Pros/Cons of teaching PA school?

[Proballr32]

Looking for opinions about life in Academia. I've been in practice 5 years and have found that I really enjoy teaching. I love teaching/educating patients, I train new providers in our clinic, and also speak for pharmaceutical companies educating other providers (PAs, NPs and MDs/DOs) about the benefits of certain meds. 

 

I recently was approached by a former professor (now Dean of the college) who mentioned that if I were to get a doctorate, I would have a full-time teaching position if I wanted it. As much as I love teaching, I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to go back to school for 3 years (racking up more debt) to get a DHSc in order to teach.  How is the quality of life teaching PA school? What's a day in the life like? Is the salary comparable to private practice? Any special/different benefits in academia? 

 

Any pros/cons would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Statko]

My initial reaction to your Dean's offer was "yuck."

I would counter offer your Dean by letting him/her know you're available to start a full time position now, provided they offer tuition reimbursement toward your Doctorate. There's no way I would lay out the time and resources needed for a doctorate on my own dime if I didn't have something in the bag now. Why should you take all the risk for going into more debt without a guarantee? Who knows where this person will be in 3 years.

 

Adjuncting may be a good option for you to get an idea of what teaching is really like. You certainly do not need a doctorate to adjunct. For me, the biggest pro and the biggest con of academia was the students. There were students who made my day, and there were students that made me question my faith in humanity and the future of our profession. After working full time for a PA program, I found I missed clinical practice after about 18 months. Adjuncting and serving on various committees (student progress, admissions, etc) is fulfilling to me and gives me more balance. When I get sick of patients, I work with students. And when the students drive me crazy, I go back to the office. Works pretty well for me.

 

If you decide to move forward and are offered a job, I can give you specifics of the benefits package offered by my institution for comparison.

[jcash]

I taught at my PA school as adjunct faculty and loved it. I thought the pay was good. I did a lab class on pelvic exams and had a short lecture that was pretty easy to prepare for. I'd like to do more in the future.

 

I agree. You don't need a doctorate to teach. Only one of my professors had a doctorate and two were working toward it. Try it out doing adjunct maybe just teach one class to see what you think.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[UGoLong]

I guest-lectured for several years and about two years ago began teaching 1/2 time for a local PA program. I do not have a doctorate, nor do I see very many PAs needing one to teach. Having one opens doors as someone on the faculty needs to have one and in some programs, the director is required to have one.

 

No way would I get a doctorate just to start teaching. There are enough places where you can teach without one and then later -- if you decide to do it -- you could get additional training.

[SHU-CH]

I'm just finishing up my 13th year as a fulltime faculty member. It has been a completely awesome career. Since I started teaching, I have seen around 400 students graduate. Most of them are young and will work for around 40 years. AAPA says the average PA has over 3000 patient encounters annually. This means that as a faculty member, I will have helped shape around 48,000,000 patient encounters.

 

As suggested above, adjuncting is a great way to dip your toe in the water. It is important for new people coming into the career to recognize that teaching is only a part of what a faculty member is required to do. The classic analogy for an academic job is that it is a three-legged stool consisting of teaching, research and scholarship. How important each of these areas is to a school will depend upon its local culture. With the expansion of PA programs going on right now, you can easily find a full-time position that does not require a doctorate. (You could probably also find a place where they would give you tuition remission toward earning a doctorate.)

 

PROS:

• Helping to shape the next generation of our profession. Some of us have the future leaders of our state societies, specialty societies and the AAPA in our classrooms. I like trying to identify the students who have this potential to give them a little poke to go above and beyond.
• Autonomy - you have a lot of freedom in how you spend your time, conduct your courses, etc. The teaching career is often a good fit for people with young kids.
• Transfer-ability of skills. You are already an educator in working with patients. Trying to diagnose a student's academic difficulty is much like trying to diagnose a patient.
• The PA educator community. It's relatively small and close knit. I have never asked anyone from help with anything and did not receive immediate replies.
• The overall academic environment. Aside from medical stuff, do you want to go to a history lecture? Hear a politician speak on campus? Take a class? Debate with an economist about healthcare over lunch? The opportunity is there.

 

CONS:

• The biggest cons for many people is probably the salary hit. Many places will allow some release time to work clinically which will help keep your salary near where it was.
• Adjustment. Entering the full time academic environment can be a little disorienting. There is a whole new language, new skills and a new set of literature to master.
• The overall academic environment. (I know, this is a repeat from above.) It's a little weird at times and you will find yourself doing some strange stuff. One day you get a letter from the dean stating you are appointed to a committee to pick out what kind of shrubs to plant in front of the library.

[ventana]

Lynchburg DMSc

 

way less then 3 years...

 

more info coming soon

[ColoradoIMCardsPA]

Agreed, you can do some research online (PA school website faculty lists) and see how many professors actually have a doctorate. I think not that many.