Possible job switch

[t2091]

I have been out of school for 2.5 years now and working in ortho/sports med the entire time. My first job I was at for around 1.5 years. Learned a lot and enjoyed the people I worked with but it was a newer practice and not terribly busy plus there was some very sketchy things going on I didn’t agree with. The one doc I worked with left soon after me secondary to the same problems. I took my second job and have been here 7 months in ortho/sports med at a much larger and busier practice. I’m his first PA and to be honest I’m miserable. The doc is a nice guy but I dread surgical days and he’s really made me dislike surgery, to the point where I don’t want to work in surgical ortho anymore. Clinic days are ok with him but overall it just doesn’t feel right. At times he’s had me work on his PowerPoints, call hospitals for his deliquent op reports etc. My concern is leaving so soon and having it look bad when I’m applying to new places. 

[thinkertdm]

If you want to continue in this area as a pa leave now.  If you wait, you will have extensive secretary experience, and he's not going to wake up one day and think "man, those PowerPoints were kick ass, let's see how he does in the OR".

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

44 minutes ago, thinkertdm said:

If you want to continue in this area as a pa leave now.  If you wait, you will have extensive secretary experience, and he's not going to wake up one day and think "man, those PowerPoints were kick ass, let's see how he does in the OR".

I second the motion.

[t2091]

To be fair this isn’t an every week occurrence. I’m seeing patients and doing a lot in the OR but certainly that behavior/attitude towards me irritates me. It’s more of he’s just not enjoyable to be working for and I think he’s just miserable with his own life right now and that translates over.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

33 minutes ago, t2091 said:

To be fair this isn’t an every week occurrence. I’m seeing patients and doing a lot in the OR but certainly that behavior/attitude towards me irritates me. It’s more of he’s just not enjoyable to be working for and I think he’s just miserable with his own life right now and that translates over.

Let me ask you this, how would he react if you didn’t do his PowerPoint because you had other things to do?

[thinkertdm]

Power points aside, you are a trained medical professional, not an administrative assistant.  Despite what he thinks, you are not there to help him through his day, you are there to provide medical care.

i had a mentor tell me to shift the administrative things I was doing to the administrative people- scheduling, call backs, normal labs, etc- because my time is much more valuable than that.  My job was to see patients, NOT function in some sort of "children's table" quasi provider role where I did all mostly just busy work while the grown ups did real work.

[mgriffiths]

14 hours ago, t2091 said:

At times he’s had me work on his PowerPoints, call hospitals for his deliquent op reports etc.

Just to add to what others have been saying: you are one of the highest paid and most highly trained administrative assistants in the country...or he isn't paying you enough as an ortho PA.

1 hour ago, thinkertdm said:

Power points aside, you are a trained medical professional, not an administrative assistant.  Despite what he thinks, you are not there to help him through his day, you are there to provide medical care.

and I wish more PAs would take this stance.  My first (and absolutely awful) job coming out of school was in ortho and I ended up getting canned (definitely could have filed for wrongful termination and other things, but decided against) when they learned I had resumes out looking for a new position.  About 2 months before I was terminated I had a "progress" meeting with my SP who kept talking about how I was supposed to function just like a resident.  I agree with this notion from an autonomy and learning perspective, but I am not in training to become an orthopedic surgeon and will NEVER be paid as such - therefore I did not sign up to arrive at clinic an hour before it opens to prep everything for the surgeon, stay late to finish her work, etc., etc., etc. - on salary so I was essentially doing it for free.  Yes, she pays me to help her day go more smoothly, but to expect me to put up with the crap a resident has to is RIDICULOUS!