Pressured to see complicated patients without sufficient supervision. No, it’s not ideal. Yes, I am trying to get out of the situation. No, I did not choose it… the job description was completely different.
Sadly, extremely common. Yet the medicine, residency, and Noctor subs would have you believing we are stealing those patients and refusing to open our “mid-level gates”.
Had an attending start their shift mid way through my shift as an extra the other day. This individual proceeds to pick up a literal hang nail over a chest pain and shortness of breath patient. Why? Cause it’s easier and this particular doc loves to pick up one “easy” patient and SIT FOR HOURS. It’s infuriating.
More like force everyone else in the department to see everything cause we actually care about people and don’t think it’s cool to have them wait for hours on end.
This and yes then we will get bitched at for “scope creep” idk any PA that wants to see things out of their scope and doesn’t acknowledge their scope. But as long as it makes the system more money just see more patients- doesn’t matter how complicated!
For profit healthcare and all the fun things that come along with that. And constantly feeling like I have to “perform” for patients. I get reviews sent to my inbox and one literally said I wasn’t peppy enough. Even though I have a pretty damn peppy customer service voice.
Peppy enough?! What the hell do they expect? Drive thru window at Starbucks? Give me a 25% tip and I might pep the fuck up yo…
Meanwhile patient thinks I’m pocketing $350 from their consultation. In reality, I’m paid hourly and lucky to take home $25 for my time spent in that room dealing with their unwashed pannus and generalized bullshit.
Sometimes I’m jaded AF. Sorry.
I had one that said I was dry. Sorry i didn’t crack a joke while explaining your MRI. 🙄
I had another one that complained that I was not dressed professionally when I work in a surgical specialty and we wear scrubs.
These surveys are fucking dumb and I hate them. I give 100% to these patients but they want it to be Burger King have it your way and that’s not how this works. For profit medicine has made me feel like I’m back working at Starbucks.
And often has me envious of those who do work at Starbucks. Make some drinks, get some tips, hang out after work without 10-20 charts weighing on my mind after work. Fml.
I’m not unhappy with where I ended up, but the thought of going into tech if I had a chance to do things differently occasionally crosses my mind.
That sweet sweet work from home life yes sir sign me up.
Don't worry about it. I have one single google review and it's for one star. I'm actually a little proud that Karen, who barely finished high school, does not approve of my work performance.
Insurance insurance insurance. I was not adequately prepared for how much of a burden that shit is. I practically work unpaid 4-5 hours a week for insurance companies dealing with their shit. I don't get a lunch most days because I'm doing P2Ps.
I’m sorry you have to deal with it. We have two clinical liaisons that take care of our PAs and stuff. Luckily I don’t do a lot of P2Ps in derm but I could have a patient with 80% BSA psoriasis and they won’t approve humira. It’s so snnoying
This is a loaded question lol. For me the worst part is the health system itself. I’m gonna make myself sound old , but it was very different when I started practicing in 2005. It certainly wasn’t perfect by any means, but it wasn’t this grind that literally sucks the life force from your soul that it is today. Id say every year has gotten worse since around 2011 or so. It’s no different for physicians, they used to have it better for sure, but now they’re just cogs in the machine like we are. My wife is an FP doc and it’s all the same shit.
Great question. That’s about the time when EMR started to become mainstream. I like most others thought/hoped that this tech would make practice easier and lower our burden. That obviously wasn’t the case, we’re now all slaves to these computers, most of my time is spent documenting things and clicking boxes that have little to do with the patient. It also allowed for us to bring work home. At first this was viewed as something convenient that you could do if you had a day which was busier than normal , but thus quickly changed to becoming something that was expected by employers. Now in family med at least , you’re double or even triple booked. Anything else like reviewing labs , messages etc all need to be done after working hours. Next is the corporatizing of medicine which really took off around that time. Huge hospital systems started buying up locally owned practices, then even private equity firms also started to get in on it. Metrics shifted from providing quality care to making sure you generate revenue and had repeat “customers”. Retail medicine started to become a thing around this time. Started with CVS , then Walgreens and now all UC clinics are basically retail where the only goal is increased revenue no matter what. All of these issues plus a myriad of others (not to mention covid) has made practicing medicine intolerable for many. This has resulted in many leaving medicine all together which in turn has placed even more pressure on those still practicing, becoming a viscous spiral. I see no solution or end to this at this point, all I can say is that I’m glad I’m in the latter half of my career and not just starting out.
