underserved Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 When I first look into the PA profession, I thought wow- lateral mobility, better work hours, great pay, and respect. Unfortunately, these are things of the past. I graduate in a few months and seriously thinking about taking the mcat later this year. For the pre PAs pls shadow and research the PA profession before u dive in; if u have any doubts just apply to medical school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted July 19, 2012 Administrator Share Posted July 19, 2012 What an all-around waste. Waste of your time and money, waste of the PA slot that could have gone to someone who was willing to make a career of being a non-physician provider... an all around waste. This is part of the reason I tell anyone under 30 to go to med school: if they are dedicated enough and confident enough to ignore the advice, then they either really know what they're getting into, or they're beyond help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToppDog Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Uhm, maybe you should take your own advice and shadow some MD's too, before you make the same mistake twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 It is really unfair of you to post this on a forum which people who applied to PA schools multiple times w/o success read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jen0508 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 *Pause*........ so what about all your loans from PA school? would you work a few years and pay them off or defer them for 7-8 years? O_o How is lateral mobility a thing of the past? I dont know where you got that statement from. I'm about to start a job with great pay and the Dr's there are very respectful of midlevel providers. I will work 3-4 10hour shifts a week and the rest of the week I will be home chillin. I would defintely say I will have respect, great pay, and great hours. You just have to find the right job. Dont settle for the first offer you get out of school if it is not the specialty you want to do and the pay that you expect. Alot of people jump at their first job offer and end up working in a field they hate or getting crap pay. Know your worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiaroscuro27 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 There's nothing "unfair" about the post; people are denied acceptance to PA school for many reasons. It's just sad that the OP has arrived at the end of his training only to find out that the PA profession is not for him. It sounds like you based your decision to go to PA school on false premises. I suspect you will find the same issues if you decide to go to med school: respect, pay, hours, etc. It's all a matter of perception, I guess. I just landed my first job out of school and I feel like I hit the jackpot! Of course, I refused to accept anything less than what I know I deserved. I wish you the very best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discogenic Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Although I don't agree with everything, I don't see anything wrong with this post either. It's a real reminder to pre-PAs to do their homework. Lateral mobility will likely remain an option, at least for some time. The work hours were foreseeable and any confusion here gets chalked up to lack of research. Pay-related issues were also fairly predictable, at least within a reasonable range, so there shouldn't be any surprises there either. And the respect thing will vary job to job I suspect, so landing the right position is obviously important. Since the medical school application cycle is long, not unlike PA school, Underserved will likely have an opportunity to work as a PA for awhile. Who knows, maybe there will be a change of heart. But I would advise anyone in this situation to pursue medical school sooner rather than later, because the more time that passes, the more complicated life gets and therefore the more difficult it will be to return to school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted July 19, 2012 Moderator Share Posted July 19, 2012 Agreed with jen- if you have loans, you'd do best to try to find a gig as a PA that will help pay these off, then re-evaluate your decision to pursue med school. It's just gonna give you so much more debt that you don't need, but I understand having a change of heart at the end of your training. There are jobs out there with great scope of practice and a very collegial environment with your docs- I feel fortunate to be in such a situation with my job- the only reason I'll leave is when my fiance finishes her residency, and we'll strike out for even greener pastures. Are you just not finding the jobs you want in your area? It's been repeated before on the forum, best coined by EMEDPA: There are three factors with your first job out of PA school: 1. Salary 2. Specialty 3. Location With very rare exceptions, a new grad can choose two of the three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underserved Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 U guys r all great and I really appreciate ur input n they r all valid. I'm not happy in which our profession is heading. We r being burned by the md n The np. Just my opinion... I will work for a year or two to Pay off my loans then if my mcat score is good enough will pursue med school. Btw I'm 34 n single. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
