Another PA Residency Thread...

[PAtoMD]

So, I just ended my first year of PA school.  This most recent quarter, I have been struggling to know if I made the right decision whether I want to be a PA or if I should have gone to Med school.  I have read several posts on here, as well as, done other research on this topic elsewhere.  After much deliberation, I believe I am right where I need to be.  However, the idea of a residency has intrigued me.  I feel as if it may be the compromise I need between PA and Med school.  My worry going into the medical field as a PA student is that I will not have the competency to make important decisions.  I am also concerned my medical opinion will be overlooked due to my lack of experience.  Therefore, I feel that a residency could help bridge this gap. 

My questions to you all are:

·      What are your opinions on residencies after graduating from PA school? 

·      Are there certain ones to steer clear of?  Like is Residency X  more advantageous than Residency Y

·      Are there any specialties that a PA in the medical field would or would not benefit from?

·      Do employers know/ recognize residencies(Many are not ARC-PA accredited)? 

·      What do hiring MD’s think of residency trained PA’s?

·      How much more competitive of an applicant does a residency grant over a first year PA or NP?

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

[lkth487]

I'm a resident, soon to be a nicu fellow and I can tell you that PAs who have done a residency in neonatology are in very high demand.  It's a field that's been traditionally dominated by neonatal nurse practitioners but at this point almost 50% of our staff is PA.  Right now we have to to train the PAs ourselves and we do.  But someone who has experience or formal residency training is in massive demand and can pick where they want to go pretty much.  

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

2 hours ago, SR0525 said:

So, I just ended my first year of PA school.  This most recent quarter, I have been struggling to know if I made the right decision whether I want to be a PA or if I should have gone to Med school.  I have read several posts on here, as well as, done other research on this topic elsewhere.  After much deliberation, I believe I am right where I need to be.  However, the idea of a residency has intrigued me.  I feel as if it may be the compromise I need between PA and Med school.  My worry going into the medical field as a PA student is that I will not have the competency to make important decisions.  I am also concerned my medical opinion will be overlooked due to my lack of experience.  Therefore, I feel that a residency could help bridge this gap. 

My questions to you all are:

·      What are your opinions on residencies after graduating from PA school? 

·      Are there certain ones to steer clear of?  Like is Residency X  more advantageous than Residency Y

·      Are there any specialties that a PA in the medical field would or would not benefit from?

·      Do employers know/ recognize residencies(Many are not ARC-PA accredited)? 

·      What do hiring MD’s think of residency trained PA’s?

·      How much more competitive of an applicant does a residency grant over a first year PA or NP?

 

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

 

1) Absolutely do it. I’m not a new grad. Spent 3 years in the Navy doing operational medicine and family medicine and I’m still doing a residency.

2) Avoid anything that is 6 months, doesn’t have dedicated lecture time, or off service rotations. These aren’t residencies, they are cheap labor in exchange for some experience. Not the same thing as a formal educational experience.

3) I think all residencies are good if they have the right rotations.

4) most do. If not, explain it. I’ve never heard of potential employers not being impressed by the level of training a former resident has.

5) Most MDs in specialties that you would be doing a residency in (inpatient) aren’t doing the hiring most of the time, and some who want a trained monkey to do exactly what they do might feel you have some habits to break, but someone worth working for that what’s a independent minded clinician who follows the literature, they would love you.

 

6) All the residents ive known have had their pick of jobs.

[Cideous]

If I was a PA within 5 years of graduating PA school I would absolutely do a residency.  No question about it.  10 years from now there will be two tiers of PA's.  Those with residencies, and those scrambling for the scraps.  15 years from now PA residencies will be mandatory.  Just wait.

[medic25]

8 hours ago, Cideous said:

If I was a PA within 5 years of graduating PA school I would absolutely do a residency.  No question about it.  

Only a Sith deals in absolutes...

[PAtoMD]

12 hours ago, lkth487 said:

I'm a resident, soon to be a nicu fellow and I can tell you that PAs who have done a residency in neonatology are in very high demand.  It's a field that's been traditionally dominated by neonatal nurse practitioners but at this point almost 50% of our staff is PA.  Right now we have to to train the PAs ourselves and we do.  But someone who has experience or formal residency training is in massive demand and can pick where they want to go pretty much.  

