Feb
18
Pros and Cons of being a Physician Assistant
ByI received an email from someone considering the PA profession. The person was wondering about PAs and NPs and the pros and cons of being a PA. I sent him a reply and I am adding it here.
While you are here take this short survey. It will open in a pop up and close when you are finished. Just click on the “Take Our Survey” below.
I have enjoyed being a PA and find these items to be the PROs:
- the pay has progressed from so-so to excellent
- acceptance and understanding of the profession is very good and has made being a PA very pleasant
- the working conditions are great and you get to work with the best and the brightest most of the time
- the work is challenging everyday, although some of it is routine, the responsibility never is
- I get thanked for what I do much more than 10% of the time
- I am delegated as much responsibility as I can accept. I have worked in clinical medicine my entire career
- there is great flexibility in what a PA can do. It is generally no hard to find a place to work if you choose to relocate. American PAs are sought after in Great Britain
The CONs
- I have to get at least 50 hours of CME a year. You can get junk but high quality is expensive and time-consuming
- You will never be “independent”. Even if you own the practice – you have to hire a doctor to be the supervisor and medical administrator
- Your skills should be as good as an M.D. but you will always be paid less.
- You have to take and pass a National Certifying Exam every 6 years.
Yes that does help. Yes I like to learn as much as I possibly can. That is why I want to move up to a higher level of medicine. I sort of feel like I’m on cruise control now at work that is another reason I want to challenge myself. I will look into the program you suggested. Thanks for the fast reply.
Bruce,
I wanted to thank you for taking the time to speak with me over the phone the other day regarding my pending PA application. I would definitely recommend you and your site to anyone who is considering entering this field. You have a wealth of experience that people can draw from and the fact that you are willing to make yourself available to people like me in order to assist them only adds to the utility of this site.
I will keep you posted as I continue to take my first steps down the “PA path”.
Cheers,
David
David, My pleasure to be of service. Thanks for being part of the “Getting Accepted” program on the PA Path
Bruce, hi! Thank you very much for such a detailed and swift answer. I think I should follow ur advice and make some shadowing job. Besides, I still have questions i.e. since I’ll be applying to BS in PA as a freshman, don’t think will be accepted to it right away and first have to finish prereq courses. As far as I understood it will take me two years before I even can apply for PA program, right? Another question is, do I have to take those prereq courses at the same college I’ll be futher doing my PA program or they can be taken anywhere else? Bruce, you have mentioned several colleges in NY. What do you think about Sunny downstate medical school? I’ve registered for their information session on September 14th. Another thing I’m not quite aware of is how long is the program in total including 2 years of time required to complete prerequisite classes? Let’s say if the program is 4 years, then what’s next? Internship? How long will it take me to start working as a PA? Once I get my license in NY do I have to work only in NY or it’ll be good within the US? Regarding ur 20- week course, I think I’ll take it once I’ve started taking the prerequisite classes. Thank you, once again, for your suggestions……
Btw, the reason I’m asking about sunny downstate is its all campuses are in Brooklyn, and I live in Brooklyn.
Wow, i’ve been trying to look for someone to answer my questions regarding me becoming a Physician’s Assistant. I’m in High School and I want my major to be PA. Can i go directly to MASTERS? or Do i have to finish my Bachelors first? What are some information and tactics you can give me to succeed well in college? Thank you so much!!!
Jessie, There are 3 types of programs for civilians. (the military has its own top 25 program) The associates degree, the BS degree and masters degree programs. If I know I want to be a PA, I would select a 5 year program that gets me a BS in 3 and a masters in 2 more all in the same place. Most of those programs are in PA and NY. Some are state programs and some are private. You have a steep learning curve post PA program as all it does is get you qualified to receive a license, then the real learning begins.
Hi Bruce, your website is great and your responses are even better. I have been an RN for 3 years in PICU but I am not interested in becoming an NP, however, the PA profession appeals to me. I have worked with both great NPs and great PAs. I recently relocated to California (seems like more of a nurse friendly state). What is your stance on RNs who opt to go the PA route versus the NP route? I have read on PA forums, which I have since stopped reading due to the increased negativity, that it would be a waste of time and money when NP school is an option.
Thank you in advance!
your problem I think, will be that you qualify for NP school with your current education and you might need 2-3 semesters more to qualify for PA school. After 5 years I don’t see a lot of difference between PA’s and NP’s in the ERs where I have worked. You get a masters either way and most NP programs are going to the PhD. here is the blog http://www.mypatraining.com to some fellows in PA school at UC Davis. They also have an NP track there and I think they take similar courses. Good luck on what ever you decide.
I am currently a Pre-Med student, I am preparing for my MCAT in April and have already picked what schools I would love to go to. However, I am now starting to doubt if whether medical school is for me. I know that the medical profession couldn’t be a better fit, I just worry that as a doctor I won’t have the home life I want. My question for you is how much time does a PA put in at the hospital or work place compared to a doctor?
Bruce, I have read the above statement in which you indicate that after 5 years, you dont see much of difference between PA’s and NP’s in the ER’s. Aforementioned, I would like to get your opinion on the salary. From a RN, would it be wiser to go straight to NP (since you are well familiar with the job)? or try an pursue a career in PA (and still get the almost-same pay with more liability)? I read about the pro’s and con’s and frankly, I’m stressing out about it.
If you are an RN already, going to a really great NP course is going to save you time and money. Who you work for and how you get mentored in your first couple of positions makes a huge difference. In the ER, you have direct access to the doc you are working with. You get critiqued on your thought process immediately so you learn how they think and see gaps in yours. Post graduate mentoring is critical to your development as a practitioner. Going to PA school is probably going to require you to take 2-3 full time semesters of courses to get the minimum to qualify for admission. You won’t need that for NP school. Taking some of them would make you a better NP like cadaver lab anatomy and microbiology. Liability is about the same for both professions. Nurses have typically made a little less even in NP dominant states but that depends some on your negotiating skills. The salary gap is slowly closing.
Pre-med likely won’t get you into PA school. The prerequisites for PA school are more rigorous because they expect you to come with a certain knowledge base. You only have 27-36 months to build on that. If you are switching from Pre-Med to PA, be prepared with some really good reasons and get some good recommendations. As far as time goes, you can count on 50 hours as a typical full time professional work week. If you are in an academic center and work for one of the docs with a clinic, research and other duties, you can expect 60-70 hours. People do that to get the reference and the institution name on their resume. If you want to work part-time, no real benefits, just practice clinical medicine 5 days a week, if you work 30 hours of seeing patients, expect 1-2 hours per day admin time. You can usually get a higher salary per hour because you are not drawing benefits. You can negotiate other untaxed benefits also. It all depends on your specialty. I know family practice docs who split a job, each working 20 hours of patient care and 3-5 hours of admin. The admin hours are usually unpaid because you are salaried. If you want to be in a surgical specialty, you are going to put in lots of hours at either level. When medicine was more male dominated, the career was compared to having a mistress. Lots of time, money and emotional energy are required to keep things happy.
Bruce,
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my comment. I am still in my basic classes in community college. I desire more than anything to be in the medical field. I’m thinking from RN to PA to a doctor. What suggestions do you have, to help me get more knowledge on the career. I.E, books? Non credit classes? Websites? Programs?
Any thing helps!
Sincerely,
Anna