Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Doctor married to another with many physician friends: PA and NP are solid jobs we encourage for our own kids or relatives when it is clear the premed coursework will not lead to an MD admission, either from grades or the mcat score. All of us have encouraged our capable medical-interested kids to pursue MD. It is far more autonomy than mid-levels get, and one can pursue many fields to the level of expert. The PA or NP is never the expert, whether it be hospital rounds or clinics. The most common model is they are assigned the needed days(no taking off mon or fri) and the popular vacation weeks the docs are off. They are fillers. They can handle basic conditions but not the complex and for some fields they are never independent (surgery). They do not have ownership in practices nor vote. They are not privy to salary negotiations. If they get bonuses, which many do not, it is 1/10 of docs. Insurance does not reimburse Midlevels well, and that has gotten much worse the past 8yrs or so. Most of us as docs would never see one for our own care, unless it was a basic visit. The training is simply not there for them to be be able to handle complexity. PA spends 85-90k x 2 yrs to eventually get to a salary that is around 100-120k and that is the max for the better fields. Med school if you watch living expense loans is 85-90x 4 yrs BUT many schools at the ivy/Duke/ucsf/washU level have fellowships to cover 1-2 of those years which they award to a large segment of the med school class. The lowest paid fields (primary care) make 250-300k once you are past the 3 year buyin/ramp up. Specialties make 400-600k. Residency pays 80k now which is enough to save and start paying some loans back. 25 yrs ago it was 26k per yr for 80-100 hrs a week for 4 yrs. Half the docs I know are part time and love the balance because they still make 180k+. PA /NP are often not allowed to be parttime.
TLDR Docs only recommend PA/NP to those that have no realistic shot at MD. MD is by far preferable.
Eh, I never go see an MD unless I really need a specialist. Don't feel like dealing with the egos and attitude.
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