Physicians Assistant or 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?

They don't consider them equal but doctors don't say it. I don't think NPs see themselves "equal" to doctors to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Niece is a junior at a top-20 SLAC on a pre-med track. She had a rough start and her GPA is 3.5 overall, biology major. Her father is a Harvard educated doctor and they always talk of her following in his footsteps. I don’t think her GPA is competitive and she may do better trying for a PA program. Anyone in similar situation? Is 3.5 too low for respectable MD programs?

There are lots of medical schools in this country. No need to resign herself to being a PA if she can’t go to Harvard. 🙄 It hardly even matters which medical school, as long as you get the MD at the end it is “respectable”. Most of the time you don’t even know what school your doc went to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What? No. Physicians train during residency. A physician who attends medical school in the Caribbean and then does a residency here is a fully trained physician. Many of them go on to not only work as physicians, but to become distinguished ones in a variety of specialties. PAs work under the supervision of physicians and do not have that training. "People knowledgeable in the training of healthcare workers" know all of this.

And of course I'm using the word "physician" instead of doctor for a reason here -- I think most "people knowledgeable in the training of healthcare workers" in 2024 know why. And it is relevant to this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They don't consider them equal but doctors don't say it. I don't think NPs see themselves "equal" to doctors to be honest.

Goodness I hope not. That would be some serious delusion.

[Anonymous]

PAs dangerously misdiagnosed me or almost killed me and/or my kid on several separate occasions. No thanks, it’s just a way to save $ not to improve health care you get

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PAs dangerously misdiagnosed me or almost killed me and/or my kid on several separate occasions. No thanks, it’s just a way to save $ not to improve health care you get

That’s terrible!

[Anonymous]

I've had bad experiences with PAs...I feel like nurse practitioners are better trained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had bad experiences with PAs...I feel like nurse practitioners are better trained.

I have heard that too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had bad experiences with PAs...I feel like nurse practitioners are better trained.

I've had bad experiences with both. Both times it was a competency issue that caused a problem that wouldn't have happened with the doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But really that's her dad's job.
He needs to be the one to support her in whatever she does or she will always feel like she let him down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But really that's her dad's job.
He needs to be the one to support her in whatever she does or she will always feel like she let him down.

OP. Yes, he will do a better job supporting her if he has all the relevant information. He is “old school” but he’s practical (he’s footing all the tuition bills!) about education and the world of medicine.

I am torn between advising my niece to pull up GPA to a 4.0 going forward and devoting her life to the MCAT or seeing her lower her sights to a PA program or even a bridge to medical school like the Georgetown one. I’m getting a lot of good info. here. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They don't consider them equal but doctors don't say it. I don't think NPs see themselves "equal" to doctors to be honest.

They are not remotely equal. Doctors have WAY more training and knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

But really that's her dad's job.
He needs to be the one to support her in whatever she does or she will always feel like she let him down.

OP. Yes, he will do a better job supporting her if he has all the relevant information. He is “old school” but he’s practical (he’s footing all the tuition bills!) about education and the world of medicine.

I am torn between advising my niece to pull up GPA to a 4.0 going forward and devoting her life to the MCAT or seeing her lower her sights to a PA program or even a bridge to medical school like the Georgetown one. I’m getting a lot of good info. here. Thank you.

What does she want to do? If she doesn’t have the energy and inclination to pull all As from here and study hard to do as well as she can on the MCAT, and would prefer to exhale a bit with school, medical school probably isn’t for her anyway—it’s a four-year stressful slog, followed by even more stress and pressure with residency followed by the responsibility of practice. If she doesn’t want that, she doesn’t want it. (Which would be understandable.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Niece is a junior at a top-20 SLAC on a pre-med track. She had a rough start and her GPA is 3.5 overall, biology major. Her father is a Harvard educated doctor and they always talk of her following in his footsteps. I don’t think her GPA is competitive and she may do better trying for a PA program. Anyone in similar situation? Is 3.5 too low for respectable MD programs?

If HER (not parents) heart is set on becoming a doctor, there are many way. She can do post baccalaureate or masters to proof her ability to handle rigor. She can ace MCAT with tutored prep , take gap year to add clinical shadowing, EMT or research. Apply to DO schools as well, specially newer ones in south.

As her family is wealthy, using resources and years to strengthen her resume is unlikely to be an issue.

That being said, if she is doing it to fulfill family's dreams, its not dedicating this many years of her youth on that.

[Anonymous]

*its nor worth