg 14x9 hr shifts=126 hrs/mo.
myironlung Posted July 2, 2011 depends on specialty...the people who work in something like ER, surgery or internal med tend to bark about their crazy hours. But the first two jobs I was offered outta school were 40hrs/week no call, night or weekends and started me at low $80,000 full benefits. I don't think that's too bad.
Souzou Posted July 3, 2011 Author Thank you for the replies. Despite the hours not being as 'family friendly' as rumored, PA is still a profession I'm very interested in. Since I'm doing an undergrad Neuroscience major, I'm definitely interested in doing Neurology as a specialty, but obviously my interests will change as I continue to shadow different PAs and go through graduate school. According to your profile...YOU are already a PA. My bad, I don't remember selecting that option when I made a profile for this forum. I'm not trying to pass myself off as a PA...I'll change it.
JFarnsworth Posted July 3, 2011 It does depend on the specialty, and what you are willing to wait for. If you are desperate for any job, then you may end up with less than desirable hours. As a mother of 2 who worked long long hours in surgery prior to becoming pregnant, I have now found some part time jobs that work well with my life. I work 3 days a week: Tues 9-1 at derm, then 5-9 at FP/Occ med, Thurs 9-1 in derm, Fri 9-1 in derm and 2-9 in FP/Occ med. If money is tight and I want to work extra I go to my urgent care job where I am employed per diem. It can be done. And my derm SP works 3.5 days a week. She is a single mom.
Moderator EMEDPA Posted July 3, 2011 Moderator I have now found some part time jobs that work well with my life. I work 3 days a week: Tues 9-1 at derm, then 5-9 at FP/Occ med, Thurs 9-1 in derm, Fri 9-1 in derm and 2-9 in FP/Occ med. If money is tight and I want to work extra I go to my urgent care job where I am employed per diem.It can be done. And my derm SP works 3.5 days a week. She is a single mom. sure, anyone can work part time or per diem but do you get benefits and retirement from these jobs? 20 hrs/week is MUCH more doable as a doc than a pa because they make 2-3x the hourly rate. one of our docs just left to do walk in/overflow primary care. they told her 20 hrs/week and she can make her own schedule. 5 hr shifts, 10's, any day of the week, whatever.
JFarnsworth Posted July 4, 2011 Yes I get retirement from all jobs and if I want benefits I can have them.
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