jmclean Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 I work for a locum tenens staffing company and have a new job for some vacation coverage for a PA perfusionist. Must the PA have an additional certification to function as a perfusionist? Is this certification really rare? How can I locate PAs with this certification? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 11, 2018 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2018 Someone with both certs would be very rare. I am guessing you are looking for 1 of 10-15 individuals in the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted September 11, 2018 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2018 dumb question - what is a perfusionist?? and what do they infuse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 11, 2018 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfusionist they make better money than most PAs. I don't know why one of them would be a PA unless they were a PA first. The average Cardio-Pulmonary Perfusionist salary in the United States is $128,145 as of September 01, 2018, but the range typically falls between $115,012 and $139,915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 11, 2018 Moderator Share Posted September 11, 2018 Just now, EMEDPA said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfusionist they make better money than most PAs. I don't know why one of them would be a PA unless they were a PA first. The average Cardio-Pulmonary Perfusionist salary in the United States is $128,145 as of September 01, 2018, but the range typically falls between $115,012 and $139,915. and the big money move is to buy your own machine and bill hourly for that as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayPAC Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I knew a former perfusionist who went to PA school because being a PA was his dream. He didn't make through school, could not handle the stress. I think working as a perfusionist is a lot more stressful than working as a PA, but maybe I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator LT_Oneal_PAC Posted September 12, 2018 Moderator Share Posted September 12, 2018 23 minutes ago, BayPAC said: I knew a former perfusionist who went to PA school because being a PA was his dream. He didn't make through school, could not handle the stress. I think working as a perfusionist is a lot more stressful than working as a PA, but maybe I'm wrong. As long as you properly heparinize the patient and properly calculate the protamine dose, it’s pretty autopilot. Also gotta infuse volatile anesthestic since the patient isn’t breathing either. A lot like CRNA. 98% boredom, 2% “AAAGGGHHH” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACJD Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 I worked with many perfusionists and became friends with a lot of them. The certification takes around a year to get, but they said it is extremely difficult to find a job and many places will only hire those with experience. There are usually only 3-4 per hospital in hospitals that do CABGs. They do get paid well, 90k-100k in my hospital, and I think the average is more around the realm of 110-120k. As stated above, the job is pretty routine once you know what you are doing, so it isn't too interesting. And the ones in my hospital would constantly get b*tched at by the CT surgeons and I would stand there quietly, feeling bad for them. As they were telling me, the main negative about this job is that it is extremely difficult to find a job. And when you want to leave you really can not, as you are risking finding another position elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpackelly Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Army had an add on program for PAs wanting to do perfusion a number of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Yup. 1990 Army Grad and one of my classmates went to pump school. I wonder if he is still working as one and not a perfusionist because I can't find him in any PA searches. I didn't realize until this thread it was a stand alone certification Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorRRT Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 18 hours ago, jmclean said: I work for a locum tenens staffing company and have a new job for some vacation coverage for a PA perfusionist. Must the PA have an additional certification to function as a perfusionist? Is this certification really rare? How can I locate PAs with this certification? Curious as to what the venue is, can’t see the utility of a PA perfusionist in the OR. Are you looking for CVICU/ECMO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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