Curious

[PACJD]

Just curious to see what your experiences have been on a different topic...

In your workplace, do you have your own office/workspace? Do you share it with anyone or is it all to you? Is it a common area shared between shifts or is it your own? If you do share, is it shared with other PAs, NPs, or docs? Or do you have an office at all?

I've talked with numerous PAs and it seems to vary widely. I had a few say they have their own office with "the nicest view in the hospital." Some say they share with other PAs/NPs. Some say they share with their CP. Some say they don't have their own office at all, just a common room where anyone can get work done. 

I know it is a silly question, but just curious on how your situations are. It does seem convenient to have a place to put your things and a quiet place to do your notes.

 

[Joelseff]

I have a private office with a view....of the parking lot hahaha... But so do the other providers (DO/MD). All the offices are the same size. Mine is pretty sparse and I plan on decorating it a little.

 

I'm the only APP (we use AHP). Only PA in Primary Care in the whole company. We have PAs in specialty practice though (Ed, Neurosurg, ortho, UC).

 

I'm treated like a colleague except for SP/CP rules and I don't get profit sharing or bonuses from meaningful use or QIP. But I have the same schedules as the Docs and I am in all the meetings except for physician only business meetings but I have input on practice procedures and policy.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DizzyJ]

My current job has a back office section with two provider cubicles.  So, I have my own cubicle.  The MA/LPN have workstations in the same room as my cubicle. 

In my last two jobs I had my own office.  One of them I even had an attached private bathroom. 

Prior to this I was in the ER and shared a "doc box" or row of work stations in the nurses station. 

[AbeTheBabe]

Own workstation, but share what I would call a large cubicle with the MA and surgery scheduler. Docs have their own office. Same goes for all the PAs.

[Reality Check 2]

Had a bit of everything over the past 25 years.

My own office in FP across the hall from SP. My own exam rooms too. Computer in each room. Nice set up.

Then a shared office with my ortho surgeon - which was SUPER when he got into yelling matches with senior partners and I was ducking for cover to get the hell out of a smallish room. We had countertop work spaces out by the patient rooms that we shared with rotating surgical teams depending on who was in clinic that day.

Then a shared office with an FP doc who truly believes there are 11 dimensions in our existence and he spends his night playing online role playing video games. He was married to wife NUMBER SEVEN and loved his dogs more than any wife. I had my own exam rooms - sort of. Regardless, a little slice of the Twilight Zone on a daily basis.

A rotating office at remote rural sites depending on who got relegated to that part of hell that day that week. Nothing private. Depending on the relative state of NOT connected on the internet and with horrid EHR it was a bit like camping and doing medicine with a Magic 8 ball. 

Have sat in the hall at a very unprivate cubby hole and am now not going to have an office at all based on severe lack of space at the VA - I will be a nomad..................... but I have a full team of RN, LPN and my own clerk and I won't ever see more than 14 patients a day - mind you, harder than snot IM patients - but at least a quantity stop.

I can see the value and the management of shared spaces but also truly value some privacy and an ability to disconnect from others when needed - and to actually get stuff done.

My dream space is my back deck with my dogs and cats and maybe no connectivity AT ALL when I want it that way.

[nixietink]

Our office has pods. I share a pod with my SP and our 2 MAs, but have my own computer and space.

[sas5814]

Nope. WE all rotate between 5 different urgent care centers (soon to be 7) so everyone shares work spaces. I had an office at my last job but it was my clinic.... :-)

[ventana]

If you are in primary care and you do NOT have your own office and CNA helper you are not appreciated by your employer and you are doomed......  from my experience....

 

Now I run a medical department with an offsite remote SP - I have the "corner office" so to speak, biggest one there (You can actually turn around and there is 2 chairs jammed in there with a desk..... no windows, nada on nice things..... I do have 2 reams of paper holding up my monitor-which I have to move if someone actually sits in the chair...) but they do let me out of jail at the end of the day so that is good!

 

My point is - the office space means something - I don't give a crap about status, but I do care about being able to do my job effectively and this means I need an office......

[MCHAD]

I had my own office in my first 2 jobs. One was a primary care clinic, the other was in oncology.  I now work in a rural primary care clinic and everyone shares the "provider office" which is pretty big with 3 work stations.  There are 5 of us that share it but one is our SP who is only at the clinic in person 2 days a month for about 6 hours, and 4 days a week there is only 1 provider in the clinic.  Every Wednesday there are 2 PA's/NP's working.

