SMcG8 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I am a current 1st-year PA student getting ready for rotations. I have always thought one of the coolest aspects of being a PA is that you can switch specialties without having to go through a residency program. I can easily see myself getting bored of practicing in the same specialty and often thought I would like to try to experience many different specialties. As they say - variety is the spice of life. Obviously this is different for everyone's personality, preference, mobility, salary, etc. but I was just wondering if there were any of you that have bounced around from specialty to specialty and loved it? Hated it? Did you end up returning to the specialty you "thought" fit you best? How has changing specialties helped/hurt you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 9, 2018 Moderator Share Posted June 9, 2018 I have always worked in urgent care or emergency medicine. switching specialties is getting harder every year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newton9686 Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Not to go against Emed but it is still an option, atleast where I live. Working as a hospitalist I’ve been approached by Cardiology twice, infectious disease, and I already found a second job doing primary care on the side. I’ve only been out of school for a few months. But my area is high need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UVAPAC Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I have been out of school for 5 years. I have worked in Occupational Medicine, Orthopedics (non-surgical), and Urgent Care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco714 Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Good point..E...he may have superficially got you. My hospital was notorious for having pa and np boop and bop around. Like a Damn swap meet.I myself went into gu.. First job.. 5 years.. Now off to job two (finally).. In you guessed it..gu. I like the variety. Not to go against Emed but it is still an option, atleast where I live. Working as a hospitalist I’ve been approached by Cardiology twice, infectious disease, and I already found a second job doing primary care on the side. I’ve only been out of school for a few months. But my area is high need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidpresentable Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I’m still waiting for someone here to complete two residencies and split their time in both disciplines. Eighth wonder of the world right there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HanSolo Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I have only read on this forum that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to switch specialties. Haven't quite observed that in real life, but I am not sure how easy it was, say, 10 years ago, compared to today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyPA Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I would imagie that some of the ‘difficulty’ being lack of willingness on the PAs part to take a pay cut going from one specialty to another and starting back at the bottom of the pay scale. I will get to find out in a few months when I retire from military medicine, a good mix of primary care, urgent care, occupational and operational (remote) medicine and start looking for my next gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Six Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Family Med and Urgent Care. I did some gigs in ER and a dabble of occ med but never really considered myself working in that specialty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgriffiths Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Current job/specialty definitely makes a huge difference if trying to change specialties. Going from orthopedics, sleep medicine, etc. to family medicine or some other primary medicine job may be more difficult that going FM to cardiology. Personally, I've worked orthopedics and then family medicine. Don't plan on making any changes any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camoman1234 Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 FM/UC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittykatufl Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Endocrinology and Gastro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmchel Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 I'm starting in Urgent Care next month. I was in inpatient psych for 1 year. I took the psych job out of lack of opportunity here in KY and it hurt me in my search when I was looking to break out of the specialty. It took me quite a few months to find an Urgent Care willing to take me on. It was basically like applying as a new grad again. NOT fun. From my recent experience, I would suggest you go as general as possible* (FM/UC/ED/etc.) for your first job. If I could do it all again, I definitely would. *Unless you're positive of the specialty you want to be in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelseff Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 I always wanted to go into Primary Care (IM specifically) but I was weak in ortho so I took a PM&R job right out of school which IMO, tremendously helped my ortho exam and procedure skills. I did that for about 7 mos then I worked in GI/Hepatology because I did a rotation in GI and Liver Tx while in clinicals and found it interesting. I did that for a year then I worked in IM with an HIV subspecialty with a good friend, an MD. He and I shared a mentor (HIV Specialist) who passed away while I was in PA school so we decided to reopen his practice and see the pts I knew for over a decade so it was a bit of a labor of love. Unfortunately it was a small private practice that made it difficult to pay bills so I joined a larger PC practice (where I am now) for more $ (yeah don't hate, congratulate).Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator LT_Oneal_PAC Posted June 12, 2018 Moderator Share Posted June 12, 2018 On 6/10/2018 at 7:56 AM, kidpresentable said: I’m still waiting for someone here to complete two residencies and split their time in both disciplines. Eighth wonder of the world right there Won't lie, it has crossed my mind to do a CritCare fellowship after I finish my EM residency since I still have some more GI Bill to burn. Right now I've only practiced FM and EM. I'll probably always only do very generalist fields, but have been really tempted to seek out an infectious disease job from time to time. I've missed some aspects of FM more than I thought I would, especially not being interrupted in my thought process every 5 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 12, 2018 Moderator Share Posted June 12, 2018 6 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said: Won't lie, it has crossed my mind to do a CritCare fellowship after I finish my EM residency since I still have some more GI Bill to burn. Right now I've only practiced FM and EM. I'll probably always only do very generalist fields, but have been really tempted to seek out an infectious disease job from time to time. I've missed some aspects of FM more than I thought I would, especially not being interrupted in my thought process every 5 minutes. also consider a trauma/critical care fellowship. I only know 1 PA who has done 2 postgrad programs. he did general surg and then went straight into CV surg. He works in the ER now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisephillips Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I have had three: Pain management 2 years then switched to Orthopedic Surgery for the last 11 years. Have done ER/urgent care moonlighting as well. Have found the PRN positions are harder to find in Northeast Ohio however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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