physasst Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 They aren't things of the past. Hardly. Lateral mobility still exists. I am transferring into my 4th specialty as a PA. 47.1% of PAs have changed specialty at least once.... Respect is earned, not given. That holds true for all of us. INCLUDING docs. Better work hours? You're kidding right......Pay is still very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andersenpa Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 U guys r all great and I really appreciate ur input n they r all valid. I'm not happy in which our profession is heading. We r being burned by the md n The np. Just my opinion... I will work for a year or two to Pay off my loans then if my mcat score is good enough will pursue med school. Btw I'm 34 n single. What specifically is wrong with where our profession is "heading"? If you provide some details you will get some answers from members here who actually know about these things. Depending on what field you enter as a doc, salary, respect, and hrs may not be what you think they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forgiven4889 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Um this post is ridic. You havn't even started work yet so you can't make assumption on a career that you havn't even started yet in. That's like saying that you don't like a food that you have never tried. Work first then make an opinion. Adding PA school debt plus your med school debt will be astronomically out of control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaston Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 U guys r all great and I really appreciate ur input n they r all valid. I'm not happy in which our profession is heading. We r being burned by the md n The np. Just my opinion... I will work for a year or two to Pay off my loans then if my mcat score is good enough will pursue med school. Btw I'm 34 n single. If you have a friggin keyboard, USE IT PLEASE! Perhaps learn to type. It's like trying to communicate with a 14 year old. Ugh, painful to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 As a pre-PA applying for a second time I find this post to be legitimate. I don't agree with the better hours statement : lateral mobility, but I do agree about threats to the PA profession. I pay more attention to the professional forums then the pre-pa and time and time again I see a substantial amount of posts about various scenarios threatening the PA profession. I mostly blame it on weak representation from the AAPA by my observations. There's always a thread in here proving time and time again that NPs have better political power and lobbying than PAs and repeated posts from discruntled PAs regarding their SP. unless something is done to address this swiftly we will lose momentum and possibly take a step backwards from NPs and our remain stagnant or fall behind on our scope of practice compared to NPs. Can't take someone off disability? Non stop legislation issues, you handle the easy ones, I'd rather see a doctor, name change issue not being addressed, the list goes on. So I can see how someone can have a change in heart. But not for the reasons the OP stated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underserved Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 No matter how competent n qualified we r as clinicians we will Always b labeled as the assistant. I would trust all of u seasoned pa to care For my family because I kno Pa r just as good a provider but what the public thinks does hold some weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underserved Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 I'm using my iPhone to type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underserved Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 Btw this idea that most goes to Pa school simply cus they want to be a Pa is becoming less accurate. Half of my classmates r med school rejects. They bombed the mcat. However by no means is Pa school inferior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaston Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I'm using my iPhone to type. Yeah, but we aren't texting each other. My iPhone has a QWERTY keyboard with this amazing function called auto-fill. Try it. Soon. Please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primadonna22274 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 OP: as someone who is in medical school after 12 yr of PA practice, who has felt much of what you feel, I would like to defend you...but honestly, the text-speak is so horribly distracting. I'm on my iPhone too FYI. Don't be lazy. It doesn't work any better in medical school than it does in PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meganash Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I don't know what area you live in, but where I am many patients PREFER to see a PA. And the hospital I am finishing my clinicals in is swarming with PAs, some of which are more highly respected than the doctors because of their personality and wealth of knowledge. The majority of docs love PAs here. I finish school in a month and have had 4+ offers from awesome doctors who WANT to teach me and help me grow in their speciality so that I can function at the same level as them. As someone else said, respect is earned. Find what you like and put in the work, you will get respect. No one is going to trust/respect you as a new doc either until you show them what you can do. "Better work hours and great pay"? As a new grad you get good work hours/no call with decent pay, or work the hours and make the big bucks. Not many jobs are going to hand you everything with no experience. Perhaps your issues have more to do with your insecurities of "being the assistant" rather than issues with the career. If you want to be a physician, than go for it! But your ideas about the career are wrong, at least where I live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meganash Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 P.s. - The majority of physicians I have been working with have said if they were to do it again they would go PA. The grass is always greener... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaston Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Don't be lazy. It doesn't work any better in medical school than it does in PA school. ^^^^^ This ^^^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMD16 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 PAs r liked MD r respected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiaroscuro27 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 PAs r likedMD r respected Totally disagree and sorry you feel that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaston Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 PAs r likedMD r respected .......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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