Currently I treat them the same, both when asking them questions or teaching them how to do things on the floor like pulling drains, dressing changes, and inserting Foley's. I try not to be an intense questioner and use the questions to find the place on where to start teaching. How do I know what stuff might be inappropriate or too advanced to expect from a PA student given I haven't gone to PA school and so don't know what was omitted from their education compared to medical students?
I am opening a small new clinic in Carmichael within the next month, and we are currently looking to fill a PA position. As this is a startup, it will initially be part time, but we hope to expand it to a full time position within the first year.
If you have a fluoroscope operator's permit, that would be tremendous. But if you don't, our clinic can offer the necessary documented clinical experience needed to qualify for the test, for which we will cover the cost.
So if you or someone you know is a PA in the Sacramento area and available for part time work, please contact me.
Update: it appears that I’m backwards in my thinking. I guess I’ll give the PAs a chance.
I’ve always used an MD and only in the last handful of years has it become almost impossible to find an MD/DO and every clinic always wants to schedule with their nurse.
I know this isn’t specifically RA related but RA is my biggest health issue. If I just needed a routine checkup or Pap smear, I wouldn’t care. But I feel like a nurse just doesn’t have the scope to treat a wide variety of conditions nor the judgement to see when different things are playing against each other (i.e. I also have treated depression and anxiety).
Any advice on if a NP or PA is acceptable as a PCP instead of an actual doctor?
Hi all, I am a generally well compensated EMPA. Really enjoying the practice of clinical medicine. One of the main problems with this career seems to be the glass celling on salary. In planning for the future, I want to be able to make more in order to give my family a better position in life and to also be able to take care of my mother who struggles financially. I think there is a salary cap on clinical medicine. I have considered further education with a DHSC or even an MPH in emergency management. consider working as a consultant or even in local/state / federal government role. has anybody done something like this? did you find it satisfying and was it a path that seemed to open up more career opportunities? not looking for something soon but more planning for a long-term approach. also interested to hear about alternatives that I haven't considered. of note, sales is less interesting although I know that there can be some significant money to be made there.
Sometimes I get unsure about if I’m making the right decision, so I just like to see why other people are going down this same path. Just looking for some reassurance and motivation.
It's been hard with COVID finding shadowing opportunities via LinkedIn/cold calling but any advice/recommendations would be wonderful!
Hello all,
TLDR: I am Ophtho PA, (History), any questions about the specialty?
I wanted to start a thread as there are very few threads out there for Ophthalmology PAs, and wanted to be a source of information for those interested.
I have been working in Ophtho for about 1.5 years, this was my first job out of school. This was not the specialty I was interested in coming out of school. I had zero experience. Initially it was ER or Surgery. But my wife got accepted into PA school shortly after I graduated. So I needed an 8-5 job while my wife was in PA school, and I took on the kids full time. I found it, sent resume, and hired on.
I graduated from the Interservice Physician Assistant program and we received about 10 classroom hours for Ophtho in school, and did a two week rotation in the field as well. This was my only experience, the hiring physicians understood this was going to be a learning curve. I spent the first 3 months shadowing and acting as pretty much a student. I spent the evenings study, reading, etc (I still do this quite a bit). I practiced slit lamp/fundus exams on the staff constantly.
After 3 mos, I had my own clinic starting with about 15 patients a day. My physician team made it very clear to me they would help with any patient at any time (I asked a lot of questions at first). Never one time, have they been bothered by questions/consults daily. Now I am down to a few a week.
I manage dry eyes, glaucoma, diabetic, macular degeneration, triages, preop/postop surgery, interpret ocular testing, etc.
Perform I&D for styes, remove corneal FB, remove periocular lesions, assist in blepharoplasty/ptosis repair, punctal plugs, punctal irrigation, conjunctiva and intravitreal injections.
Lots of cosmetics - botox, fillers, threads.
Currently working on getting approved to run lasers for glaucoma/diabetic management, pre-cataract surgery.