[swooshie1]

On 7/26/2017 at 3:36 PM, ventana said:

If you are in primary care and you do NOT have your own office and CNA helper you are not appreciated by your employer and you are doomed......  from my experience....

by "your own office" do you really mean "your own work space?"  if not, i respectfully disagree with your claim. I work rural primary care; nobody has their own office, not even the medical director.  we do each have our own desk space crammed into offices 3-4 providers per room. it has nothing to do with respect, but everything to do with trying to manage costs and provide affordable care over a cushy environment. we are a rapidly growing clinic but funding for building and land space is not available. we all manage to get our work done and do a good job, which is our priority.  I might feel spoiled (when I did my 4 month FM rotation as a student I was given a chair .... :-) )

[BruceBanner]

I have my own corner office with 2 windows, 2 desks, bookshelf, etc. It is really nice to have a private place to chart. I dont eat in here anymore though, because staff always finds me for some trivial issue which ends up taking my whole lunchbreak.

In the past Ive shared an office, been in a communal "work bay", and had no office.

[PACJD]

going off my first question, what is the parking situation like for you guys? At the old hospital I used to work at, we would get personalized parking spots mixed in right with the docs, in a separate lot near the hospital. My friend has a separate section specifically for PAs and NPs. Right now I'm just mixed in with the rest of the employees. What is it like for you guys?

[megscc]

On 7/28/2017 at 5:32 PM, NJPL1213 said:

going off my first question, what is the parking situation like for you guys? At the old hospital I used to work at, we would get personalized parking spots mixed in right with the docs, in a separate lot near the hospital. My friend has a separate section specifically for PAs and NPs. Right now I'm just mixed in with the rest of the employees. What is it like for you guys?

Funny story and actually kind of insulting...initially, the facility I work at had all the physicians and "APPs" (their words, not mine) parking in the same gated lot.  A few months ago, we get an email that says this lot is now for physicians only because, and I quote, "the physicians are complaining there are not enough spaces for everyone".  So all NPs, PAs, CRNAs got kicked out of the parking and have to deal.  So now, I have to dedicate abotu 10-15 minutes every morning to finding parking because it is sparing around here.  Good thing the physicians in my group hate this place and we are leaving in the Fall to a brand new building. 

[Reality Check 2]

6 minutes ago, megscc said:

Funny story and actually kind of insulting...initially, the facility I work at had all the physicians and "APPs" (their words, not mine) parking in the same gated lot.  A few months ago, we get an email that says this lot is now for physicians only because, and I quote, "the physicians are complaining there are not enough spaces for everyone".  So all NPs, PAs, CRNAs got kicked out of the parking and have to deal.  So now, I have to dedicate abotu 10-15 minutes every morning to finding parking because it is sparing around here.  Good thing the physicians in my group hate this place and we are leaving in the Fall to a brand new building. 

At least you don't have to PAY for parking............ I had to at the huge hospital I worked at in Texas. Docs didn't but we did. 

Nothing like having a chunk of your paycheck taken out so you can park.

Same hospital - they KEPT the first 40 hours of overtime pay in some sort of "fund" they tried to explain - basically said if we quit and screwed them somehow - they had money. 

And this was 25 years ago - hasn't really improved over time.

[megscc]

8 minutes ago, Reality Check 2 said:

At least you don't have to PAY for parking............ I had to at the huge hospital I worked at in Texas. Docs didn't but we did. 

Nothing like having a chunk of your paycheck taken out so you can park.

Same hospital - they KEPT the first 40 hours of overtime pay in some sort of "fund" they tried to explain - basically said if we quit and screwed them somehow - they had money. 

And this was 25 years ago - hasn't really improved over time.

That's terrible! I will stop complaining now lol

[Reality Check 2]

I don't really think "business" understands what matters to employees and how things are perceived - taking away something to give to someone else without equal restitution. This happens in all fields, not just medicine.

We have bred out common courtesy, professionalism and communication over the years. Folks feel like drones instead of members of something. People are treated like replaceable cogs.

Corporate medicine makes this worse. 

Someday the whole thing will implode hopefully and we can go back to Practicing the Art of Medicine instead of producing revenue --- A girl can dream........................