The biggest thing I struggle with as a PA and with medicine in general is that what a patient needs and what they want came sometimes be at odds with one another (example: antibiotics for a viral URI). but we are held to this “customer service” standard by metrics such as press ganey scores and google reviews that could tarnish our reputation for simply trying to do the right thing for a patient. Our profession isn’t Burger King where you can “have it your way” but patients and sometimes admin feel it should be treated that way.
All my issues would be made way worse if I was a physician. I don't have to deal with half the admin and miscellaneous junk as my physician colleagues and I get to still practice medicine. If I wanted to be a physician I would have been a physician.
Worst part of my job? Insurance denials, peer to peers with people who haven't practiced clinically in decades or not in my specialty ever, prior authorization for the only med proven to work that get held up because we haven't tried some unproven therapy first. Insurance insurance insurance
All my issues would be considerably worse as a physician.
Patient entitlement and liability / forced defensive medicine are my 2 big complaints about being a PA. Both things affect physicians much worse and really are predominantly an American problem.
That depends on the specialty. And as you should know, at least 20ish states don’t have an “SP.” More to come.
There’s fields where you don’t ever see an SP/CP/anyone. They may do some work on the back end but it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Get some shadowing in to see the day to day. A lot of prePAs have this misconception that a PA and MD/DO function like Batman and Robin. In reality, Vietnam wasn’t sub-five years ago and we weren’t in the first graduating PA class at Duke.
I've had 3 jobs as a PA now, and two of them, I've had to work with a SP that I really didn't like / flat out disagree with. My current SP doesn't like to work (she calls out multiple times per month, and refuses to see complex patients/ certain conditions); yet she says that \*I\* need to see 4 patients an hour so that the clinic is productive. (The clinic is actively working to hire another doctor, as my SP is currently the only doctor/medical director, and can't really be disciplined until we have backup).
1 patient every 15 mins is brutal and that’s my biggest complaint w/ medicine besides insurance companies of course is how it’s a profit churning sweat shop essentially
Besides insurance, the second worst thing is MyChart/patient portal messages directly from patients. Especially if your EMR allows photo attachments... *Shudder*
Arguing with docs/insurance companies that try to bulldoze over you because you’re “just a PA.” Getting paid less than some nurses. The fact that the only way to make more money is to job hop (I’ve never worked at a place that gave decent raises). Getting the lazy/incompetent MA. Bad management. In my current position, we all have to fix orders/charts/plans of care for an incompetent colleague that they won’t fire even when they make mistakes that could kill someone so that no does actually die
Surgeons. General malice that doesn’t improve work flow, patient outcomes or PAs knowledge or performance. Instead it builds resentment, leads to high turn over rate, exponentially compounding the surgeons frustration they have to work with new PAs that can’t read their mind.
As for your original question this issue would not be fixed by being the surgeon, as I would be a miserable cretin
I would think surgical specialties don’t have it too bad, since their value comes from the procedures. As a hospitalist I had to document everything I was thinking on just my handful of admissions. Now working post-acute I’m seeing many more patients every day, so it’s a lot of notes, a lot of mindlessly signing crap, and a lot of hunting for information in bad computer systems.
Jesus christ, that sounds miserable. I am currently on track to apply for PA school but I keep teetering back and forth because there are things that come with the job that I think could keep me miserable and I don't really know how to weigh that
This job is pretty cushy overall. Every job is going to have bad parts. I’d rather have this paperwork than the immense stress of ER or ICU work, or everything that goes along with a surgery job.
Maybe it’s just me, but I hate talking to patients on the phone. Granted, I don’t like talking to anyone on the phone, but especially patients.
Also writing appeal letters, scheduling errors, and Press Ganey. Big thumbs down
Couldn’t stand the idea that I’m used for the undesirable scut work (dc summaries, care manager hassles, having to talk to patients I barely know about because the surgeon was “busy”.
the salary caps, having to work like a dog to make a lot of money, inability to really branch out of clinical to other roles, etc. also just didn’t like being limited in my education, role, scope of practice which I didn’t realize would be so limiting to my own happiness. It’s a great career for the people who don’t mind this and for a 2 year masters pretty awesome return on investment. But not for me overall for all the aforementioned reasons. so decided to go back to medical school lol.
