non surgical ortho jobs

[doughboy]

Based on everyone's experience applying for ortho jobs.... What % of ortho PA jobs does NOT require assisting in OR? Also how common are ortho urgent care jobs?  if surgery assist is usually required how many days a week is it? Thanks for any insight!

[Arthropathy]

I can only think of 2 positions I've seen with little to no OR time.

-working for a hand surgeon

--in patient Ortho at a level 1 trauma center with residents

[mgriffiths]

I'm pretty new in ortho, but during PA school there were two PAs who were non-surgical, but they had also been employed by the practice for over 10 years and were close to retiring.  I believe one of them even had a medical issue that made surgery very difficult for them, so clinic only was considered a work limitation.

[OrthoPAErin]

I know this is a later reply so I hope it’s still helpful. My first job was at an academic medical center with a large ortho residency program. I was in the OR one day a week but about 2/3 of the other PA’s we’re not in the OR. There are also more and more ortho urgent cares popping up, but they typically want previous ortho experience. Your best bet is to look at major hospitals with ortho residents, which also tends to be a great place to learn ortho since they’re teaching hospitals. 

[mmiller3]

Very late response, but I work for the Dept of the Army, and I am strictly clinic-based. I had the option for OR time, but chose not to.