New Grad Trauma/Surgery Contract

[SirScottric]

Hello all! Got a contract for my dream job at a level 1 trauma center that is 2 miles from my house. Located in a low cost of living, urban area in Michigan. Seems like a pretty good contract but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. My time will be split between the OR first assisting and floor work. I don't know the exact split but they said there's a fair amount of both. They have a 3-5 year training plan (depending on how quickly I progress through it) that includes first assist training, floor training, overnight training, procedural training (chest tubes, arterial lines, central lines, pericardiocentesis, etc.), ICU training, and burn ICU training. This hospital does not have a surgical residency so the PAs get first dibs on everything. I would help with overflow from general surgery, neurosurgery, and peds surgery as needed. I believe there are about 15-20 PAs in the trauma department that I'll be working with.

Salary: this is an hourly position. For the first year, the hourly rate is $43.00 for anything up to 40 hours (just over $89,000 for the year). After 40 hours, the rate goes up to $64.50. For the second year, the rates goes up to $45.00/$67.50. Holiday pay is the overtime rate. There is a shift differential of 6.5% and 8% for second and third shift respectively. It sounds like I'll have the opportunity to work as much overtime as I want.

Call/Overnight: I believe there is no call (going to double check). There is a rotating overnight schedule. They said they don't put new grads into the rotation for at least 1-2 years depending on comfort level.

CME: $1,500 per year with 3 additional days off for conferences. There are weekly lectures offered that count as category 1 CME hours.

Bonus: $2,000 sign on bonus paid out in full after working for 1 month.

Benefits: 4 weeks PTO. Health benefits, 403b, dental, vision, life insurance. Malpractice insurance with tail coverage. I don't have the specifics on the benefits (am going to ask for them today) but I am less worried about it because of the location of the hospital and this being the specialty I want.

The only thing I was thinking about asking for was a bit more money. I do have 4 years experience as an occupational therapist working with acute care orthopedic and trauma patients. I figured I could use this experience as a sell to increase the salary a bit. However, they did say in the interview (before I received the contract) that this offer would likely be lower than most other offers I see. With the amount of training I get, this seems almost like a residency with normal salary. My other thought was to take the contract as is and renegotiate after the 2nd year after my contract is over and I have some experience under my belt.

P.S. - An alumnus from my PA program has been working here since she graduated last year. I've spoken to her at length about the job and she has had good things to say about her experience. She says the trauma PAs are a close-knit group and most of the surgeons are more than willing to teach and help a new grad at the drop of a hat.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

 

[corpsman89]

Wow. This seems like a great opportunity and it seems like they really VALUE PAs. 

Also, its a good sign that you are paid hourly. 

[beattie228]

What your starting hourly rate lacks, your experience will make up for hand over fist in my opinion. It can't be stressed enough how important it is to have a supportive and nurturing environment for your first post-PA position. The gaps in your knowledge and fundamental PA skill-sets are expected to be ironed out by the time you're 'seasoned' after your initial stent as a new grad PA.

 

The fact that one of your alumni grads works there and speaks highly of the position speaks volumes. 

[anewconvert]

That sounds like a great first job. If my general surgery job is any indication of your hours that overtime pay is going to come in nice. In my week that would be an extra $650 every week, minimum. That’s an extra $30k a year working 50 hour weeks, which honestly isn’t hard to do as an inpatient surgery PA. 

[SirScottric]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm happy to say I accepted the offer yesterday as is. 

[beattie228]

Congratulations! Report back to us once you're all settled in to let us know how you're faring. 

[jeepgirl]

Congrats! 

[SirScottric]

3 hours ago, beattie228 said:

Congratulations! Report back to us once you're all settled in to let us know how you're faring. 

I will most definitely do that :)

[SirScottric]

As promised, I am reporting back in with an update.

Credentialing took a couple of months so I started working in mid-July. I was given about 3 and a half months of strict OR time and training with my 6 trauma surgeons along with getting to work with other general surgeons, oncology surgeons, vascular surgeons, and neurosurgeons. I feel like my skills and knowledge base have grown tremendously from getting to work with a large pool of surgeons from different specialties. Fortunately, a majority of the surgeons I work with have been helpful and willing to teach me since they know I am a new grad.

In November, I transitioned to a 7 on/7 off schedule and have been floor rounding for our trauma patients on the general med/surg floors. They've had me paired up with one other PA when I'm rounding which equals out to me seeing between 4 to 12 patients a day depending on our volume. Each day, I meet with one of our trauma surgeons to paper round on my list of patients and then round in person with the surgeon on any patients I have questions/concerns about. I've been getting a lot of good hands on training from my fellow PAs and nursing staff on wound care, burn care, chest tube management, and wound VACs. 

If I have any down time, I respond to trauma calls with whichever PA is assigned to the trauma bay that day. I haven't been doing a lot during the calls because there tends to be a lot of cooks in the kitchen (surgery residents, ER residents, ER physicians) but my senior PAs include me in the action whenever they can.

I've regularly been getting 20-30 hours of overtime each month which has been extremely nice. I don't count on getting OT each month but so far I've pretty much been able to pick up extra hours whenever I want.

All in all, I am extremely happy with my decision to accept this position. The people are great, the work is interesting, and I have a ton to learn. I look forward to going in to work everyday and I hope this never changes. My colleagues tell me that a level 1 trauma center in the city will break anyone and everyone eventually. It may be 2 years down the road or 20 years down the road, but they tell me eventually everyone reaches a breaking point to how many people and children they can see die in front of them.