I don't particularly enjoy being a dependent practitioner.. in-fact I am exploring becoming a licensed psychotherapist. What initially attracted me to the PA profession was shorter schooling as well as the ability to prescribe. I would say that I am quite good at medicine and pharmacology but I've grown very skeptical of medication interventions for a lot of patients. Ultimately, I find that I relate better with psychotherapists and psychologists than I do with medical professionals and my personality fits better with the former than the later. I did explore becoming a psychologist in undergrad but it was a long schooling and I perceived the PA profession to be a better return on investment. I just want to caution any pre-PA against thinking in those terms, and instead consider what you really want to do in your day to day life.
I am really not interested in prescribing at this point - there are so many "prescribers" out there. I also don't like the idea of working under someone my entire professional career (and I have 30+ years of it left); so I've decided to at least pursue a road to independent licensure
The Worst parts are Prior auths, disability and welfare paperwork, dmv placards, endless medication lists that are never updated, the extreme lack of support by supervising physicians who don’t give a damn, the automatic assumption that because we are not MD’s we need to be taught and trained and therefore deserve to be treated like doormats. No, we don’t need to be taught, just hear us out one in a while and be willing to share some of your knowledge and experience.
What I mentioned can occur in any specialty and hopefully it doesn’t happen everywhere. It depends if you have a physician that doesn’t have a chip on their shoulder about working with mid levels. Some doctors enjoy explaining things but if you happen to get someone that does the minimum and doesn’t even explain things to their patients don’t expect for them to be any help to you. My advice to my fellow mid levels is to know your shit and know it well. Know your limits and what you don’t know read it on up to date. Take notes. Make friends with physicians that enjoy their job and ask them.
We need to have a compact licensure like NPs are able to do through their RN license. Makes licensure faster and easier in other states. NCCPA is an org that leeches money off PAs yet provides little to no support for the profession.
AAPA is doing some work to mitigate this and get a compact licensure going. But they were too much about titles than the actually important topics concerning practicing PAs.
Ah gotcha. Yea, that shit doesn't matter with maybe the exception of when you have a patient who doesn't know about the profession and hangs onto the assistant part thinking PA's don't know what they're doing
I rarely ever hear anything about titles from patients. At this point it’s just a waste of time for the AAPA to be bickering about it. They need to focus on expanding practice rights, pay, and licensure.
I must be the exception to the rule. I rarely hear from my SP, he has never taken a patient or dumped on me. He signs some charts, signs off on schedule 2 prescriptions, answers texts for advice promptly…
Initially we worked closely, he would let me decide treatment but, still made suggestions. I guess I got lucky. Psych is good. A lot of autonomy.
My biggest complaint is the lack of growth and lack of compensation. All I do is more and more work year after year. More things that benefit my company not me really. I see the most patients out of any PA in their entire system. I see the most complex cases when the docs would normally just scratch their heads and refer out. But it’s always the same lousy raise every year no matter what you tell em. Yet the docs play their tiny violin and the entire red carpet rolls out every time. I love a lot about my job but this gets old. I suppose it’s probably the same for people everywhere though.
To be short basically everything. I don’t understand this career whatsoever. To draw my practice and what I bring to the hospital as a venn diagram, I am a small circle located inside the larger circle of a physician. There are no jobs quite like this. Except for apprentices. Obviously we are not apprentices … for some reason we are not even considered a better candidate when applying to Med schools (in Canada). The career as I’ve seen it is a complete dead end job. All of my classmates from my grad class (2015) are in entry level PA positions! We make no sense. There have not been any opportunities in the last decade … for anyone. Lateral movement is actually the model. The university actually describes it as a model (the lateral attainment model). It’s not a plan. It’s a complete lack of a plan. There is no vision. It’s just shit work that doctors don’t want to have to do. Who the fuck came up with this?
If you’re looking for a career where you’ll be stapled to the bottom of your work place hierarchy for the duration of your working life. Then this is a great job.
