Why should I hire a Physician Assistant over a Nurse Practitioner

[mistyPA]

For the sake of clarification, I did contact previous employes/personal references...both candidates had impeccable references. Both have what seem to be compatible personalities with me. The reason for posting here was to have a more solid understanding of PA education, personality, etc from a group of PHYSICIAN assistants. My newly hired colleague I believe is exceptional and will work very well with my practice, which is an internal medicine practice. I am a female MD who has now hired a female PA. I work in a solo practice and intend to continue with this format.

 

I posted the question to this forum because I had insight from other MDs who have hired both and I listened to both the PA and the NP about their professions, but it's one thing to read about a profession and to hear an individual's explanation of what they do and what they are vs having insight from the group as a collective. What I learned from posting here is that PAs have a wonderful ability to be proud of who and what they are w/o being confrontational. Though it's difficult to give an unbiased description of what a person does...many of the posters did do a really good job of bringing up both sides and ultimately stated the case for the PA. That is what I was looking for. The PA I hired did the very same thing. I pretty much new I had the right person, but was curious to see how the collective presented themselves and what I found was what I expected to find a very professional attitude of both confidence and understanding.

 

Practicing medicine is on a daily basis stressful. I needed to find a person who would be a colleague, who I could discuss things with and come to a collective agreement. There will be times when I and I only make the decision about certain policy, but I expect that to be in the minority. I am hopeful to work WITH the PA in growing our practice and sharing the good and the bad! I now have a much better understanding of who PAs are and how they think and how they present themselves. The PA will be starting in 2 wks and I look forward to saying "I work with a PA, we work as a collective and I am hopeful that you will be pleased with our practice." Again, my thanks to all.

[mistyPA]

It is difficult to practice independently in this healthcare environment...it is difficult to find the right person to work with...it is difficult to find the right personality...I wasn't just hiring an MA or secretary I was hiring a partner. It is not easy to make this decision and I wanted to make the most informed of all decisions. I hope I didn't offend anyone by asking, but I am looking to work with someone who shares my vision.

[Contrarian]

Thank You....!!!

 

Contrarian

[mistyPA]

Several months ago, I posted Why should I hire a Physician Assistant over a Nurse Practitioner. Ultimately, I hired a PA. She has been working in my practice (solo MD, solo practice in Massachusetts with an experienced PA) for 4 mos...I just wanted to give an update. Things have been going fantastically well. Our personalities complement each other very well. Her strong attributes really help me as I believe mine help her.

 

I would like to speak to the clinical side of things first. I was hesitant about how well trained PAs are...no longer. She has been very well trained and is very comfortable with her limits. I am consulted when needed and I feel very confident allowing the PA to see patients w/o consult if she is comfortable. I do sign all her charts, but that is a function of satisfying the insurance companies more than anything else. The state of MA requires me to sign an agreed amount of charts, however, the "fantastic" insurance companies all have different requirements...it's just easier to sign all of the charts.

 

For all who offered opinions I would like to thank you. I have gained back a huge part of my life that had been nonexistent for a long period of time. I now eat dinner with my family 2 or 3 times during the work wk vs never or 1 time per week. I can now attend my children's school events and know my practice is being taken care of while I am away. I am just now starting to see a return monetarily on my hiring the PA, but personally...the return took about 2 mos. and that is worth so much to me.

 

I must admit I was very hesitant about the entire "midlevel profession". I found it interesting that less than MDs could practice medicine, but I have found it to be true. The PA in my practice is very well educated, trained and professional.

[delco714]

Yay, now go tell ALL of your doctor friends! In all honesty though, this is a fantastic success story. Part of the problem is how you had to figure it out through experience on your own. We are told PAs are everywhere and there are almost 80k practicing pas in the country yet so many docs and laypeople don't know "who" we really are! Thanks for the update and good luck with the practice!