PA vs. MD schooling

[hannaholvera]

I started college as a pre-Med student with full intentions of becoming an MD. However, after a semester of school I decided that maybe PA was a better route. I have stuck with this path for 3 more semesters and just finished up my 2nd year of undergrad. I currently have a 4.0 GPA. This summer I decided to shadow both PAs and MDs at a large clinic in my hometown. I thought I loved the PA route, until I went and shadowed an interventional cardiologist and now I am beginning to rethink my choice to switch to PA. I really really want to do cardiology, and possibly even the minimally invasive procedures such as angiograms, stenting, and cardioversions. I love the MD I'm working with and he is also trying to convince me switch back to the pre-Med route because he says he can see potential. I am extremely stressed about this decision because I don't want to regret it either way. Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated. 

[Jdabrowski]

You are young enough to handle the extensive years of schooling. Pre-reqs are essentially the same. Talk in length with both MD's/DO's and PA's and really get to know what they do. Tell them what you are specifically wanting to do in your career like you did above and ask the PA if they do that and what the extent of their practice is. Another thing I would really ask is how each person's quality of life is and if they could go back would they still be in the same thing and why. This could help you a bit on your way.

[EMEDPA]

if you want to do interventional cardiology do MD/DO.

[MT2PA]

You have 2 years of undergrad left, it's not like you need to make this decision today.  Shadow more PAs and MDs in other specialties.  Personally, I say go MD.  But this is NOT a decision you need to stress over.  The requirements as far as classes go are nearly identical so it shouldn't be something that you need to choose a diverging path at this point.  Deep breaths.  This isn't life or death.

[boli]

My choice between MD and PA came down to factors outside of the clinic. In many specialties the scope of PA and MD are very similar. This begins to separate when talking surgery or the sub-specialties like cards. I advise you really consider not only the work you want to do, but how that work will effect all aspects of your life- family, free time, income, etc. Becoming a cardiologist would be a LONG, EXPENSIVE commitment. 4 yrs med school, internal med residency, cardiology fellowship etc. Many MDs I've talked to spoke of how they felt like they had to choose between being a good parent/spouse or being a good doctor during this decade of training... that's not a choice I wanted to be forced to make. I decided that I wanted to pursue PA due to the flexibility to move laterally, the personal flexibility it fosters, and the fact that you're "done" in 2-3 years and can start practice... amongst many other reasons. You have a lot of time before you need to finalize a decision. Shadow as many providers as you can and ask them a lot of questions about their lives and jobs. It will all work out ok. 

[pastudentw]

I think everyone here can agree on the advice to continue shadowing many different types of healthcare providers. My first reaction to your post was, what if you shadow outside of interventional cardiology and find out you could be very interested by another specialty within healthcare? If you find that after shadowing many different specialties and you are still dead set on interventional cardiology, then yes definitely go MD/DO.

Some of the main reasons I chose PA versus MD was that I knew I wanted to have a family and be involved. I personally did not want to have a child during medical school or residency and I wouldn't have wanted to wait until being completely done with the whole MD schooling commitment. Many people obviously have kids/families successfully while in medical school/residency but it wasn't something I was down for. I also have no interest (currently but I guess anything can change) in owning a private practice and I've never felt the need to have the doctor title. These are just a few reasons I chose the PA route. I'm very interested with inpatient medicine and if you are wanting to do procedures, PAs often do all kinds of procedures as first assist in the OR, or completely on their own in clinic or in the ED. 

[MyNameWasUsed]

if you wanna do the big boy procedures then you gotta go to big boy school. 

 

 

[EMEDPA]

8 hours ago, MyNameWasUsed said:

if you wanna do the big boy procedures then you gotta go to big boy school. 

 

 

that is a bit harsh, although it has some truth to it. Definitely applies to interventional cardiology. There are PAs doing diagnostic caths, but none doing interventions as far as I know.