I see about 40-45 pts per day. I utilize 3 exam rooms, and have 3 scribes/work up techs. 90% of my notes are closed as I am walking out the room.
Pay: $225,000 (100K Salary, Monthly Bonus based on net receipts). I get 20% of -net receipts minus three times of my monthly cost to practice (10K*3=30K). My first year net receipts to practice approximately 990K. (Of note: my first 3 mos working while shadowing I accepted a 50% pay cut - basically a very fast paced mini fellowship).
PAs in Ophthalmology can bring a role that optometrists cannot necessarily fill (can be state dependent). I feel
... keep reading on reddit ➡If I get a major in Kinesiology from Penn State, would I be able to get into a good grad school and become a PA? I know there are other factors but I’m an above average student looking to become a PA and wanna get there any way possible
I’ve been heartbroken for the last month. My dad isn’t biological… he was my English teacher who took me in when my parents disowned me. I’ve been calling him my dad for over a decade. Over the years he’s leaned a little conservative, but we’ve always found a way to meet in the middle on issues until recently. He retired from teaching a few years ago and started watching YouTube constantly. I knew Fox was his primary news source, but I ignored all of the warning signs that it was getting worse.
We had our first ever argument about 2 months ago regarding covid and the vaccine. Im a healthcare worker, yet somehow everything myself and my colleagues have seen firsthand are untrue because covid is a hoax and isn’t nearly as deadly as “the media” claims it to be. Long story short, he ended up writing emails to me about how disappointing of a child I am and how he doesn’t want to be my dad any longer. He refused to talk with me over the phone, so never returned any of my phone calls.
I booked a trip to Florida in hopes of getting him to sit down and have a conversation with me, but I checked his Facebook profile today and am having doubts about attempting to help heal our relationship. He’s reposting multiple Q and Fox News memes nearly every hour, I fear he’s lost his fucking mind. He used to be a pretty rational guy, but now I’m scared of him. I’m afraid his isolation (being single and retired) has turned him into a spiteful, bitter person who is completely out of touch with reality.
I needed to vent, but any advice is also helpful… even if it’s telling me to move on. It’s painful because I don’t have a parent anymore. In some ways I feel worthless because every one of my parental figures has abandoned our relationship. I know I’m not worthless, but this wound cuts deep.
Hi there! Would love some advice on where to go based on our specific requirements.
We are an interracial couple (so deal with the challenges of that, presented by society). I'm a 30 year old who can work remotely, but need to have a decent overlap with US hours. Strong wifi is a must.
She is a 29 year old physician assistant who is on the debt forgiven plan in the US. Obviously, this plan becomes difficult to be on outside of the US - but any advice on how to navigate this would be appreciated! We're open to her pausing on the plan for a bit while we "get out" for a bit. She is fluent in Spanish.
Ideally, we keep our daily expenses as low as possible - but we can plan in advance for whatever the number is.
Access to good produce and good food is only other requirement!
Thanks in advance.
My hospital has a physician assistant (not associate) service, which is basically phlebotomy. They work 3 longs day per week (36 hours) and like any phlebotomy service don’t take any responsibility for not taking requested bloods when they are understaffed.
My ward manager told me this morning they make 35000 a year. That’s a kick in the teeth for nurses and junior doctors alike. That’s all.
As a graduate student (and premed), I work in lab which is in the same building as the medical school. There are a lot of actual medical students around for our lab who do research etc. So a new group of students walk in and one of them introduces herself as a "medical student..... in the PA program".
I'm like... that's not misleading AT ALL (in my head). In reality I just nodded my head and cringed. Like I get these physician**'s** assistants "study" medicine (albeit idk how one can do that in just two years) but why say med student when you can just say PA student.
Uh rant over.
Hey guys, I am currently a senior in High School and was accepted into the Pre-Physician Assistant track at Lock Haven University in September and have an interview on December 1 for the 3+2 program. Everything for preparation seems to be for after undergraduate and entering into a PA school, so I wanted to know if the questions and preparation will be different considering that I haven't had 4 years (or 3 if I get into the program) of undergraduate to prepare me.
