Physicians Assistant or MD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

As an MD I dont see they have limits to what they can do, they do have salary limits more than docs. I personally have a bad experience with a PA in the ER who caused iatrogenic scarring of my face. personally id tell my kids NOT to go to PA or NP schools, unless as one of the previous posters said they were techs, nurses and then got in later in life...

[Anonymous]

But... is medicine really the only path for her? I get the pull of sticky footsteps, but there is simply no x profession or bust in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Do doctors look down on PAs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

As an MD I dont see they have limits to what they can do, they do have salary limits more than docs. I personally have a bad experience with a PA in the ER who caused iatrogenic scarring of my face. personally id tell my kids NOT to go to PA or NP schools, unless as one of the previous posters said they were techs, nurses and then got in later in life...

I guess you don't have to be a full iatros in order to cause iatrogenic problems, eh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Do doctors look down on PAs?

I don’t look down on PAs or NPs or anyone for that matter and most of my colleagues don’t either. We all have our role, but when it comes to a more complex medical issue l would have the final say (which makes sense).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Do doctors look down on PAs?

Patients do. The ER will offer a PA now or the MD in a few hours and many will wait for the MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Do doctors look down on PAs?

NP. Doctors don’t look down on PA’s but they are also not equal practitioners. PA school is a 2 yr grad program. Med school is 4 yrs plus a 3-5 yr residency plus another 1-2 yr fellowship for many. The knowledge and scope of practice isn’t the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Do doctors look down on PAs?

Yes. And in medicine sh!t rolls downhill.

[Anonymous]

Did your niece ASK for your advice????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your niece ASK for your advice????

OP. No she did not. I am just anticipating she may not become an MD. I will support her in whatever she does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She does not want to do a PA program.

She needs to get an A in every class from here on out, prepare to do as well as possible on the MCAT, and then if she does not get in to med school, she should do an A&P grad program like this one, and then apply again. https://smp.georgetown.edu/

I work at Georgetown's med school, and each class has many grads from that program.

She can also look into applying to some Carribean med schools. It is true that folks who attend school there don't have the easiest time matching and don't get the respect of their peers who attend med school in the US -- but they get a hell of a lot more respect than PAs do.

PA programs aren't really something to just go into anyway, they are really for people who have worked in the medical field and want the responsibility and respect and pay they deserve but won't get with out the PA degree.

People knowledgeable in the training of healthcare workers would respect a PA trained in the US over someone with a medical degree from the Caribbean. It would be clear that they weren’t able to get into a medical school so they went to the Caribbean. PAs usually choose their route because they want to go into medicine without the longer hours and responsibilities of the medical doctor.

[Anonymous]

A parallel track to PA is Nurse Practitioner. Something to consider

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a physician who has taught NPs, I think being a PA/NP is a perfectly fine profession as long as you accept that there are some limits to your authority and what you can do. Just the fact that PAs are fighting to change their name from physician assistant to physician associate says a lot

Probably because people think medical assistants and physicians assistants are the same thing. It’s not a great name for the field.

[Anonymous]

Today's PA is their grandfather's General Practitioner MD.

Medicine has gotten far more complex and complicated. It needs separate pathways for different parts of the field.

[Anonymous]

To answer PP question re MD vs PA. The real time MDs hate PAs is during residency when residents work 80-100 hours a week making 40-60 k four years of school + boards while PAs make 100k plus after only two years of school and no residency. It causes a huge divide. I think after residency there isn’t much of an issue other than hospitals opting to hire PAs over MDs due to cost savings.