Breadth of work experience vs dedication to same area?

[alysd]

Hello everyone and happy holidays. I have a question for anyone who may be qualified to answer or have close experience with admissions committees. I know that opinions differ, so it may be hard to generalize, but

- would you say that PA schools tend to look more fondly upon candidates acquiring a diverse breadth of different work experiences, or

- demonstrate dedication to a particular area for a longer time? 

My situation: I started working for an allergy & asthma clinic 4 months ago, and now have an opportunity for a new job at a dermatology clinic. Both would be the same job title and approximately the same ratio of hands-on assisting in addition to scribing. Prior to this I worked for the same hospital network for 2 years, primarily with a nephrologist for most of that time, so it's not common for me to jump to a new job after only a few months. Wondering if it would be more advantageous to gain experience in another specialty, or continue to explore the specialty I'm in? I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have for learning, but don't want to seem flighty. 

Thanks in advance.  

*Editing to add that my eventual goal is to work as primary care / internal med PA. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by alysd

[UGoLong]

As far as PCE, breadth is likely more important than depth, assuming you stayed in each place long enough to learn something. The goal of PCE is to gain experience and make sure that this is the right career for you. Being in more areas might help you do that.

Good luck!

[greenmood]

Do you work with any physician assistants right now? If not, that would be a reason to move on, assuming the new place has a PA in the office. The goal of PCE isn't for you to identify the specialty you prefer by bouncing around and trying everything, it's to help you determine if caring for other human beings in this capacity is what you want. You should be working directly with patients (to make sure you know what caring for a sick person is like) and you should be working directly with PAs (to make sure you know what the job is like). After that, if you want to explore specialties I would recommend shadowing. Of course, that's easier said than done these days.

 

Two cents.

[alysd]

32 minutes ago, greenmood said:

Do you work with any physician assistants right now? If not, that would be a reason to move on, assuming the new place has a PA in the office. The goal of PCE isn't for you to identify the specialty you prefer by bouncing around and trying everything, it's to help you determine if caring for other human beings in this capacity is what you want. You should be working directly with patients (to make sure you know what caring for a sick person is like) and you should be working directly with PAs (to make sure you know what the job is like). After that, if you want to explore specialties I would recommend shadowing. Of course, that's easier said than done these days.

 

Two cents.

Thanks - yes, I've been fortunate to have already gotten to work directly with PAs for a couple of years in my previous job, and gathered a really strong understanding of what the role entails and that I definitely want to do it. Thankful to have gotten to do a fair amount of shadowing as well. I've already identified what area I want to work in as a PA (adult primary care for a Native American health clinic) so my main aim at this point is to continue gathering experience and insight that will support my success in that. Mostly just brainstorming at this point if I should move on to this new opportunity or stick with where I'm at longer. You are correct though that in my current office there aren't any PAs (only MD), but at the prospective job they do have one, so that is a very solid factor to take into account. Cheers