Update: The interview was a lot less stressful and intensive as I thought it would be. In reality 15 of us applicants sat in a room with the Health Science director and one of the PA program teachers. They asked us our name, where we are from, something interesting about ourselves, and why we want to be a PA. Each person raised their hand to answer and those who didn't were eventually picked to answer. The next two questions: "What is something uncomfortable that you experienced and what did you do about it or wish you did about it?" and "What is your greatest strength and weakness for being a PA and this program?" were answered similarly with people raising their hands to individually answer.
After they asked us questions we had the opportunity to ask them questions back, with me personally asking about how the study abroad works within the program and whether or not the school has connections to sports teams for sports orthopedics. The entire interview ended with me being comforted, having a connection to these, hopefully, future teachers, and being sure of my decision to go to Lock Haven. Good luck to anyone who is in a similar position as I am!
Hello all! I need some opinions about my career choice. I’m currently in undergrad, my major is Spanish and International Health with a minor in Enviormental Science and Policy. I’ve always wanted a job in healthcare since I was a child. I decided on Physican Assistant in my junior year of high school. But I also have a passion for politics, it always been a passion of mine. My plan after undergrad was to do a dual degre MPH/PA program! I wanted to know if it sounded more applicable to do a few years as a physican assistant and then fully dive in policy analysis or if I can do both around the same time or if I should just settle on one. Thoughts? Thank you!
My doctor’s office recently took on a lot of physicians assistants (PAs) and when I call to make an appointment with my doctor I often end up seeing their PA instead.
I’d strongly prefer to see a medical doctor but I am usually too non confrontational to come out and say so.
For my upcoming annual check up though I have some specific questions about a rare genetic condition that this specialist doctor is uniquely equipped to answer and I want to talk to her about it directly, in private.
When I called the office and said I’d like to see a doctor the receptionist said “the PA can do all the necessary things the MD can do in this case and if you need to speak to the doctor they’ll let you know.”
It took me a lot of psyching up just to make that call and now that they’ve declined to book me with the doctor I don’t really know what to do from here. Can I do anything?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Hello-
I am wondering if I could have a chance to become a PA. I am a junior in college and am pursuing a degree in Speech Pathology. I originally wanted to be a speech pathologist, but since volunteering in a hospital and reading about the flexibility and demand for physician assistants, I want to become a PA. Can I use my bachelors degree in Speech Pathology to apply to PA school?
I currently have a 3.8 GPA, am participating in research with a professor, am a Behavior Therapist, and volunteer at my local hospital.
Do I have a chance at becoming a PA? I told my dad I wanted to become one and he said it is really hard to become a PA because it is so competitive and the schools are super competitive. This discouraged me.
Any and all advice is appreciated!!
I am planning to apply to Physician Assistant programs in Canada.
the issue in my application is that I dropped out of nursing school, have a grade of F in course, and have 2 academic misconduct in the last 2 years.
I will be graduating this term with a degree in psychology with a minor in biology. I have a GPA of3.7 out of 4.5. I am working as a screening and volunteering in a hospital.
I also applied last year to UofT and McMaster University. I did not get invited to the interview. I think I enhance my application this time by having more health care hours and boosting my GPA.
now I am wondering, do I even have a chance of getting accepted, do universities accept students with academic misconduct? I am scared and I need honest advice.
Hello all! I need some opinions about my career choice. I’m currently in undergrad, my major is Spanish and International Health with a minor in Enviormental Science and Policy. I’ve always wanted a job in healthcare since I was a child. I decided on Physican Assistant in my junior year of high school. But I also have a passion for politics, it always been a passion of mine. My plan after undergrad was to do a dual degre MPH/PA program! I wanted to know if it sounded more applicable to do a few years as a physican assistant and then fully dive in policy analysis or if I can do both around the same time or if I should just settle on one. Thoughts? Thank you!
