PA applcation advice needed for a foreign country MD

[Shan_MA]

Hello everyone:

 

I got my MD degree in China then came here 5 years ago as an exchange graduate student.  I'm currently doing Medical Research as a research associate at UMass Medical University. Holding an MD, I was planning to take the USMLE and pursue a residency. Then about a year ago, I first got to know about the PA profession and after throughly research and consideration I decided to pursue the PA career instead of physician. 

 

While collecting the admission requirements information, I found my self in a not so favorable situation:

1. Prerequisite courses: Since I went to medical school back in 2004 (got an MD in 2009), almost all my basic science courses needed to be retaken. 

2. Clinical patient care experience: Although I started to be a volunteer in the ER since last December, all my real on-hands patient care experience was gained back in China during my clinical rotation and training.

 

I'm planning to retake the courses from local community college, however I'm not sure in which way I could gain more clinical experience. 

Some of the programs show samples of  "Health Care Experience" as being working as a NR, EMT, paramedical technician or medical assistant... But, for me, giving up my current job and enroll into a 2-3 year NR or paramedical technology program then spending an extra 1~2 years to work to gain the experience seems not so realistic.

 

So, my questions:

1. Does my oversea clinical experience gained during medical school training counts?

2. Is there a better suit me way to gain more clinical experience here in the US? 

3. Should I take the courses and get an EMT or BLS certification?

 

Really appreciate any suggestions!

[rev ronin]

So you got your MD in 2004, and have been here for the last 5 years?  What did you do with your MD in China for the intervening 6-7 years?  If you did a residency there or worked as a GP, you don't need any more patient care experience.

 

While I understand that being an IMG is harder and harder to match due to the increase in US medical graduates relative to residency spots, it may still be a better route to practice for you depending on what you want to do in practice.

[Shan_MA]

Hi Rev ronin:

Thank you for your reply!

 

I got my MD in 2009, then directly enrolled in the PhD program. I graduated as a PhD last year in 2015. There is no academic break in between. 

I originally planned to go back to China and finish my residency, since I already passed the China Clinical Practice License Exam during my first year of PhD. But life changes, as I met and married my husband here, which made me reconsider my career path. 

 

The competitive residency matching process is for sure something needed to be consider, while the major reason I chose PA over physician are the properties of the profession, such as flexibility of working fields, to some extent fixed working hours and always have backup from a supervising physician.  I know that a lot of women can balance well their busy physician life and their personal family life, but I really want to have a career in which I'm passionate about while can provide me enough private time with my family. 

[Shan_MA]

So you got your MD in 2004, and have been here for the last 5 years?  What did you do with your MD in China for the intervening 6-7 years?  If you did a residency there or worked as a GP, you don't need any more patient care experience.

 

While I understand that being an IMG is harder and harder to match due to the increase in US medical graduates relative to residency spots, it may still be a better route to practice for you depending on what you want to do in practice.

 

Hi Rev ronin:

Thank you for your reply!

 

I got my MD in 2009, then directly enrolled in the PhD program. I graduated as a PhD last year in 2015. There is no academic break in between. 

I originally planned to go back to China and finish my residency, since I already passed the China Clinical Practice License Exam during my first year of PhD. But life changes, as I met and married my husband here, which made me reconsider my career path. 

 

The competitive residency matching process is for sure something needed to be consider, while the major reason I chose PA over physician are the properties of the profession, such as flexibility of working fields, to some extent fixed working hours and always have backup from a supervising physician.  I know that a lot of women can balance well their busy physician life and their personal family life, but I really want to have a career in which I'm passionate about while can provide me enough private time with my family. 

[rev ronin]

First, my impression is that family time varies by specialty and economic reality.  If you don't have any loans from China to repay, you can live quite comfortably as a part-time MD.  Fact is, the idea that PAs have more free time than MDs is simply not true, at least not universally true.

 

I don't have any good advice for you.  With no recent experience except for research, both matching into a US residency OR going to PA school are going to be long and likely redundant roads for you.

[charlottew]

Speaking as a former PhD scientist who is now a PA (and faced some career choice questions of my own while balancing family), I'd say you could consider other jobs utilizing your PhD, as that is your most current credential. Perhaps some sort of clinical liason job at a pharma or biotech company, as you have the scientific as well as medical background.

 

Or you could try to convince PA schools that your recent PhD work means you are current enough on the science so that you would not need to take your pre-reqs again. You would have to contact the individual school to verify this. (that is the route I took - I had to take a single 2 semester class before PA school, only)

 

Which would leave your clinical experience, as well as your motivation to become a PA, as remaining factors to address. PA schools will want to know why you want to go into a purely clinical line of work, when your recent efforts have been entirely on the research side.

 

As far as free time goes, this will definitely vary by specialty. As with any profession, you generally will not get a part-time gig, until you have at least a few years of full-time experience.

 

Also, I'm local to you - feel free to PM me for specifics.

[MT2PA]

Sometimes clinical experience as part of an educational program doesn't count so the fact that your HCE was part of the med school program might be a hindering factor.  I don't know that that's true for all programs or true at all, it's just something to look into.

[Shan_MA]

Thank you! @ MT2PA I guess I need to contact individual programs to figure it out.

[Shan_MA]

Thank you very much for your advice!  @Charlottew