Convo w/ NP has me doubting career change to PA

[Rocky1208]

After 8 years in marketing (and disliking a majority of it), I finally pulled the trigger on a career change and quit my job a couple weeks ago. I've been taking the science pre-reqs since January (about 1/4 done) and just started a CNA class. I don't have any HCE experience, so this is a total change for me.

I've shadowed several different healthcare fields and was feeling very good about my decision to pursue a PA career. Until I talked to a PA and an NP in who work in inpatient oncology.

After I explained my situation and plans to the NP, she rolled her eyes and said that she had seen people come in as PAs with limited healthcare experience. "And it never works out."

That really short conversation really made me doubt my choices, especially quitting my well-paying, stable job. I've enjoyed my prereqs, shadowing, and I want to make a difference in people's lives -- something I'll never get in marketing.

Career changers out there:

1. How was your transition to healthcare?

2. Do you feel that the HCE hours you had before you started PA school were enough?

This NP seemed like a bit of a curmudgeon, but I know that she's right to a degree. Just wondering if my anxiety is unfounded at this point and/or if I should be calling my boss to get my marketing job back...Would appreciate any thoughts/advice you have.

[Diggy]

How, can an NP, dissuade you from being a PA? They are two different professions with different paths to become a clinician. Go talk to a PA. Shadow a PA and gain some PCE to see if you really want to be in medicine. Did she also comment on whether or not she also witnessed her NP colleagues not work out or she's focused on the PAs? 

I've worked with PAs in urgent care who perform just as well as their physician counterparts. Same for the NPs we have on staff. Sole providers in the clinic. There are never 2 providers per shift. 

Also, there are thousands of PA students who land jobs before even graduating, so they are definitely thriving, and some employers are coughing up six figures for them.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Diggy

[Rocky1208]

I've been talking to and shadowing PAs. And nope, she only commented on PAs. It was more her focus on my career change from an unrelated field to healthcare that rattled me, not the focus on PA training. It had me questioning how feasible it is for a career changer to do well in the profession.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

46 minutes ago, Rocky1208 said:

After 8 years in marketing (and disliking a majority of it), I finally pulled the trigger on a career change and quit my job a couple weeks ago. I've been taking the science pre-reqs since January (about 1/4 done) and just started a CNA class. I don't have any HCE experience, so this is a total change for me.

I've shadowed several different healthcare fields and was feeling very good about my decision to pursue a PA career. Until I talked to a PA and an NP in who work in inpatient oncology.

After I explained my situation and plans to the NP, she rolled her eyes and said that she had seen people come in as PAs with limited healthcare experience. "And it never works out."

That really short conversation really made me doubt my choices, especially quitting my well-paying, stable job. I've enjoyed my prereqs, shadowing, and I want to make a difference in people's lives -- something I'll never get in marketing.

Career changers out there:

1. How was your transition to healthcare?

2. Do you feel that the HCE hours you had before you started PA school were enough?

This NP seemed like a bit of a curmudgeon, but I know that she's right to a degree. Just wondering if my anxiety is unfounded at this point and/or if I should be calling my boss to get my marketing job back...Would appreciate any thoughts/advice you have.

Whatever. This is all in the eye of the beholder. I’m an RN with several years of ICU, who has attended both PA and NP school, thus I have the truest view into the difference in education. She is full of crap. PA training is better and produces a better clinician at the onset. Nursing experience translates to medicine in that you can speak the language very well, you can recall prior experiences of X patient got Y treatment, but that is about as far as it goes. I could also tell you how the lead APP in our ICU is a PA that is starting a new fellowship because they have been very disappointed with new grads, including NPs who come from an ICU background. So all of this is very subjective and prone to personal bias, though I’d like to think I’m probably the least biased consider I went to RN and NP school first, then chose to leave it for PA.

[Rocky1208]

8 minutes ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

Whatever. This is all in the eye of the beholder. I’m an RN with several years of ICU, who has attended both PA and NP school, thus I have the truest view into the difference in education. She is full of crap. PA training is better and produces a better clinician at the onset. Nursing experience translates to medicine in that you can speak the language very well, you can recall prior experiences of X patient got Y treatment, but that is about as far as it goes. I could also tell you how the lead APP in our ICU is a PA that is starting a new fellowship because they have been very disappointed with new grads, including NPs who come from an ICU background. So all of this is very subjective and prone to personal bias, though I’d like to think I’m probably the least biased consider I went to RN and NP school first, then chose to leave it for PA.

Thanks for your insight. That's good to hear. Have you worked with any career changers / people with lesser HCE? I'm obviously going to get HCE to make sure this is right for me and be competitive for programs. But I'm still worried I might get in and not be able to hack it.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

24 minutes ago, Rocky1208 said:

Thanks for your insight. That's good to hear. Have you worked with any career changers / people with lesser HCE? I'm obviously going to get HCE to make sure this is right for me and be competitive for programs. But I'm still worried I might get in and not be able to hack it.

