Trampled27 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 (edited) Hello, I graduated PA in 2017 and have since been working in psych. I have a psych background and thought it would be a good fit, but after over a year in the field I know it is not where I want to be long-term. I am interested in switching to orthopedics, though have little background in ortho, and did not do an orthopedic rotation. I am curious to hear from anyone who has transitioned to orthopedics from an unrelated specialty, with limited ortho background. Is this possible, how were you able to accomplish this, and how was the first 6 mo -1 year in practice? It is difficult to sell an interest in orthopedics with my background. In the few phone screenings I have had I talk about how the interest stems from suffering from sports injuries myself, some orthopedic shadowing I have done, how I enjoyed the OR during training, etc. However, it is so drastically different from psych that I am not sure I will have much success. The groups that have been willing to talk to me have been more rural and would require relocation within my state which would be fine with me. However, I would prefer not to move out of state at this time, so residences are not an option. I live in Minnesota, if anyone happens to have experience specific to this state. I appreciate any thoughts or advise. Thanks! Edited January 13, 2020 by dmasterman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthropathy Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 How do you know you want to work in Ortho? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoB Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 Are you inclined to want to do clinic/outpatient, or inpatient component, with/without OR time with either aspec? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trampled27 Posted January 16, 2020 Author Share Posted January 16, 2020 Thank you for the responses! On 1/14/2020 at 8:04 AM, Arthropathy said: How do you know you want to work in Ortho? It is what I believe would be the best fit for me based on shadowing and talking with other PA's. I want to be more hands on specialty dealing with more "fixable problems". I think I would identify with the pt population and work well with them given my own history of sports-related ortho injuries. I am not sure if these will be strong enough reasons for employers, and honestly I do not think I would know for sure that this is the best specialty for me, unless I was provided a job opportunity. Appreciate any advice you might have! Either ways of better understanding whether ortho will be the best fit for me and/or how to go about discussing my interest in ortho with potential employers. On 1/14/2020 at 7:06 PM, PAtoB said: Are you inclined to want to do clinic/outpatient, or inpatient component, with/without OR time with either aspec? I am inclined to do more clinic, given most of my prior experiences would be clinic based but I am interested in an OR component because I enjoyed the OR during school and being first assist (at least in gen surgery). Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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