bmoonpas Posted June 16, 2019 Share Posted June 16, 2019 (edited) Hello, As a PA student, I am interested in what it is like to be a PA in trauma surgery. What are your typical duties? What roles do PAs play in trauma surgery? What does a typical day look like as a trauma surgery PA? What are the average salary and benefits? What setting do you practice in (city, rural, hospital)? How do you find a job in this specialty? What contacts, web links, or specialty meetings are helpful for a PA in trauma surgery? What advice do you have for a PA student interested in trauma surgery? Thank you for you assistance! Edited June 16, 2019 by bmoonpas 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MediMike Posted June 16, 2019 Share Posted June 16, 2019 If you do a search on the forum there are a huge number of similar threads, good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted June 16, 2019 Share Posted June 16, 2019 As above, plenty of information out there. Or better yet, do a trauma surgery rotation. A first time poster with a laundry list of questions that can be answered with some research screams 'assignment for school'. Do some searching. Put in the work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD2012 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Does your program not offer a trauma surgery elective rotation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastudentw Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 13 hours ago, bmoonpas said: Hello, As a PA student, I am interested in what it is like to be a PA in trauma surgery. What are your typical duties? What roles do PAs play in trauma surgery? What does a typical day look like as a trauma surgery PA? What are the average salary and benefits? What setting do you practice in (city, rural, hospital)? How do you find a job in this specialty? What contacts, web links, or specialty meetings are helpful for a PA in trauma surgery? What advice do you have for a PA student interested in trauma surgery? Thank you for you assistance! I am a new grad who will be starting my first job in trauma surgery soon. If you have any interest in this specialty after graduation, it will be essential that you at least do your elective rotation in this area, preferably a trauma 1 center if possible. Typical day for me will look like rounding in AM (also covers acute care surg patients). The team is split into two teams that switch off taking the new trauma codes and evals. Rare OR assisting. Possible opportunities for procedures during trauma evals, ICU pts and the floor. Average salary/benefits can be found in the AAPA salary report. Finding a job in the specialty is very tough and they usually like to see prior experience or a residency. It also requires ACLS and ATLS certs. As with many areas where PAs work, it varies so widely. If you can do a rotation with a trauma service and then find a job opportunity from that, it will be your best bet (besides a residency). This is the only way I got the job that I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmoonpas Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 @MediMike Thank you for your encouragement! @JD2012 They do! I am a first year student trying to consider what electives I want to do, so I am just trying to put in some research now in order to have more information before deciding on which elective rotations I want to do as we begin meeting with our clinical directors. @pastudentw Thank you for sharing your experience with me! What is your experience with the role of PAs as first assists in the OR at level 1 trauma centers? Would you say that is rare or that it depends on the hospital? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastudentw Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 6 hours ago, bmoonpas said: @MediMike Thank you for your encouragement! @JD2012 They do! I am a first year student trying to consider what electives I want to do, so I am just trying to put in some research now in order to have more information before deciding on which elective rotations I want to do as we begin meeting with our clinical directors. @pastudentw Thank you for sharing your experience with me! What is your experience with the role of PAs as first assists in the OR at level 1 trauma centers? Would you say that is rare or that it depends on the hospital? Depending on the area, level 1 trauma centers tend to be associated with academic hospitals or have some amount of resident training which means having the PA as an OR assist is not a need. If OR assisting is what you are after, trauma surgery may not be the specialty you are looking for. Trauma surg may also often be combined or associated with a general surgery or acute care surgery service so you will have plenty of surgical patients but not necessarily OR time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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