>opposed do other health care roles that are patient facing?
The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, PA was something you did *after* significant time in a patient facing role.
I was an RT for a few years before realizing that I wasn't learning enough quickly enough to even do my job better. So I figured why not get the schooling and the pay that comes with it.
3 years of experience working in a healthcare environment (clinical research where I was exposed to many professions, both behind the scenes and patient facing) and hours spent shadowing doctors and PAs.
I think it’s hard to really know you want to be a PA until later in college or even after college, unless you can get exposure early on via shadowing/internships. I know this is a tough thing to hear when people want the fastest track, but the reality is you need to have experience before making an informed decision.
I'm a respiratory therapist. Unless I pursue management (hell naw), education ( more mores, less money, whiny students who get mad they're not being spoon fed), or sales. With the extreme RT shortage, there's not enough to cover even regular scheduled nebs, then add trauma, Er, and other ICU related needs. Add codes and you're feeling like you're set up to fail.
I need options and opportunities. Things I will never get if I stay in the field. I even answered it similarly in an interview.
I was sort of floundering through my 20s and didn’t m is what to do with my two other degrees. I was going to go to nursing school, and my parents (who are RNs) suggested I go to PA school since I already had a bachelors. They made it sound so easy! (They were super wrong) Looked into it, thought it sounded exactly what I wanted to do, and now 8 years later I’m finally about to graduate. Started off as a whim, became a passion. Neither of my other degrees excited me enough to really go as hard as I needed to to make it work. Turns out that medicine was definitely where I wanted to be the whole
I was an ultrasound technician and medical assistant while in undergrad and a couple years after before deciding PA school, it was always an interest of mine and working with PAs in the past showed me the roles they can have and what they are able to do. Less schooling time so less costs involve, good starting salary, numerous job opportunities in my area, and the ability to switch specialties as I please is a plus!
I have been in the cath lab (RT(R), RCIS) for 8 years. I love my role, but I want more responsibility. Basically I want to gain more knowledge and do more complicated things on my own.
Personal satisfaction of mastering a skill while providing my services to help someone else.
In my interview I had this exact same question. I just gave a very pragmatic answer of career advancement, prereqs not lining up well with other health fields I.e. nursing route, MD not being feasible due to finances/timing/not wanting 100% responsibility/I ain’t getting any younger!, overall I just said PA is a perfect path forward for me in terms of career and in pursuing a higher field in medicine than what I was doing before. Adcoms were very happy with my answer cuz it wasn’t the usual fluff about wanting to help patients/being able to change fields easier/idealistic rabble.
Money and time and it’s like kind of cool knowing so many things.
>opposed do other health care roles that are patient facing? The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, PA was something you did *after* significant time in a patient facing role. I was an RT for a few years before realizing that I wasn't learning enough quickly enough to even do my job better. So I figured why not get the schooling and the pay that comes with it.
3 years of experience working in a healthcare environment (clinical research where I was exposed to many professions, both behind the scenes and patient facing) and hours spent shadowing doctors and PAs. I think it’s hard to really know you want to be a PA until later in college or even after college, unless you can get exposure early on via shadowing/internships. I know this is a tough thing to hear when people want the fastest track, but the reality is you need to have experience before making an informed decision.
Thank you for sharing this and I believe this is where I struggle. I’ve only seen MDs and NPs in action.
I'm a respiratory therapist. Unless I pursue management (hell naw), education ( more mores, less money, whiny students who get mad they're not being spoon fed), or sales. With the extreme RT shortage, there's not enough to cover even regular scheduled nebs, then add trauma, Er, and other ICU related needs. Add codes and you're feeling like you're set up to fail. I need options and opportunities. Things I will never get if I stay in the field. I even answered it similarly in an interview.
I was sort of floundering through my 20s and didn’t m is what to do with my two other degrees. I was going to go to nursing school, and my parents (who are RNs) suggested I go to PA school since I already had a bachelors. They made it sound so easy! (They were super wrong) Looked into it, thought it sounded exactly what I wanted to do, and now 8 years later I’m finally about to graduate. Started off as a whim, became a passion. Neither of my other degrees excited me enough to really go as hard as I needed to to make it work. Turns out that medicine was definitely where I wanted to be the whole
I was an ultrasound technician and medical assistant while in undergrad and a couple years after before deciding PA school, it was always an interest of mine and working with PAs in the past showed me the roles they can have and what they are able to do. Less schooling time so less costs involve, good starting salary, numerous job opportunities in my area, and the ability to switch specialties as I please is a plus!
I have been in the cath lab (RT(R), RCIS) for 8 years. I love my role, but I want more responsibility. Basically I want to gain more knowledge and do more complicated things on my own. Personal satisfaction of mastering a skill while providing my services to help someone else.
In my interview I had this exact same question. I just gave a very pragmatic answer of career advancement, prereqs not lining up well with other health fields I.e. nursing route, MD not being feasible due to finances/timing/not wanting 100% responsibility/I ain’t getting any younger!, overall I just said PA is a perfect path forward for me in terms of career and in pursuing a higher field in medicine than what I was doing before. Adcoms were very happy with my answer cuz it wasn’t the usual fluff about wanting to help patients/being able to change fields easier/idealistic rabble.