OB/GYN PAs in the South?

[OBGYNPAC]

I posed this question in the State and Specialty specific boards, but I feel like this gets more traffic

I have been an OB/GYN PA for over 5 years and am looking to relocate to NC or Virginia. I have worked mainly in an inpatient setting but have done some outpt clinic in OB, GYN, and family planning.

When I do a basic job search- nothing comes up for PAs in my field.

Do you find that PA's aren't used as much as NPs or midwives in the South? Do I have to do some cold calling? Or would I have to consider another specialty if I choose to move?

[BirdDogPA]

Not to discourage you but I dont know of a single PA working in women's health in my state, though Im in what would be considered the deep south. Doesn't mean you cant be the first though! 

[ALC0313]

I'm a PA in central FL and yes ARNP's and midwives are used more around here. I'm not sure about the rest of the south but in general I think ARNP/CNM have a hold on the OBGYN market. With your experience though you could easily fill those positions- send your resumes to those postings with a cover letter explaining the benefits of PA training.

 

[karebear12892]

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told that here in South Carolina, PA's are not permitted by law to participate in labor & delivery. We do have some PA's working in OB/GYN, but they only see patients in the clinic for routine follow-ups. No hospital rounds or OR duties. The women's health market here seems dominated by nurse practitioners, but perhaps that will change. 

[anewconvert]

As I recall NC law allows us to do delivery but it is not explicitly spelled out, whereas it is explicitly spelled out for midwives, so my experience when trying to squeeze into an OB job was that hospitals won’t credential us even though we can legally deliver. 

 

I think you are going to end up cold calling a lot of places and then doing a hell of a sales job on the docs. If you can find a practice that does a lot of gyn surgery and utilizes other docs in the practice for firstbassist you could make a solid case that your value, even if the hospital won’t credential you to deliver, is still there in freeing a physician to see patients while the practice still gets a first assist fee on a surgery.