Thank you for the response!   Would you still train a PA who had gone through residency or would you trust in the process?

[PAtoMD]

10 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

1) Absolutely do it. I’m not a new grad. Spent 3 years in the Navy doing operational medicine and family medicine and I’m still doing a residency.

2) Avoid anything that is 6 months, doesn’t have dedicated lecture time, or off service rotations. These aren’t residencies, they are cheap labor in exchange for some experience. Not the same thing as a formal educational experience.

3) I think all residencies are good if they have the right rotations.

4) most do. If not, explain it. I’ve never heard of potential employers not being impressed by the level of training a former resident has.

5) Most MDs in specialties that you would be doing a residency in (inpatient) aren’t doing the hiring most of the time, and some who want a trained monkey to do exactly what they do might feel you have some habits to break, but someone worth working for that what’s a independent minded clinician who follows the literature, they would love you.

 

6) All the residents ive known have had their pick of jobs.

Thank you and congratulations on your residency!  

 Did you have any trouble getting into your residency?  I read on another thread it was becoming increasingly competitive.

  Was it the one of your choice?  What are you doing a residency in if you don't mind answering. 

 

[PAtoMD]

8 hours ago, Cideous said:

If I was a PA within 5 years of graduating PA school I would absolutely do a residency.  No question about it.  10 years from now there will be two tiers of PA's.  Those with residencies, and those scrambling for the scraps.  15 years from now PA residencies will be mandatory.  Just wait.

Thanks for the response!

Would you elaborate more on this?  

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

43 minutes ago, SR0525 said:

Thank you and congratulations on your residency!  

 Did you have any trouble getting into your residency?  I read on another thread it was becoming increasingly competitive.

  Was it the one of your choice?  What are you doing a residency in if you don't mind answering. 

 

No I didn’t. Only applied to one, but I’m not your typical applicant with great grades AND 3 years of autonomous practice in FM within a hospital, solo practice on another continent, already had plenty of trauma training, experience teaching PA students/corpsmen, and prior experience in critical care as a RN. There were 8 at the interview, one other with experience, and certainly sharp new grads, and only me and one other got it. It’s competitive, but I wouldn’t say it was that bad yet.

EM.

[lkth487]

1 hour ago, SR0525 said:

Thank you for the response!   Would you still train a PA who had gone through residency or would you trust in the process?

A little of both probably.  Every place does things differently so there would be a short orientation period but likely they'd be able to jump right in. 

[Cideous]

1 hour ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

No I didn’t. Only applied to one, but I’m not your typical applicant with great grades AND 3 years of autonomous practice in FM within a hospital, solo practice on another continent, already had plenty of trauma training, experience teaching PA students/corpsmen, and prior experience in critical care as a RN. There were 8 at the interview, one other with experience, and certainly sharp new grads, and only me and one other got it. It’s competitive, but I wouldn’t say it was that bad yet.

EM.

8 at the interview? I wonder how many actually applied and were not even given an interview.........  Plus, your experience is not the norm.  The vast majority of PA's don't have anything close to what you brought to the table.  I think for the average PA applying, yea it's pretty darn competitive.  

[south]

That's me that keeps saying that.  I'm older and have some EM experience Pre-PA.  My grades in PA school were unimpressive (my school is very proud of how difficult their didactic year is and their low GPA) but I am a good writer and interview and had knockout clinical references.  I got several interviews but wound up just below everyone's cutoff. 

One of the larger less organized residencies got over 60 applications for 6-8 slots the past two years.  The big one with 15 slots interviewed over 30 of us (I forget how many apps they got but I can check if you want).  The well known ones with the super high acuity (take a look at that forum section) I wouldn't even bother with unless you are pretty much a superstar. 

It all seems to have changed in the last couple of years.  Get those damn grades.  

[JMann]

Do a residency. Or at least apply and try. You will not regret doing one. I'm finishing up my EM residency next week and I would do it again for sure. Can you get a good job without residency? Sure, but it's more difficult to get the training you will want. At this point, I'm fairly comfortable with anything that comes through the door. Seeing sick folks outside of the residency setting will have it's own challenges, but at least I've been prepared.

