What are the pros and cons to being and Physician versus a Physician Assistant?

The only drawback is you don't have ultimate authority. You need to have an MD or DO sign off on everything.

Speaking as an M1: If you are currently sitting injured in an ortho clinic pondering the pay scale you are considering the wrong field. The emotional and physical energy that you will need to invest are beyond what you can imagine.

Maybe $125K/year plus.

Check out this site for more information on PA-C.

www.aapa.org

. You don't have to get everything signed off and you have prescriptive authority. State regulations vary but, most states have very favorable environments to work in exceptions being (OH, MS, VA, DC) it is a great career, you have a lot of flexibility and a lot of collegial respect from your peers....including almost all other medical professionals. IF a title is superimportant to you, go the MD route. However, if you are looking for a great paying job (and no, your salary is not "less than 1/2") with a lot of flexibility and one that allows you to have a life outside of work then check out this profession. Predicted job openings for 2006 cycle is 7 jobs for every one applicant. Good luck!!

p.s. go shadow a PA and get real information instead of taking advice from people on this board!

When I said that I was spending time in an orthopedic clinic, it was not to treat an injury, but to get a feel for the daily operations. I observed a bilateral knee replacement on Thursday. I plan to observe more surgeries, in addition to observing non-surgical operations once or twice a week. The PA there happens to be a girl who graduated from my high school. I am extremely thankful that she has allowed me to see what her job entails. Does anyone else find the process to be approved to volunteer in a hospital painsakingly slow? I have bugged the volunteer coordinator at my school to death on this, as there is supposed to be a volunteer orientation. In the meantime, (while waiting on the bureacracy) I am observing/shadowing at this ortho clinic.

If you can currently make 120K as PA then go that route. The extra years of debt involved with going to med school will hardly be worth the time involved, unless for some reason you just have to go to med school.

$$$

Bump.

I'm kind of in a similar situation, had my mind set on med school, but I'm starting to consider the possibility of going down the PA route.

My grades are excellent and I don't think I'd have much trouble getting into med school; however, my family and I are dirt poor, so at this juncture even applying to med school is going to be pretty hefty burden, let alone paying for school (I know loans are available, but still), or paying rent on a place while working my ass of in med school and being broker than broke.

Not that going to become a PA is necessarily going to cost a whole lot less in the immediate future (next year or two), but it's a lot less time spent wallowing in debt (maybe?), or at least it's the kind of thing where I may be able to survive with zero money practically for a few years in PA school, but maybe not for any more than that.

Money is just one of a few reasons, but at this point it's a pretty strong one. That, and I guess I must admit the committment of many years (4 for med school, 3 or so for residency, more for specializing . . . ) is a bit much, even too much perhaps.

So I'm trying to really whittle it down to the pros and cons as well.

Like I said initially, if a PA can pull down 120K/year, then it hardly justifies the bang/buck ratio of med school and then post graduate training. I know some MD's that have 5-6 years of post grad training and they don't make 120K. Granted there is a lot more to the study of medicine then the bottom line, but the reality of the situation is that all of those student loans do need to be repaid at some point. Good luck with your decision making.

I second what 1500 wrote. If the time investment of med school and residency seems daunting now, you probably won't make it. It's a long haul that takes over your life in many ways, but it is incredibly rewarding.

Does anyone know what the pay is like for a PA?

I'm interested in what the average pay is like for, say, the first couple of years on the job, and what the average pay is for a "veteran" PA.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

this varies greatly by geographic location......

Table 4.14:

Summary Measures of Total Annual Income from Primary Employer for Respondents Who Work at Least 32 Hours per Week at Primary Clinical Job*

Respondents 16305

Mean $81,129

Standard deviation $21,254

10th percentile $60,184

25th percentile $67,128

Median $77,402

75th percentile $90,402

90th percentile $106,705

*Excludes self-employed PAs.

Table 4.12:

Number and Percent Distribution of Respondents Who Work at Least 32 Hours per Week at Primary Clinical Job by Types of Additional Compensation Received*

Count Percent

Respondents 15863 100.0%

No additional pay 5194 32.7%

Surgical assisting fees 310 2.0%

Overtime pay 2692 17.0%

Administrative pay 407 2.6%

Pay for on-call availability 1321 8.3%

Pay for on-call services/events 1307 8.2%

Bonus not based on performance 2888 18.2%

Bonus based on performance of practice 2044 12.9%

Bonus based on performance of PA 3804 24.0%

Bonus based on something else 1051 6.6%

*Excludes self-employed PAs. Percentages sum to more than 100 because respondents were instructed to mark all that apply.

Table 4.13:

Number and Percent Distribution of Respondents Who Work at Least 32 Hours per Week at Primary Clinical Job and Receive Incentive Pay Based on Productivity or Performance by Measures on Which Incentive is Based*

Count Percent

Respondents 4985 100.0%

Bonus based on charges 1031 20.7%

Bonus based on revenues 2191 44.0%

Bonus based on relative value units 637 12.8%

Bonus based on profit 1290 25.9%

Bonus based on number of visits or panel size 914 18.3%

Bonus based on quality of care 719 14.4%

Bonus based on patient satisfaction 719 14.4%

Bonus based on other factors 404 8.1%

*Excludes self-employed PAs. Percentages sum to more than 100 because respondents were instructed to mark all that apply.