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I will be finishing my program near the end of March and I am not posed with searching for a job. No small task. I would like some opinions on how some of you all decided what area you decided to go into upon completing your program. For myself, aside from OB/GYN and pediatrics, I am more open, or indifferent, to most other specialties. Well I do think ortho would be cool.

 

I would like a good work/life balance which I think surgery could impede that. And though I don't mind primary care, I wouldn't want to necessarily want to manage chronic issues like HTN, DM, hypercholesterolemia, etc. Though I will! Plus it will allow me to build up my base of knowledge, which is important to me also.

 

Those that had a similar "indifferent" disposition would be beneficial. And I know other factors such as money and location are important but that I do not think will trouble me as much.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

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I too thought ortho would be cool.

 

Surgery is not for everyone, and as a PA you can really get the shaft. You can be anything from a glorified scut monkey to a retractor holder who can write orders. The hours blow, and the call sucks. There are a few happy surgical PAs out there for sure, but if you want lifestyle, I dont recommend it.

 

I would advise you to NOT specialize and get at least 1-2 years experience in a general practice; either FP, IM, or EM. Reasons why are 1) it will build your clinical skill set and fund of knowledge, and 2) you will be HIREABLE in the future.

 

I made the mistake of specializing right out of the gates and to be frank with you it set me back a couple years as a PA. If you do a specialty and hate it, well, you are back to square one. If you do general medicine and hate it, at least you have some lateral mobility options, and you wont lose all of your training.

 

At the end of the day my friend, this is a job, in every sense of the word. You might as well get paid well for it, and you might as well have some career capital you can use to be mobile.

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I totally agree with the above. Going into something general from the get go is a good idea, as it will give you a solid base of knowledge and a chance to really solidify all that you've learned in school. Especially since you're neutral - I don't think there's any reason to go into a speciality unless you're itching for something in particular. If you specialize not only do you run the risk of forgetting what you've learned and not really mastering general medicine, you kind of put yourself into a corner if you want to change specialities in the future. It's far easier to go from, say, primary care to cardiology than it is to go from OB-GYN to cardiology.

 

Also a new grad. I chose EM because it was my favorite rotation and I loved the fast pace. I also wanted to make sure I had a solid foundation as a "generalist." Also... In the ER, there's no chance at all of being bored. So far I am obsessed with it and look forward to work every day. What I love about EM is there's always something new to see, days go by fast and generally it's shift work and you get paid hourly. Clock in, clock out, you're done. Also since I am hourly I do get time and a half for anything over 40 a week - can't complain. One downside of it I've noticed so far is that our job isn't to find answers for the patient but to simply rule out what will kill them or cause them serious harm. A lot of my day is "We aren't sure exactly what's going on, but we know you don't have x, y, z. Follow up with your PCP." Sometimes when I really bond with a patient this can be challenging as I know they're looking for answers (I.e. I've had a few patients come back for MS like symptoms and I would love to work them up and follow them through their diagnosis but obviously I can't do that). Overall though, I think it's a great field. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're ridiculously motivated, okay with never having a break during the day, and willing to put up with challenging patients, doctors and nurses constantly.

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Oops - one other thought. I forgot to mention the fact that EM is a way to get great pay. One thing about ER I like, as I mentioned, is the fact that you can clock in and generally clock out within an hour or so of the end of your shift. Most days I am out on time if I time things right. And since it is hourly I get paid for everything I do. My classmates who went into other fields can't say the same about that. My good friend accepted an internal medicine job. She gets paid 90K a year but she says some of her days are FOURTEEN HOURS LONG. She works Monday through Friday. On my primary care rotation the PA I worked with worked from 6AM - 8AM on charts, then saw patients from 8AM-5PM with a one hour lunch, Monday through Friday. That's an experienced PA, working 55 hours a week and I believe he made 95K a year. Additionally another friend took a job in neurology in the hospital for 85K a year and worked 21 days on, 7 off, and her days were 12 hours long much of the time...! In contrast, if I work 40 hours a week I will come out with 105,000 a year, as a new grad in EM. Last month and this month I worked a lot of hours (about 50 a week) and got overtime, and have brought 25K in those two months...as a new grad. And that's with a pretty low hourly rate compared to other ERs and NO RVUs. Not so shabby!

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I will be finishing my program near the end of March and I am not posed with searching for a job. No small task. I would like some opinions on how some of you all decided what area you decided to go into upon completing your program. For myself, aside from OB/GYN and pediatrics, I am more open, or indifferent, to most other specialties. Well I do think ortho would be cool.

 

I would like a good work/life balance which I think surgery could impede that. And though I don't mind primary care, I wouldn't want to necessarily want to manage chronic issues like HTN, DM, hypercholesterolemia, etc. Though I will! Plus it will allow me to build up my base of knowledge, which is important to me also.

 

Those that had a similar "indifferent" disposition would be beneficial. And I know other factors such as money and location are important but that I do not think will trouble me as much.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

Regarding primary care: easy to forget for new grads I think, but don't forget the abundant management of chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, and other problems in addition to the DM, HTN, CHF, CAD, etc.

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