Making the switch from PA to MD

[sk732]

5 hours ago, PACali said:

 I've  seen ER Docs gets talked down by surgeons and other specialists as well. 

 

The surgeons where I work are too short to talk down to me :-D.  Same with the one Internist - only specialist on par with me height wise is one of the rads.

SK

[Cideous]

Yea, if someone wants to be a doc for "more respect", I suggest they go into another field.  I have watched ER docs be dressed up one side and down the other by specialists and surgeons.  I've seen FP's be yelled at by consulting IM guys.  And I have watched first hand as surgeons belittled anyone that does not "cut and heal".  It's a never ending circus.  Also remember, some of the most brillant and respected doctors of all time have still caught crap from their colleagues.  Dr. Jonas Salk?

[sk732]

There should be a big sign at the entrance to medical schools the world over - "Check your ego at the door".  Respect is always a two way street and you'll never get any if you don't give it.  I get you need a healthy ego to do what many people in our fields do - you have to have a lot of self-confidence and testicular/ovarian fortitude to open up someone's head and root around in their brain or open up a clogged artery in a beating heart or do an ER thoracotomy and cross clamp someone's aorta...but being humble about it is the true sign of a healthy ego.  Medicine has a way of humbling most, if not all of us, at one point or another - if it doesn't/hasn't, you're a psychopath or a robot...or you're not trying hard enough.  IMHO, if you're simply looking for respect, be good at what you do, in how you treat your patients and colleagues, and be humble...but be prepared to turn on a dime at people that disrespect you and your colleagues and stand up for yourself and them as well.  Standing up for yourself and your colleagues goes a long way in gaining respect...a couple letters in front of and after your name gives you little more than some courtesy.

$0.02 Cdn

SK

[NimbleMind]

A happy person will be happy as a PA or an MD. An unhappy person will be unhappy as either. The whole "if only I would of been this, or done that" is really just finding an easy scapegoat for your unhappiness.  The mind is tricky and convinces us that the grass is always greener,  but the dissatisfaction never ends.  There's never enough money and never enough respect.  The FP is miserable that he's not a surgeon, the surgeon is miserable that he's not in derm, and the derm is miserable cause all his neighbors are investment bankers and lawyers making twice as much as him.  We all know the moral of this story.....

[WeBuyAndSellJunk]

On 9/11/2017 at 3:09 AM, NimbleMind said:

A happy person will be happy as a PA or an MD. An unhappy person will be unhappy as either. The whole "if only I would of been this, or done that" is really just finding an easy scapegoat for your unhappiness.  The mind is tricky and convinces us that the grass is always greener,  but the dissatisfaction never ends.  There's never enough money and never enough respect.  The FP is miserable that he's not a surgeon, the surgeon is miserable that he's not in derm, and the derm is miserable cause all his neighbors are investment bankers and lawyers making twice as much as him.  We all know the moral of this story.....

I think we all understand the moral, but I have heard this argument so many times as a reason to simply try and be happy with what you have. If you aren't willing to change and you don't take a chance to see if the grass is any greener, you will never know. 

[BruceBanner]

I too had the option to go to medical school. 

The ONLY time I sort of wish I had is when I see how much my MD colleagues are getting paid for doing the same work (FP/college health). But I knew that going in. I dont think I'd be any happier, so honestly there is no regret.

I think there is a (very) small subset of PAs who are so unbelievably type A and called to medicine that they wont be happy with anything but MD after their name. 

[NimbleMind]

On 9/14/2017 at 10:48 AM, printer2100 said:

I think we all understand the moral, but I have heard this argument so many times as a reason to simply try and be happy with what you have. If you aren't willing to change and you don't take a chance to see if the grass is any greener, you will never know. 

Hearing the argument a million times doesn't detract from it's truth.  The challenge is internalizing the lesson, and only then can you know whether it's a valid argument or not.  BTW, I never meant to imply that you should never make a career change, rather a person just needs to be honest about their motivations for wanting to switch and then ask themself if the cost of making the change (i.e. the debt and lost time of going back to medical school) is worth the perceived benefits, and if those benefits are even realistically going to be achieved.  There are certain things that career, money, and prestige, are not going to help with, so there is a definite risk into going into more debt and losing more time and then realizing too late that it was a mistake.  In regards to the OP, it just seems too hasty for him or her to decide based on several years of working in one job that being a PA is not going to grant the satisfaction that he or she is seeking. There are so many fields and work environments that a PA can go into.  I would at least take advantage of the flexibility that a PA degree offers by working in another job or two before making the switch, cause that switch sure as heck ain't free.