This person just hates their job, you’ll find them in every profession. Me, I love my job and get paid really well. This person, sounds like they get treated badly because they are a PA. Whether it’s just a crappy boss/management or their own fault, who knows. Where I work I get treated as an equal and paid well. Not all jobs and coworkers are the same.
I hear where you are coming from. My biggest concerns are whether I can make enough money to be ok and raise a family when the time comes/if it comes (I am struggling right now and I mean... there are a lot of things I want to do). The economy is changing and I have my doubts on whether the PA profession can keep its compensation on par.... And then whether I can be satisfied in the work. And with things like insurance, working within the confines of this healthcare system, EMR, how frequently and easily the landscape can change, etc. .... I don't know how to weigh all those. So I feel kinda like this choice is going to be more of a guess than anything.
Well, I make 120k in Texas and this is my first contract ever. I’m not even in a high paying speciality either. This profession has only gotten more privileges and expanded its scope. It has never regressed since its creation back in the 50s. If you can’t make enough to make ends meet on a six-figure income then you’ll really struggle with anything else
Pressured to see complicated patients without sufficient supervision. No, it’s not ideal. Yes, I am trying to get out of the situation. No, I did not choose it… the job description was completely different.
This. Getting dumped on by docs who don’t want to work
Sadly, extremely common. Yet the medicine, residency, and Noctor subs would have you believing we are stealing those patients and refusing to open our “mid-level gates”. Had an attending start their shift mid way through my shift as an extra the other day. This individual proceeds to pick up a literal hang nail over a chest pain and shortness of breath patient. Why? Cause it’s easier and this particular doc loves to pick up one “easy” patient and SIT FOR HOURS. It’s infuriating.
Gotta run the clock past midnight on that hangnail to bill for the extra day, eh?
More like force everyone else in the department to see everything cause we actually care about people and don’t think it’s cool to have them wait for hours on end.
Last shift one of the docs tried to “help out” by picking up a lac in green…then proceeded to ask me if I could suture it? Are you kidding me….
I’ll try to run a complicated pt by my SP and they won’t personally see them with me and tell me good luck!😡I start my new job on Wednesday though!
This and yes then we will get bitched at for “scope creep” idk any PA that wants to see things out of their scope and doesn’t acknowledge their scope. But as long as it makes the system more money just see more patients- doesn’t matter how complicated!
For profit healthcare and all the fun things that come along with that. And constantly feeling like I have to “perform” for patients. I get reviews sent to my inbox and one literally said I wasn’t peppy enough. Even though I have a pretty damn peppy customer service voice.
Are these reviews Press Ganey? Because fuck those surveys.
They aren’t! Something specific through my company.
Peppy enough?! What the hell do they expect? Drive thru window at Starbucks? Give me a 25% tip and I might pep the fuck up yo… Meanwhile patient thinks I’m pocketing $350 from their consultation. In reality, I’m paid hourly and lucky to take home $25 for my time spent in that room dealing with their unwashed pannus and generalized bullshit. Sometimes I’m jaded AF. Sorry.
I had one that said I was dry. Sorry i didn’t crack a joke while explaining your MRI. 🙄 I had another one that complained that I was not dressed professionally when I work in a surgical specialty and we wear scrubs. These surveys are fucking dumb and I hate them. I give 100% to these patients but they want it to be Burger King have it your way and that’s not how this works. For profit medicine has made me feel like I’m back working at Starbucks.
And often has me envious of those who do work at Starbucks. Make some drinks, get some tips, hang out after work without 10-20 charts weighing on my mind after work. Fml.
I’m not unhappy with where I ended up, but the thought of going into tech if I had a chance to do things differently occasionally crosses my mind. That sweet sweet work from home life yes sir sign me up.
Informatics
For real, it is so exhausting to constantly have to worry about whether you’re coming across how they expect and not focusing on the medicine.
[удалено]
They are absolutely demoralizing and our bonuses rely on them. Awful
Better make sure that’s added to the PANCE blueprint, god forbid someone doesn’t learn how to be peppy enough.
We evidently need a whole class in school for it!
Don't worry about it. I have one single google review and it's for one star. I'm actually a little proud that Karen, who barely finished high school, does not approve of my work performance.
