Author Archive
Pros and Cons of being a Physician Assistant
Posted by: | CommentsI 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.
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.
Visitor POLL – please let us know who you are.
Posted by: | CommentsDuke University PA Program
Posted by: | CommentsTo apply to the Duke PA Program you must use CASPA or Centralized Application Service. After you have finished that application and submitted it, Duke will send you an e-mail that gives you authorization to access the Duke PA Program supplemental application. In addition you must have 1000 hours of direct patient care experience. Duke is very specific about what activities are accepted as “direct patient care” so be sure to consult their website to know for certain that your experience will qualify. You will need three recommendations, one of which must come form someone who has seen you provide patient care.
Usually, you must complete CASPA application after May 1 and before mid-October the year before you would enter as a student. You have until mid-November to complete your supplemental application.
The class that entered Duke in 2007 were chosen from 570 applications and had the following group qualifications:
- Over-all GPA 3.1-3.5
- Natural Science GPA 3.0-3.5
- Total Natural Science Credits 42-68
- GRE General test scores – Verbal 460-570, Quantitative 550-670, Analytical Writing 4.0-5.0
- Months of full-time patient care experience 10-34
Check back regularly as we will have all the other programs here eventually and we hope to distribute podcasts of interviews with administrators from as many programs as possible. Seven States – Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming do not have PA training programs.
Physician Assistant Income Potential
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Physician Assistants in 2005 ( the most recent stats year) graduated from 135 programs (now 136). After passing the national certifying exam (NCCPA) they were able to practice. Ninety programs give masters degrees on graduation and the others give either a bachelors or associates degree.
In 2004 the median annual income was $69,410. For new graduates it was $64,536. The lowest 10% earned <$37,320 and the highest >$94,880. The middle 50% were between $57,000-$83,500.
Those working in hospitals had a median income in 2004 of $70,310. Those in physician offices and outpatient clinics had a median income of $69,210.
In 2004 there were 62,000 PA jobs. There were more jobs than PAs to fill them as many PAs held more than one job. Employment in physician offices accounted for 50% of all PA employment. Hospitals accounted for another 25% and outpatient care centers in HMOs, colleges and universities, prisons, professional schools and self-employment accounting for the remaining 25%.
What does it mean to Subscribe
Posted by: | CommentsThere are three ways you can read the content of this blog. You can come here and do it. That is required for everything written more that 10 articles ago. For the last 10 article and every new one, you can subscribe via real simple syndication (rss). You must have a place to receive it on your computer or as I prefer on the web. Two of the best web-based feed readers are Bloglines and Google Reader. If you have Gmail it is quite simple to have a GReader also. It is part of the account, just set it up. You have to go to the Bloglines site to subscribe there.
Once you have a reader, anything you subscribe to will be forwarded to to the reader when it appears on the site. You can divide the reader into folders like email and direct a feed to an individual folder. When you want to read what was posted just go to your reader, click on the folder and then the link to the feed and it will open in the reader for you to consume.
Don’t want that much “high tech” stuff. Then subscribe via email. There is a box to enter you address. Don’t worry, no spam from us. If you subscribe via email, you will only get the most recent posting, which will be 1-3 times a week. You can read it, delete it or unsubscribe from it anytime you want.
The Feedblitz service delivers postings to our email subscribers. Feedburner (owned by Google) delivers our rss feeds to the readers.
If you have questions about this please email us at thepapath@gmail.com.
The Pros of becoming a PA
Posted by: | CommentsHere is a list of what we see as some of the Pros of become a Physician Assistant
- It is a top 10 occupation and expected to stay that way until 2014
- Through 2014 the occupation is expected to grow 27%
- Income is excellent (see article on income potential)
- Good working conditions
- 140+ different PA programs to choose from – every state except Delaware, Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont have at least one program