 

I foresee residency becoming more of the standard over time. Money will be the issue since most of the PA EM residencies are funded by the individual hospitals/systems. There isn't any ACGME backing like the physician residency has. That definitely makes it more challenging. 

 

The process is rather competitive if you don't have an outstanding application. I got an interview everywhere I applied, but I had good references and significant paramedic experience as well. I got passed over by a couple of places and that's fine because I think it's more of a "fit" issue. Some places are looking for the fresh-faced new grad with the 4.0 and other places want someone more "experienced." Be willing to move if you want in!

 

I found that lots of places(jobs, recruiters) have no idea what an EM PA residency is or that it exists. Sure, there are some jobs that recognize this and will snatch you up in a second. I can't tell you how many times I've explained to some recruiter what my residency training means, the skills I've gained and what kind of jobs that training has prepared me for. My new job is in a small 20 bed community ED, pays really well and I can see any pt I want. The recruiter for that job knew exactly what it meant when she saw I was completing a residency. She called me that day and they eventually ended up creating a spot for me even though they weren't currently hiring full time folks. That's the doors residency training can open. I'll be doing solo locums work as well, which I look forward to. 

 

 

 

[EMEDPA]

CONGRATS JMANN!. That is the job I wanted 20 years ago, but it took me 2 decades of "on the job experience" to work my way up to one. residency is definitely the way to go!

[PAtoMD]

50 minutes ago, JMann said:

Do a residency. Or at least apply and try. You will not regret doing one. I'm finishing up my EM residency next week and I would do it again for sure. Can you get a good job without residency? Sure, but it's more difficult to get the training you will want. At this point, I'm fairly comfortable with anything that comes through the door. Seeing sick folks outside of the residency setting will have it's own challenges, but at least I've been prepared.

 

I foresee residency becoming more of the standard over time. Money will be the issue since most of the PA EM residencies are funded by the individual hospitals/systems. There isn't any ACGME backing like the physician residency has. That definitely makes it more challenging. 

 

The process is rather competitive if you don't have an outstanding application. I got an interview everywhere I applied, but I had good references and significant paramedic experience as well. I got passed over by a couple of places and that's fine because I think it's more of a "fit" issue. Some places are looking for the fresh-faced new grad with the 4.0 and other places want someone more "experienced." Be willing to move if you want in!

 

I found that lots of places(jobs, recruiters) have no idea what an EM PA residency is or that it exists. Sure, there are some jobs that recognize this and will snatch you up in a second. I can't tell you how many times I've explained to some recruiter what my residency training means, the skills I've gained and what kind of jobs that training has prepared me for. My new job is in a small 20 bed community ED, pays really well and I can see any pt I want. The recruiter for that job knew exactly what it meant when she saw I was completing a residency. She called me that day and they eventually ended up creating a spot for me even though they weren't currently hiring full time folks. That's the doors residency training can open. I'll be doing solo locums work as well, which I look forward to. 

 

 

 

Congratulations on finishing your residency!

My advisor and faculty at my program tell me not to but when I read posts from people who have done them there is nothing but praise.  Everything you described to have after finishing is exactly what I want to attain from a residency.  

My only concern with a residency is that I won't be a competitive enough applicant.  

 

How many students were selected for your residency?  Also how long was it 12 or 18 months? Would you say a longer residency is more beneficial?

[EMEDPA]

programs want folks to go into primary care. that is why they discourage folks from applying to specialty residencies.

[camoman1234]

19 hours ago, EMEDPA said:

programs want folks to go into primary care. that is why they discourage folks from applying to specialty residencies.

Yes, so we can compete with NPs for that turf, but I totally disagree with schools telling PAs not to do a residency, what a shame. We want to make our profession as up-to-date and smart as possible, which residencies set us apart from NPs. 

[EMEDPA]

NPs are starting to get on the residency wagon too. we are way agead with probably 100 residencies across all specialties, but they are gearing up for more.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

37 minutes ago, EMEDPA said:

NPs are starting to get on the residency wagon too. we are way agead with probably 100 residencies across all specialties, but they are gearing up for more.

My residency takes both, but there were definitely more PAs at the interview and looking at their graduates there are more PAs accepted, but hard to say if that is bias or self selection. I imagine the latter

[EMEDPA]

also the trend is for pa residencies to take nps, but for np residencies to be np only...