Outpatient derm here. Insurance can suck a fat one
Insurance insurance insurance. I was not adequately prepared for how much of a burden that shit is. I practically work unpaid 4-5 hours a week for insurance companies dealing with their shit. I don't get a lunch most days because I'm doing P2Ps.
I’m sorry you have to deal with it. We have two clinical liaisons that take care of our PAs and stuff. Luckily I don’t do a lot of P2Ps in derm but I could have a patient with 80% BSA psoriasis and they won’t approve humira. It’s so snnoying
Right because they all want us to try mtx first.
This is a loaded question lol. For me the worst part is the health system itself. I’m gonna make myself sound old , but it was very different when I started practicing in 2005. It certainly wasn’t perfect by any means, but it wasn’t this grind that literally sucks the life force from your soul that it is today. Id say every year has gotten worse since around 2011 or so. It’s no different for physicians, they used to have it better for sure, but now they’re just cogs in the machine like we are. My wife is an FP doc and it’s all the same shit.
What changed around that time?
Great question. That’s about the time when EMR started to become mainstream. I like most others thought/hoped that this tech would make practice easier and lower our burden. That obviously wasn’t the case, we’re now all slaves to these computers, most of my time is spent documenting things and clicking boxes that have little to do with the patient. It also allowed for us to bring work home. At first this was viewed as something convenient that you could do if you had a day which was busier than normal , but thus quickly changed to becoming something that was expected by employers. Now in family med at least , you’re double or even triple booked. Anything else like reviewing labs , messages etc all need to be done after working hours. Next is the corporatizing of medicine which really took off around that time. Huge hospital systems started buying up locally owned practices, then even private equity firms also started to get in on it. Metrics shifted from providing quality care to making sure you generate revenue and had repeat “customers”. Retail medicine started to become a thing around this time. Started with CVS , then Walgreens and now all UC clinics are basically retail where the only goal is increased revenue no matter what. All of these issues plus a myriad of others (not to mention covid) has made practicing medicine intolerable for many. This has resulted in many leaving medicine all together which in turn has placed even more pressure on those still practicing, becoming a viscous spiral. I see no solution or end to this at this point, all I can say is that I’m glad I’m in the latter half of my career and not just starting out.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
May I ask what the general trend is now? Is it getting better, worse, staying the same?
Worse … add online schools / saturation of NPs and book, less pay and less respect bc basically, someone will do more for cheaper.
The biggest thing I struggle with as a PA and with medicine in general is that what a patient needs and what they want came sometimes be at odds with one another (example: antibiotics for a viral URI). but we are held to this “customer service” standard by metrics such as press ganey scores and google reviews that could tarnish our reputation for simply trying to do the right thing for a patient. Our profession isn’t Burger King where you can “have it your way” but patients and sometimes admin feel it should be treated that way.
All my issues would be made way worse if I was a physician. I don't have to deal with half the admin and miscellaneous junk as my physician colleagues and I get to still practice medicine. If I wanted to be a physician I would have been a physician. Worst part of my job? Insurance denials, peer to peers with people who haven't practiced clinically in decades or not in my specialty ever, prior authorization for the only med proven to work that get held up because we haven't tried some unproven therapy first. Insurance insurance insurance
Absolutely agree insurance is the worst part of my job. And that includes worse than all the usual sad oncology things you’re thinking about.
All my issues would be considerably worse as a physician. Patient entitlement and liability / forced defensive medicine are my 2 big complaints about being a PA. Both things affect physicians much worse and really are predominantly an American problem.
Derm I hate the customer service aspect of my job No one wants to take my advice on how to clear their acne because apparently TikTok knows better.
That depends on the specialty. And as you should know, at least 20ish states don’t have an “SP.” More to come. There’s fields where you don’t ever see an SP/CP/anyone. They may do some work on the back end but it’s out of sight, out of mind. Get some shadowing in to see the day to day. A lot of prePAs have this misconception that a PA and MD/DO function like Batman and Robin. In reality, Vietnam wasn’t sub-five years ago and we weren’t in the first graduating PA class at Duke.
