anon_pac Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Hi All, I've been offered two great jobs and am unsure which to pick! Both are at teaching hospitals with similar hours, pay, etc. One is strictly cardiac surgery (OR, ICU, SDU) and the other is Thoracic (mostly clinic and floor with some OR time). I know the two fields are widely different except for the fact they're both located in the chest. Is it true if you work in cardiac surgery you have the skills to change into any surgical sub-specialty later on? What about thoracic? I'm a little hesitant to take the thoracic job (even though it's in a better location) because I was not exposed to any thoracic on my CT rotation and don't know exactly what it will be like once I start working. I'm not too worried about cardiac being a "dying field" because the hospital has a high enough volume that it shouldn't see much of a decline over the next 5 or so years vs. other smaller hospitals nearby. I'm also well aware of how hard it is to get a cardiac job without EVH so if I take the thoracic job I might not get another cardiac opportunity again. I've heard that both are good for new grads, despite being a subspecialty, because you still see a lot of renal failure, fluid/lytes mgmt, and other medical issues to deal with since the patients are very sick. Is this true? If I've always had my heart set on cardiac (no pun intended) do you think I'd enjoy thoracic? Also, for you veteran PAs out there: is there anything you wish you'd asked about prior to you first job before you signed on that I might not think of? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdavis Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Stay cardiac... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliss929 Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I have shadowed 2 PAs in Thoracic Surgery, and I thought it was extremely interesting. They assisted on esophagectomy, lung transplant, lobectomy, and hiatal hernia surgeries, to name a few. Lots of variety... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JMPA Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Having worked as a cardiothoracic surgery PA and covering both cardiac and thoracic surgery i will say that imho go to cardiac. Thoracic is boring compared to cardiac and you will have many more complications to learn from. Yes, i believe that once experienced in cardiothoracic surgery on can do pretty much any field with confidence. That being said let me warn you, it is a tremendous undertaking for anybody new to ct surge, it forces one to learn how to learn. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzerd99 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I have been a Cardiac and Thoracic PA for 9 years, so here is my two cents. In cardiac surgery you will learn (by force if necessary) a large amount of surgical technique, medical management, and over all confidence in medical decision making as compared to thoracic only oriented practice. But....all this comes at a price. The hours you will spend at work will probably be almost double what a thoracic only practice does. With a thoracic only practice there a much fewer emergencies that will come in in the middle of the night / weekends as compared to cardiac. This is important to know if you have a family or if soon want to start one, as it is harder to do so when you work in cardiac. There are long days in the OR even when you ARE NOT the one on call, there is weekend rounds, holiday coverage and so forth. My intention here is to not sway you one way or the other, but wanted to give you a point of view that you may not have seen or realized from someone who has lived it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anon_pac Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Thanks, everyone! I ended up accepting the cardiac job over the thoracic position. I am really excited about it! Any recommendations for books to get prior to starting? I was thinking about buying the Bojar book because I used it on my clinical rotation, but wasn't sure if those in the field knew of something better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdavis Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Once again.. Marino's. Will Make the unit make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JERRY Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I think you made the best choice for your future Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Bunnell MSHS PA-C Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 In cardiac surgery you will learn (by force if necessary) ... That is the quote of the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHU-CH Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 In cardiac surgery you will learn (by force if necessary) a large amount... Early in my career a wise person told me: always pay attention to what the surgeon is saying but try to ignore the manner in which the message is being delivered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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