GhanaFtrPA Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Greetings all! I'm new to the site and was hoping a first of few posts would help guide me. This past summer, I volunteered for Operation Smile in Ghana, a free patient cleft/palate surgery for qualifiers. Long story short, it was amazing and life changing. The surgeons let us come enter the room in scrubs and watch the surgeries live! I know I want to be part of this somehow. I've thought about PA school the past year, but now wonder, is there a path in the PA field that would allow me to do these surgeries? Or partake on some level? I can't imagine a more rewarding life than taking 2 weeks out of the year to make these volunteer surgeries possible for communities that need them but can't afford. I hope my heart is in the right place enough that you will forgive the vagueness of this post, but is doing a residency after PA school in plastic surgery (facial reconstruction?) an option for what I want? To simply participate in the OR, do I need many years of specialization before I can join these programs, or could I join shortly after completing PA school (i.e. 2-3 years post)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briepm Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 In short answer to your post, PA's can and often do work in surgery. To do that SPECIFIC kind of work overseas as a PA would be difficult unless you know of an organization that does that work and utilizes PA's in the way. Some international organizations use PA's and some do not - it's organization and country specific. I think your heart is absolutely in the right place. I did a surgical mission in Guatemala and it was incredible. It sounds like you might not have much other health care experience however, so I would first encourage you to get a job where you're helping people every day and see if you get that same feeling. My point is, every subset of health care is still "doing good." Even if you decide to stay in plastic surgery when you finish, tons of underpriviledged kids in the states need that help too. You can also think about pediatric oncology, trauma, or the burn unit - all places you could employ your skills and make a huge difference. I'm happy to see your enthusiasm - that's a wonderful thing. Just remember that you have lots of options open- don't set your sights too narrow. Best of luck as you get started. By the way, if this is seriously the only thing that you want to do, consider med school or dental school (you can specialize in maxo-facial surgery, I have a friend that did that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhanaFtrPA Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Wow, great reply. Now that you mention it, I can't say its the only thing I want to do. My thought process a few months ago was I wanted to do some line of work in medicine where the benefit in a patient's life is immediate. More or less (eg 3 months to a year). Doing Peace Corps now and I do enjoy what I'm doing, but teaching Junior High School kids does not have a payoff I will see in my lifetime. Little things here and there, and we are making progress, but I won't know the impact I had on them in the long run. One of the reasons its a great organization. But I'm coming to learn myself better, and I hate to say, I prefer a more "instant gratification," like what comes with surgery. That was some of the logic ("instant" is not the right choice of word). I think I phrased it "Do the most good with the time I have" in my journal for my motivation. PS Good guess on the experience. You're right. Just inspiration and a bit of related college work doing biomedical engineering under my belt. I was thinking EMT for a year before school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted January 29, 2013 Administrator Share Posted January 29, 2013 I'm now working as a family practice PA to support my habit of my family spending time in Guatemala doing medical missions. I went the first time as an EMT, and will be going back again for the 5th time in April, my second time as a PA-C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeg Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I go to Honduras with BMDMI. They own a hospital there and have 15 - 20 surgical teams a year go there and perform surgeries. I am able to scrub in and help. Check them out at www.bmdmi.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclayjohnson03 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I would love love love to do this when I finish school. This is part of my dream. Thanks for the post guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briepm Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Rev Ronin, who do you go with??? I would love to go back to Guatemala in a full PA-C capacity after school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.