dchampigny Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 ......within reason of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujubeans Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Work schedule? Family/Personal life? Income? Daily duties? Stress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchampigny Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Work schedule? Family/Personal life? Income? Daily duties? Stress? I begin my first position as a PA come August. I can comment on rotation work schedule however. My program required us to successfully complete nine 5 week rotations. I would say probably half of my rotations were the standard 8 to 5 or 9 to 5, but really as a student, you leave when your preceptor is done for the day. As far as inpatient rotations, it really depends. During my internal medicine rotation, I typically arrived at the hospital between 630 and 7 to round on the patients I was seeing and would be out by 4 pm. Some of the most time intensive rotations were women's health (mine was about 50/50 surgical based vs. outpatient) and surgery. My surgery rotation typically started by 4 am each morning (with Saturdays) and most days I was out by about 530 or 6 pm. Long hours, but a great experience nonetheless. My first job will be office based, roughly 8 to 5 each day. Family and personal life are extremely important aspects of both getting through PA school and becoming a well rounded PA once you start a career. I had a strict rule during PA school: I would never do any homework/studying on a Friday night (with the rare exception of the weekend before finals week). I think finding your own balance of personal time to yourself is absolutely critical to any school/job/profession. I became close with a lot of classmates during PA school so we almost always tried to set aside some time on the weekends to socialize and take a break from studying. PA school is particularly great because if your program accepts a wide variety of people, you get to hear some awesome stories about peoples' past experiences, what brought them to the profession of medicine, and where they want to go. You can learn a lot from your classmates. You'll miss out on life if your head is buried in a book for the whole journey. I went to school far away from home (about a 5-6 hour drive) but always went home for spring breaks/holidays. Had a lot of visitors too. I think it's important to keep the people who motivate and sustain you close to you! Income: Like I said, within reason. What one could reasonably expect for a new grad in primary care. Daily duties really depend on the rotation/setting. I will be working in an office, so I will be seeing acute visits, new patients, follow ups for chronic disease, wellness visits, immunizations, etc. Variety is important. Stress. A large part of medicine as a profession. The key is how you are able to manage your stress. I dealt with stress during the didactic year by running and exercising.There's something about lifting a ton of weight or running a fast few miles after a long day of racking your brain with medicine. If you don't exercise during PA school, you're missing out and doing your body/mind/soul/spirit a disservice. PA school is stressful. Medicine is stressful. Life is stressful. It's all about whether or not you let it consume you or take it in stride and manage it. Doing activities entirely unrelated to medicine are helpful too. I like to golf (but sometimes that actually increases stress if I spend too much time off the fairway and looking for my ball in the woods!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optimistic3 Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Are you happy with your decision to become a PA rather than another healthcare field? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianamendoz Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Hi! So I have my bachelor's in sociology, I graduated with a 3.5, I didn't take many science courses in college other than bio 101 which i received an A in. I'm 23 years old and now I am revisiting whether I should become a PA. I've considered it in the past after seeing the the PA profile on the bureau of labor stats and I truly regret not having gone for it. I admire professionals who practice medicine, I think it's awesome to have that kind of knowledge and I have a desire to be like them one day. The only problem is that I feel like you have to have a background in hard sciences and I'm definitely lacking in that area. However, I know that I am a dedicated, determined, and disciplined individual. My question is, do you think that's enough to pursue this profession? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco714 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 How about you wait a few months of practice until you open yourself up to questions Like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlottew Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 How about you wait a few months of practice until you open yourself up to questions Like this Because s/he will be too busy, at that point! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco714 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Because s/he will be too busy, at that point! LOLYeah no.LOLOLOLOLOLOL just no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted June 12, 2016 Administrator Share Posted June 12, 2016 How about you wait a few months of practice until you open yourself up to questions Like this In all fairness, the OP can answer certain things with certainty, and a freshness of perspective that those of us who have been in practice for a while will not share. For example, I've stopped trying to answer CASPA questions because it's changed so much since I went through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchampigny Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 How about you wait a few months of practice until you open yourself up to questions Like this I'm not sure what the problem is or where your hostility/attitude is coming from. I'm a certified PA just like yourself. I have just a right as you do to answer questions about the application process, prior HCE, PA school, rotations, job searching, interviewing, and the PANCE. The within reason in my original post is because there are obviously going to be questions that my experience has not allowed me to encounter yet, therefore I will NOT answer those. If you don't want to be a productive contributor to this thread, then go elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchampigny Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 Are you happy with your decision to become a PA rather than another healthcare field? Absolutely. Prior to deciding I wanted to go to PA school, I did quite a bit of shadowing in order to make the right decision. I also had a lot of health care experience as an EMT prior to PA school. Of all the disciplines I interacted with, PAs just seemed the happiest. I also was able to shadow PAs who had a great amount of autonomy in their respective fields. As I reflect back on recently graduating, I have friends who started medical school at the same time I started PA school. They're just starting their rotations now, which they have 2 years of, following by a 3-5 year residency and then potentially a fellowship. At the end of the day, I'm just not interested in all of that. PAs are widely utilized, and the opportunities for PAs are almost endless. It's a great gig. I haven't once thought about what life would be like if I had chosen another career/stayed pre-hospital, etc. I'm happy. You will be too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchampigny Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hi! So I have my bachelor's in sociology, I graduated with a 3.5, I didn't take many science courses in college other than bio 101 which i received an A in. I'm 23 years old and now I am revisiting whether I should become a PA. I've considered it in the past after seeing the the PA profile on the bureau of labor stats and I truly regret not having gone for it. I admire professionals who practice medicine, I think it's awesome to have that kind of knowledge and I have a desire to be like them one day. The only problem is that I feel like you have to have a background in hard sciences and I'm definitely lacking in that area. However, I know that I am a dedicated, determined, and disciplined individual. My question is, do you think that's enough to pursue this profession? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk A lot of schools are looking for more "well rounded" individuals in terms of the experience that they bring to the table. I think one of the things that helped me in my initial application process to PA school was that I went to a small liberal arts college which allowed me to have a wealth of experiences during my undergraduate education. I took classes in psychology, medieval arts, public health, politics, and even baseball! Although these are not the required courses that you need, they helped make me a more unique candidate. I can't tell you how many times some of the classes came up in my interviews. Your patients are people with a wide background of knowledge, interests, and experience, in my opinion being well rounded and personable allows you to be able to interact with them about a multitude of different topics. With that being said, you still need to be proficient and excel in the hard sciences that are required for admission (Bio, Chem, microbio, organic, etc). In my opinion, I think that you should try to shadow PAs or other health care providers in the medical profession to see what it's like. Have a good idea of what the daily life is and role of a PA in a multitude of different settings before you decide that you want to go back to school for the prerequisites that you are lacking in. Going back to school is a big commitment and you want to make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons! Don't rely on the bureau of labor statistics or salary to guide you, rather get out there and experience it for yourself! Shadow some PAs, see what they do and see if it is something that you could see yourself doing long term. I think it sounds like you have a lot of good characteristics required, but make sure that you have a genuine interest in the profession first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetéToPA Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hear, hear for a liberal arts education! I, too, have found it invaluable for the exact same reasons that you stated. I also know that my school's emphasis on creative thinking and encouragement to be open to myriad subjects was instrumental in my decision to change careers mid-life from art to medicine. I know this isn't exactly related to the thread. Just wanted to encourage anyone, no matter what your background, to be open to trying something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianamendoz Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 A lot of schools are looking for more "well rounded" individuals in terms of the experience that they bring to the table. I think one of the things that helped me in my initial application process to PA school was that I went to a small liberal arts college which allowed me to have a wealth of experiences during my undergraduate education. I took classes in psychology, medieval arts, public health, politics, and even baseball! Although these are not the required courses that you need, they helped make me a more unique candidate. I can't tell you how many times some of the classes came up in my interviews. Your patients are people with a wide background of knowledge, interests, and experience, in my opinion being well rounded and personable allows you to be able to interact with them about a multitude of different topics. With that being said, you still need to be proficient and excel in the hard sciences that are required for admission (Bio, Chem, microbio, organic, etc). In my opinion, I think that you should try to shadow PAs or other health care providers in the medical profession to see what it's like. Have a good idea of what the daily life is and role of a PA in a multitude of different settings before you decide that you want to go back to school for the prerequisites that you are lacking in. Going back to school is a big commitment and you want to make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons! Don't rely on the bureau of labor statistics or salary to guide you, rather get out there and experience it for yourself! Shadow some PAs, see what they do and see if it is something that you could see yourself doing long term. I think it sounds like you have a lot of good characteristics required, but make sure that you have a genuine interest in the profession first! Wow thank you for your response! I do plan on becoming a medical assistant and diving right into that field. In the process, I'll do some shadowing to help me in my decision. I know how it sounds, I saw the bls profile and said "Hey, 90 grand a year, count me in!" But that's hardly the case. I've been uncertain about my future for a long time. However, I've always known that I have an admiration for healthcare professionals. I think it's amazing what they do and I want in. The thing that always held me back was having that strong science background. I've always found it intimidating. But I've come to realize that if this is something I want, I'll find a way to overcome that obstacle with the right tools. I'm competent, I know it. Another reason I want to be a PA is because I crave that particular kind of knowledge. There is no other field that I'm drawn to, and if I get to help people in the end, then that's just icing on the cake. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidccs Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 how did you land your first job? Did u do applications during PA school or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidccs Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Also, thank you for this thread, Im sure others appreciate it as much as I do. Hpefully you other threads and helpful attitude dont encounter resistance like this one did. Oh and welcome to the board, looks like youll be a good member to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchampigny Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 how did you land your first job? Did u do applications during PA school or? During the job search I used word of mouth, indeed.com, job fairs, recruiting events. I actually met the company I'll be working for at a job fair that my program had put on and ended up meeting my SP there as well. I did do the applications during PA school. It was a really great feeling to have a job by the end of my last rotation and heading into boards. The last couple of months of PA school are stressful because they fly by, you're finishing up rotations, deciding where to live, what specialty to work in, working on studying for the PANCE, credentialing for a hospital, applying for a state license, etc. It's a lot. But it's beautiful how everything comes together in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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