warriors Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 I am almost done with my medical assisting program. I was wondering if working in a certain speciality is more beneficial for PA school. I was thinking about working in a family practice or urgent care will allow me to see all types of patients and injuries/diseases versus other specialties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hcruz496 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 I have worked in both urgent care and family practice. Hands down you’ll learn more in a family practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-SGuy Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 FM will provide a better foundation I think because you will be involved with patient follow up. In UC its treat em and street em and often times you have no idea if the treatment worked/didn't work. Working in internal med would be good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hintze85 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 I worked in urgent care and I always thought it was the best. While we didn't follow too many patients past 1 or 2 visits I was able to see a little of everything in medicine. In one day I would be taking X-Rays, cleaning lacerations, debriding a burn, and running an EKG. The number of skills that I learned while in that job will help me a lot when it is time for me to work directly on patients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warriors Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 Thanks for the replies, it really helped me out! Since, I graduate next year I think I'm going to start with urgent care because they seem to have the most flexible hours and are open on weekends and late night. Then, I will eventually move into family medicine after I graduate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACrankset Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 I would consider EM as well. The spectrum you see it broader than urgent care and you will learn about more acute patients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hcruz496 Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 One good thing about urgent care is there are usually less staff, in my experience, usually a single provider and 1 or 2 back office people and a front desk person. This can give you more opportunities to learn as you will likely be expected to know the whole office whereas in family practice we tend to each stick to one role. You will just see a lot of the same problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollivander Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 The downside of working in emergency medicine is that you might get lost in the crowd and find it more difficult to create the necessary relationships with providers if you need letters of recommendation. I thought about getting experience as an ER tech but the above reason was the main reason I chose not to. I ended up taking a medical assistant job with a pain clinic and I really enjoy it. Urgent care would probably provide for the best experience that you can use as a PA though. It also depends what specialty you see yourself working in as a PA. It’ll be difficult to get jobs in some highly coveted specialties though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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