Path to Physician Assistant is Always a Journey
Like most people who have gone the Physician Assistant route I have been through a journey to get here. There have been ups and downs but for every turn it has made me a better PA.
My journey to becoming a physician assistant started back when I was in high school. Like most high school students I was not sure what I wanted to do in life. I played sports and thought something in the sports field would be interesting so I started undergrad as an athletic training major.
I was not totally set on athletic training and as I got further into it I wanted to explore other options. I looked into PT, med school, personal training, business and my mom suggested I look into being a PA.
Preparing for PA School
My mom worked as an ER nurse for years so she knew a few PAs that would come to the ER and she set me up to shadow them during a summer when I was home from college. One was an orthopedic PA and the other was an ER PA. This really allowed me to see what PAs do and talk to them about the profession. This experience furthered my interest in the PA career so when I went back to school I talked with my academic adviser about what was needed to go to PA school.
After having my course work figured out for what I needed for PA school, I attended an open house for a PA school to get a better idea of what it would take to go there. This helped me learn more about the PA profession and the logistics of going to PA school.
Getting Patient Care Hours
As part of the athletic training program I worked as a student athletic trainer and during the summer and fall of my third year I worked with the football team at a nearby division II University. As I was able to get more experience working as a student athletic trainer I decided I didn’t want to keep doing it. They worked long hours with low pay, had to be at every practice and at higher levels of competition there was a lot of pressure to keep athletes on the field.
I decided to drop out of the athletic training program and changed my major to general exercise science, not sure exactly what I wanted to do with this I continued to look into PA school and made sure I had the required prerequisites. I also started looking into other ways I could get patient care hours beyond my hours working as a student athletic trainer.
After graduating from undergrad and doing some traveling I ended up doing a six week course to become EMT-Basic certified and got a job working for a private ambulance company. We would do a lot transfers but also responded to 911 calls alongside Los Angeles County Fire. After a few months of working twenty-four hour shifts I started to doubt if being a PA was really what I wanted to do. I think it was a combination of the patients we would deal with and the schedule.
I ended up taking a job in marketing for a home builder and really enjoyed what I was doing; the only thing was that it was probably the worst time to get a job in the industry as it was right before the recession. I ended up getting laid off and with new skills in graphic design was able to do freelance work but also began to think about what I really wanted to do as a career. I liked the idea of being in a career that I could help people, where I was doing more than just marketing homes.
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Journey through PA School
I ended up applying to one PA school; I was late in the application process and was not really expecting to get in. I had a good GPA and patient care hours and ended up getting an interview. I had low expectations about getting in and the day after my interview I received a call from the program director offering me a spot in the next class. I was sent the official paperwork to sign and return and was accepted into the program.
The first year of PA school is the didactic year; you’re in class all day learning several subjects and every weekend I spent studying. The first term of PA school was worse than I had expected. It had been a few years for me since being in a classroom and I had to remember how to study and learn, and figure out what worked best for me. After getting over the hump of the first term things got a little easier (PA school was never easy, just my flow of studying and learning got easier).
I knew I had to put in a lot of work and that it was not going to be easy; and looking back on it I wouldn’t ever want to go through school like that again (except for the end result). I’ll just say that it is hard. The analogy of drinking from a fire hydrant is often used and it’s true, you learn so much in such a short time.
Year two of PA school you start clinical rotations and it is much better as you’re out in the world actually seeing patients. I still did a lot of studying but nothing like the first year. Each rotation is very different and I found that the preceptor can make or break the experience. One of my favorite rotations was in urology but I think a huge part of it was the preceptor I was working with.
After finishing my last rotation our program provided a two day review course for the PANCE and I scheduled to take the PANCE about two weeks after that, as I wanted to give myself some time to prepare for it but not too much time as I felt like I would forget things.
I passed on my first try and started applying for jobs the next day. I had a number of interviews and had a couple of offers and decided to take a position in general surgery. It took about two months from passing the PANCE to accepting a job.
Journey to PA Jobs
You could possibly apply for jobs while still in school, but I’m a little superstitious and didn’t want to jinx myself passing the PANCE. I felt like applying and interviewing for jobs would be a distraction for me instead of prepping for the PANCE.
I enjoyed working in the OR and felt like general surgery was a great job to have out of PA school. I was able to get experience working in the hospital, rounding on patients, assisting in surgeries and seeing patients in the office. I was able to see a lot of different diagnosis as well working in general surgery.
Things I didn’t like about it were that the “assistant” part of Physician Assistant is truer than in other specialties. There was very little autonomy as most of my day was assisting in surgery. The other thing I didn’t like about it was the call. The call schedule was not as heavy as some services but with a new baby at home it was rough getting up in the middle of the night to see an ER consult which often lead to surgery.
After working in general surgery for three years my wife and I decided we wanted to move closer to family so I started looking for new jobs. I had multiple offers and decided to go with a job in physiatry. I’ve been at this job for three years and like a lot of things about it. It always feels good when a patient comes back from an injection without any pain and they are so grateful.
Your Career Will be a Journey
Every job has its positives and negatives and as a PA or future PA you must decide what your priority is. One important thing I’ve learned and like to tell students that shadow me is that you have to enjoy what you’re doing and often it’s not about the “work” you’re doing and more about the people who are around you. Remember when you are interviewing for a job or a school, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. You have to be happy with where you land.
Your path as a PA is going to be journey. There are always going to be bends in the road that make you feel like you’re going back the same direction you just came, but if you continue on the road you’ll get to a new place. Never stop learning, if you feel like you have “arrived” a twist or turn is probably coming up. If you’re just starting on your journey, know that it is going to take some time to get up the mountain but you’ll get there if you stay the course. Good luck to all as you continue on your journey!
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