PA vs. DO Route

[hlj25950]

First, ortho is not all that it's cracked up to be. Second, your chances or doing ortho after DO school are kinda low. Ortho prefers MDs traditionally. It's a super, insanely competitive specialty. 5 year residency. Zero work/life balance.

 

I'm married to an MD ortho (18 years), applying to PA school.

[KMD16]

I find ortho rather boring but to each their own

 

Agreed.

 

ID the problem. You fix it. Next patient? When the patient crashes. You differ to PCP or medicine house staff for management. Your job is done. I'm a surgeon. Go see your PMD. Good bye.

[KMD16]

First, ortho is not all that it's cracked up to be. Second, your chances or doing ortho after DO school are kinda low. Ortho prefers MDs traditionally. It's a super, insanely competitive specialty. 5 year residency. Zero work/life balance.

 

I'm married to an MD ortho (18 years), applying to PA school.

 

 

Ortho are still among top five higher earner/ medical specialty. Hasn't change that much.

 

Chances of matching Ortho are low for both allopathic and osteopathic medical student.

 

With multiple partner, the work life can be balance.

[Acromion]

I'll chime in as a recent grad PA just starting out at a rural ED. I decided to go the PA route after a few years working in the healthcare field in various capacities, including CNA, MA, and Pharm Tech. I was 33 when I graduated PA school. If I had decided to go the med school route, I would be almost 40 before I was earning a real paycheck and my debt to income ratio would be unmanageable. Here are some pro's and con's your husband might find helpful.

 

Pros: I had numerous job offers before I even graduated in just about every specialty and practice setting. I'm making a 6 figure salary in a desirable specialty right out of school and I work 12x12 shifts. I didn't have to do a residency, working 80 hours a week for 4 years making the equivalent of a fast food employee while my loans accrued interest. The location sucks, but the practice environment is good and the pay is great (you get to pick 2). I get to do a job that directly improves people's lives and most patients are very appreciative of the work I do. 

 

Cons: My education is underestimated and I don't get to use most of the knowledge that I busted my ass to master in PA school. My role is a workhorse to clear the ED of low acuity patients with straightforward problems. Some of the docs seem to think that I'm basically a nurse who's been trained to treat booboo's and sore throats. A couple months ago I caught a spontaneous carotid dissection that had been fast tracked to me as a headache. When the department e-mail came out, the credit went to the attending physician. Last month at the ED provider meeting, when I asked a question about a new protocol for charting EKG's, the department chair cut me off and said "this doesn't apply to you. You shouldn't be reading EKG's." My heart sank and I think that's the moment when I finally felt what it means to be a PA. I took an entire course on reading 12 leads. I read EKG's every day on my rotations, many of which I took with 3rd year med students. What should I do with that knowledge, just let it wither on the vine along with all the other apparently useless stuff I don't need to know as a PA? I understand where he is coming from, though. Even PGY1 interns must have their EKG's over-read by an attending or more senior resident, and I am not an intern. I'm a PA and I'm getting paid to make everyone's job easier, not add to their work. 

 

That leaves me with a question for some of the more experienced PA's who seem to enjoy a broader scope of practice: when/how does it get better? I'm more than willing to do my time in the fast track trenches, but I feel that all the while, I'm losing my ability to diagnose and manage more complex patients. I feel like I was much more comfortable seeing a chest pain patient 18 months ago when I was doing it every day on my ED rotation. There's a couple docs that will mentor me through level 2 patients, but most of the time the ED is too busy and they don't have the time. I'm keeping up on my reading, but that only takes you so far. Sooo how did some of y'all get to the point where you are seeing more interesting cases??

[primadonna22274]

Honestly it often takes changing jobs to improve scope of practice, autonomy, respect and pay. I found that I quickly reached ceiling within 2 years at most of my PA jobs. Being told you shouldn't be reading EKGs is absolutely insulting. Having your attending take credit for YOUR excellent pickup that SAVED THE PATIENT'S LIFE is something that happens all too frequently to PAs. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been in that position.

Ultimately I couldn't stand it and I went back to med school to gain knowledge and independence and my own damn license.

[EMEDPA]

there are some good rural ed jobs out there for pas. my state has 1 or 2. I work at one of them solo, see all comers, run codes, etc.

the jobs are out there but it takes some looking and considerable experience to land one. sounds like you need to find a new job if the docs don't think you can read ekgs. as vfar as working your way up the chain, you need to take a bunch of courses like atls, fccs, difficult airway, etc and land a job where pas work in main on a regular basis.your best bet would be to do an em residency if you can fit it in.

I changed jobs every 2-3 years for 15 years until I found the right one.