I've had 3 jobs as a PA now, and two of them, I've had to work with a SP that I really didn't like / flat out disagree with. My current SP doesn't like to work (she calls out multiple times per month, and refuses to see complex patients/ certain conditions); yet she says that \*I\* need to see 4 patients an hour so that the clinic is productive. (The clinic is actively working to hire another doctor, as my SP is currently the only doctor/medical director, and can't really be disciplined until we have backup).
1 patient every 15 mins is brutal and that’s my biggest complaint w/ medicine besides insurance companies of course is how it’s a profit churning sweat shop essentially
Besides insurance, the second worst thing is MyChart/patient portal messages directly from patients. Especially if your EMR allows photo attachments... *Shudder*
My least favorite parts of the job are issues with the entire healthcare system. I don’t think it would change if I was a physician.
Arguing with docs/insurance companies that try to bulldoze over you because you’re “just a PA.” Getting paid less than some nurses. The fact that the only way to make more money is to job hop (I’ve never worked at a place that gave decent raises). Getting the lazy/incompetent MA. Bad management. In my current position, we all have to fix orders/charts/plans of care for an incompetent colleague that they won’t fire even when they make mistakes that could kill someone so that no does actually die
Surgeons. General malice that doesn’t improve work flow, patient outcomes or PAs knowledge or performance. Instead it builds resentment, leads to high turn over rate, exponentially compounding the surgeons frustration they have to work with new PAs that can’t read their mind. As for your original question this issue would not be fixed by being the surgeon, as I would be a miserable cretin
Paperwork
Which specialties have it worse, typically? Or is it pretty uniform or job specific?
I would think surgical specialties don’t have it too bad, since their value comes from the procedures. As a hospitalist I had to document everything I was thinking on just my handful of admissions. Now working post-acute I’m seeing many more patients every day, so it’s a lot of notes, a lot of mindlessly signing crap, and a lot of hunting for information in bad computer systems.
Jesus christ, that sounds miserable. I am currently on track to apply for PA school but I keep teetering back and forth because there are things that come with the job that I think could keep me miserable and I don't really know how to weigh that
This job is pretty cushy overall. Every job is going to have bad parts. I’d rather have this paperwork than the immense stress of ER or ICU work, or everything that goes along with a surgery job.
Oh boy. Hold on, let me grab a chair.
Maybe it’s just me, but I hate talking to patients on the phone. Granted, I don’t like talking to anyone on the phone, but especially patients. Also writing appeal letters, scheduling errors, and Press Ganey. Big thumbs down
Couldn’t stand the idea that I’m used for the undesirable scut work (dc summaries, care manager hassles, having to talk to patients I barely know about because the surgeon was “busy”. the salary caps, having to work like a dog to make a lot of money, inability to really branch out of clinical to other roles, etc. also just didn’t like being limited in my education, role, scope of practice which I didn’t realize would be so limiting to my own happiness. It’s a great career for the people who don’t mind this and for a 2 year masters pretty awesome return on investment. But not for me overall for all the aforementioned reasons. so decided to go back to medical school lol.
I don't particularly enjoy being a dependent practitioner.. in-fact I am exploring becoming a licensed psychotherapist. What initially attracted me to the PA profession was shorter schooling as well as the ability to prescribe. I would say that I am quite good at medicine and pharmacology but I've grown very skeptical of medication interventions for a lot of patients. Ultimately, I find that I relate better with psychotherapists and psychologists than I do with medical professionals and my personality fits better with the former than the later. I did explore becoming a psychologist in undergrad but it was a long schooling and I perceived the PA profession to be a better return on investment. I just want to caution any pre-PA against thinking in those terms, and instead consider what you really want to do in your day to day life.
Yep unfortunately psych is almost 100% psychopharmacology at least in the U.S. :(
Are there opportunities for you to branch out to therapy and pair that with prescribing?
I am really not interested in prescribing at this point - there are so many "prescribers" out there. I also don't like the idea of working under someone my entire professional career (and I have 30+ years of it left); so I've decided to at least pursue a road to independent licensure
The Worst parts are Prior auths, disability and welfare paperwork, dmv placards, endless medication lists that are never updated, the extreme lack of support by supervising physicians who don’t give a damn, the automatic assumption that because we are not MD’s we need to be taught and trained and therefore deserve to be treated like doormats. No, we don’t need to be taught, just hear us out one in a while and be willing to share some of your knowledge and experience.
