Simplify Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 So, the lateral mobility of the PA profession is one of its hallmarks. Does anyone have experience working in two different specialties simultaneously? For example- a full time CT surgery gig while moonlighting in EM? Or maybe vice-versa? Or two part-time jobs in totally different specialties? This would seem like an excellent way to make a very good paycheck, as well as to prevent burnout in a particular area. Is this feasible? My concern would be feeling overwhelmed in a given specialty because you are spreading yourself out a bit. I would love to hear from anyone who has done this or knows of someone who has done this Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted April 23, 2013 Moderator Share Posted April 23, 2013 A classmate of mine is doing that very thing- ortho is her primary job with moonlighting in the ER. Darn good money. And as you might expect, her ortho skills help out quite well in the ER. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SocialMedicine Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I guess I could see a PA in ortho also moonlighting in a field that is somewhat related like urgent care or sports medicine. Personally, I would be a bit hesitant to have my medical care run by a guy who was both an emergency medicine and family medicine clinician etc. There are specialties for a reason. I met two physicians from Canada at a conference recently who were "family medicine" who also did ER and GYN. I did not gain confident in their ability to manage any of the three. I think PAs can switch from field to field ... but running 2 at the same time takes a lot of skill and would be hard for anyone without a great deal of experience in one of the fields. I suppose if you are in a setting where you very much serve as an assistant ... for example if in CT surgery you mostly perform in the OR and with procedures then I guess it might not be as demanding as if you were needing to keep up to date on managing hepatitis and gynecology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToppDog Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Maybe that is a reflection of those two doctors. I know many FP providers that also do shifts in Urgent Care or the ED, & I suspect this would even be more common in rural areas. A lot of what gets seen in the ED could easily be classified as primary care anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I'd love to hear more experiences. I have it in my head to do an EM or IM residency and then work 12hr shifts with some per diem in another area like UC/FP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted April 23, 2013 Moderator Share Posted April 23, 2013 I have a friend who does full time infectious dz(HIV/HEP c mostly) for a county health dept and does 20 hrs/week in the e.d. as well...yup, 60 hrs/week.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I worked urgent care/EM and family practice all at the same time when first out of PA school. All were part-time jobs and each helped me gain needed skills since I have always worked in rural and underserved areas. It is doable. The EM portion was mostly fast-track but with expectation to be able to work up really sick medical patients. It was worth its weight in gold to get the experience. I was not expected to see trauma or true emergency patients, which frustrated me as I felt I was useless for those cases to help out when they came in. It is a reason I left EM because I felt I needed and wanted more EM training, but it was not available in the rural area I live, and the docs were not available or willing to train further. An EM residency was not feasible either. UC/Family medicine sees similar patients but the EM experience helps me now when we get our emergencies here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JMPA Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I guess I could see a PA in ortho also moonlighting in a field that is somewhat related like urgent care or sports medicine. Personally, I would be a bit hesitant to have my medical care run by a guy who was both an emergency medicine and family medicine clinician etc. There are specialties for a reason. I met two physicians from Canada at a conference recently who were "family medicine" who also did ER and GYN. I did not gain confident in their ability to manage any of the three. I think PAs can switch from field to field ... but running 2 at the same time takes a lot of skill and would be hard for anyone without a great deal of experience in one of the fields. I suppose if you are in a setting where you very much serve as an assistant ... for example if in CT surgery you mostly perform in the OR and with procedures then I guess it might not be as demanding as if you were needing to keep up to date on managing hepatitis and gynecology. your an idiot, most ct pas perform critical procedures on critical patients with a surgeon even in the hospital, know what your talking about before running your mouth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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