Worked with lots with less HCE/career changers. Some better than others. Personally I feel the person with their individual level of dedication, motivation, and ambition. Seen lots of HCE be crap clinicians with those without be great, and vice versa. 

[UGoLong]

I became a PA after decades as an engineer. Had to take all my prereqs in my 50s. Didn’t quit my day job until a few months before PA school started; thank God for community colleges and night courses. This is doable!

I did have nearly 20 years of volunteer and part-time paid EMS experience, which was important.

Yes, you can go from marketing to becoming a good PA. Or you can become an NP. Spend more time with each and make your own decision.


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[roundabout]

People make career changes all the time. Making one from marketing to PA is no different. This individual sounds jaded and unhappy with their own life. Keep the tenacity up with your pre reqs and don't let the naysayers bother you. 

[hustleforthePAC]

I'm a career changer that went from sales management good five figures into emt as dhce. It's been 2 cycles , 4 years with over 3k hours , I'm getting interviews but  and if i could go back i would gain dhce as an lvn then go to rn or direct masters in nursing so i can earn more while accumulating healthcare hours and apply to both np and pa programs.

 

The np sounds bitter and bias...Truth is with the few spots available for pa school, 23-47 spots from pool of 1200- 4000 students ad coms are only accepting the best of the best future clinicians that will become them in 2 years... The prospective pa students that are getting in have high quality healthcare experience hours as rns, paramedics, respiratory therapy etc

 

[MT2PA]

As someone who is currently working/training with a an NP (we are both new grads, she has nearly 10 years of nursing experience, I have HCE no PCE) I feel leaps and bounds more comfortable than she does.  

Point is, your conversation was a single data point.  Mine is a single anecdote.  Take it with a huge grain of salt.  FWIW plenty of new NPs aren't starting with any nursing experience other than what their BSN requires.  There are people who career change and go to med school.  It is what it is.  You've got to learn to filter out fact from fiction from personal opinion.  Hers is a personal opinion.

[Jdabrowski]

In my opinion that NP is just wrong. I know medical students who didn't have nearly the hours that I did. I went from pharmacy to PA. Your experience is what you make of it. If you want to be a PA don't let her stop you. Most NP programs are online and don't have half of the clinical hours that PA programs require. If being a PA is what you truly desire, do not let anything stop you. I have more than a few people in my class that are older and switched fields. They don't regret it at all no matter their age. You can do it. Just remind yourself why you are doing it. And always feel free to ask anyone on here for advice. 

[Guest thatgirlonabike]

I feel like the NP was right in a way.  Too many people rush through PCE because they are only doing it "to get hours."   Take your time.  Get your EMT or even better your Paramedic and actually do some PCE and invest yourself in it.  PA school was designed for healthcare professionals who want to further their career.  Become a healthcare professional first and then a PA.  

I KNOW there are a lot of people who will disagree with me.  But I worry with all these new schools popping up and some of them not even requiring a single hour of PCE then we are cheapening the profession.  The big thing that NPs have going for them is that they ALL have years of experience in healthcare before going to school.  

[Diggy]

3 hours ago, thatgirlonabike said:

The big thing that NPs have going for them is that they ALL have years of experience in healthcare before going to school.  

I am not disagreeing with anything you stated except for the bolded statement. I just graduated with my BSN Aug 24th at a top rated nursing program and I have the option to matriculate into their FNP program this coming January (2019) meaning I'll have less than 2 months of RN experience before I actually start the NP program.

I signed my leave of absence because I wanted to work as a RN to hone certain skills before I go into NP school. I miss starting IVs, hanging medications, and other nursing skills. Only reason I say this is because I witnessed providers not doing any of these except for doing sutures...especially in the ER. The Advanced Practice Providers are too busy assessing, diagnosing and planning patient care to actually sit down with the patient and start an IV, insert a foley/NG tube, give medications. I'm a task doer essentially. A task doer that understands the meaning behind certain nursing intervention.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Diggy

[EMEDPA]

59 minutes ago, Diggy said:

Only reason I say this is because I witnessed providers not doing any of these except for doing sutures...especially in the ER. The Advanced Practice Providers are too busy assessing, diagnosing and planning patient care to actually sit down with the patient and start an IV, insert a foley/NG tube, give medications. I'm a task doer essentially. A task doer that understands the meaning behind certain nursing intervention.

I prefer to work at small facilities so often find myself helping by putting in an IO or IV, starting nebs/bipap, giving IM/IV meds, etc. At my current job on night shift we have 1 RN in the dept. we can call another from the floor prn, but on a really sick pt it helps if the provider puts the pt on the monitor or does other things the RN normally does to speed up the process while the 1 rn does something else. 

[Diggy]

21 minutes ago, EMEDPA said:

...it helps if the provider puts the pt on the monitor or does other things the RN normally does to speed up the process while the 1 rn does something else. 

It makes the shift go so much better and easier and I can tell you we appreciate it. It doesn't go unnoticed.