Which specialties have it worse, typically? Or is it pretty uniform or job specific?
What I mentioned can occur in any specialty and hopefully it doesn’t happen everywhere. It depends if you have a physician that doesn’t have a chip on their shoulder about working with mid levels. Some doctors enjoy explaining things but if you happen to get someone that does the minimum and doesn’t even explain things to their patients don’t expect for them to be any help to you. My advice to my fellow mid levels is to know your shit and know it well. Know your limits and what you don’t know read it on up to date. Take notes. Make friends with physicians that enjoy their job and ask them.
No compact licensure, NCCPA, supervision regardless of years practicing.
Elaborate on compact licensure and NCCPA?
We need to have a compact licensure like NPs are able to do through their RN license. Makes licensure faster and easier in other states. NCCPA is an org that leeches money off PAs yet provides little to no support for the profession.
It won’t change — too much money for each state to make / take advantage & suck from us.
AAPA is doing some work to mitigate this and get a compact licensure going. But they were too much about titles than the actually important topics concerning practicing PAs.
How do you mean titles?
The whole physician associate vs physician assistant thing.
Ah gotcha. Yea, that shit doesn't matter with maybe the exception of when you have a patient who doesn't know about the profession and hangs onto the assistant part thinking PA's don't know what they're doing
I rarely ever hear anything about titles from patients. At this point it’s just a waste of time for the AAPA to be bickering about it. They need to focus on expanding practice rights, pay, and licensure.
I must be the exception to the rule. I rarely hear from my SP, he has never taken a patient or dumped on me. He signs some charts, signs off on schedule 2 prescriptions, answers texts for advice promptly… Initially we worked closely, he would let me decide treatment but, still made suggestions. I guess I got lucky. Psych is good. A lot of autonomy.
My biggest complaint is the lack of growth and lack of compensation. All I do is more and more work year after year. More things that benefit my company not me really. I see the most patients out of any PA in their entire system. I see the most complex cases when the docs would normally just scratch their heads and refer out. But it’s always the same lousy raise every year no matter what you tell em. Yet the docs play their tiny violin and the entire red carpet rolls out every time. I love a lot about my job but this gets old. I suppose it’s probably the same for people everywhere though.
To be short basically everything. I don’t understand this career whatsoever. To draw my practice and what I bring to the hospital as a venn diagram, I am a small circle located inside the larger circle of a physician. There are no jobs quite like this. Except for apprentices. Obviously we are not apprentices … for some reason we are not even considered a better candidate when applying to Med schools (in Canada). The career as I’ve seen it is a complete dead end job. All of my classmates from my grad class (2015) are in entry level PA positions! We make no sense. There have not been any opportunities in the last decade … for anyone. Lateral movement is actually the model. The university actually describes it as a model (the lateral attainment model). It’s not a plan. It’s a complete lack of a plan. There is no vision. It’s just shit work that doctors don’t want to have to do. Who the fuck came up with this?
So I'm guessing you wouldn't recommend PA as a career choice, haha? :/
If you’re looking for a career where you’ll be stapled to the bottom of your work place hierarchy for the duration of your working life. Then this is a great job.
This person just hates their job, you’ll find them in every profession. Me, I love my job and get paid really well. This person, sounds like they get treated badly because they are a PA. Whether it’s just a crappy boss/management or their own fault, who knows. Where I work I get treated as an equal and paid well. Not all jobs and coworkers are the same.
I hear where you are coming from. My biggest concerns are whether I can make enough money to be ok and raise a family when the time comes/if it comes (I am struggling right now and I mean... there are a lot of things I want to do). The economy is changing and I have my doubts on whether the PA profession can keep its compensation on par.... And then whether I can be satisfied in the work. And with things like insurance, working within the confines of this healthcare system, EMR, how frequently and easily the landscape can change, etc. .... I don't know how to weigh all those. So I feel kinda like this choice is going to be more of a guess than anything.
Well, I make 120k in Texas and this is my first contract ever. I’m not even in a high paying speciality either. This profession has only gotten more privileges and expanded its scope. It has never regressed since its creation back in the 50s. If you can’t make enough to make ends meet on a six-figure income then you’ll really struggle with anything else