Is there a Doctor, PA., Paramedic or EMT in the house?

Poststructural Pub
1

(Easy on the itchy trigger fingers there Mods - this isn’t a medical advice related thread, I promise. :laughing: )

Right then, on to my question…

I’m seriously considering heading into the medical career field, starting with EMT-B certification, and then Paramedic School, and finally with the long term goal being PA (Physician Assistant) school in approx 4 years. I’ve done quite a bit of research already, am likely to start EMT school here in the next few months, and am working on the funding for EMT-P school ($20,000. + Gulp!)

With this in mind, I’d be very interested in speaking to any EMT’s, Paramedics, PA’s who’ve been down some, or all of this path, as well as any Physicians who work with PA’s (Amar, do they even have PA’s over in Euro land??) or even nurses (yes, that means you Busman), who may have some insight on the process, pros and cons of this general career path. Any input will, of course, be much appreciated.

It’s probably best to contact me via email, as I often have difficulty responding to PM’s on the public computers I most often use.


Thanks in advance,

Loren

2

Short reply:

Go for it!

details to follow in e-mail..

3

Hmmm. Surprisingly sparse response to your inquiry. Well, anyway, I’m an FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner) which functionally would be indistinguishable from a family practice PA if you were to shadow me for a day. The differences are mostly legal. As I understand it a PA is in the employ of or is supervised by a physician (MD) though the supervising physician does not necessarily have to be in the same building, or even in the same town. These rules may vary from state to state. NPs start out as RNs and get their medical (rather than nursing) training in graduate school, usually a two year Master’s program. In most states NPs are considered independent practitioners (our license does not depend on the existence of a supervising MD’s license for its validity) so we can be in private practice, if we’re crazy enough to want to be. Other differences are in practice style or philosophy: NPs generally have more of a nursing perspective (we are after all still RNs) which may entail a more collaborative approach to care. That’s a gross overgeneralization but there is some truth to it.

My own career path took me from aeronautical engineer to ICU RN to FNP. I enjoyed my first two careers but my current job is the first one I could say I really love. There’s nothing more satisfying than helping to restore someone’s quality of life. Of course the ones you can’t help think you’re an idiot. Well, ya can’t please everybody.

Anyway, I say go for it! Health care is one career where you never (well, rarely) have to try to justify your work. The work you do speaks for itself. Feel free to e-mail or PM me if you have more specific questions. Good luck!

Ming

4

Do you have any work experience in the medical/health field yet??? I work as a records clerk in the guidance department of a high school, and it’s helped me realize what I want to become - a school counselor. Incidentally, I probably know more than several of the counselors in our school district. I plan on returning to school shortly to earn a counseling degree.

On that note, if you’re 100% sure, then by all means GO FOR IT! But if 99.9% sure, I’d suggest getting some sort of minor position in the field (med desk receptionist, etc). It’ll help you get a better idea of what you’ll be getting into. :boggle:

5

I see someone already beat me to the Nurse practitioner advice.

I’d do that before I did the PA thing. I’d much prefer the autonomy.

Or, you could become a vet. Then you get everything…

  • The knowledge of a physician
  • The safe work environment of a rodeo clown
  • The Head aches of being your own boss
  • Get bitten twice as often for 1/2 the salary of a dentisit. :slight_smile:

I always tell my kids as I’m cleaning the anal gland gook from a dog out of my eye or am up to my shoulder in a cow…“If you study real hard and go to school for half your life you can get a glamourous job like this too.” :laughing:

Doc

6

Ah, but one thing vets get is priceless…the trust of the pare…er…owners of their patients!

Sometimes I wish my vet were licensed to practice on humans…she’s got a better bedside manner, is more respectful of her clients, and seems more broadly knowledgeable than any MD I’ve ever had, other than my daughter’s pediatrician.

Redwolf

7

Too true, I’d never give it up. All my brothers (except the lawyer) are physicians. They all make tons more money than I do but always express their envy of my way of life and diversity of professional experieinces…I never know what will come in the door. In the same day I may plate a fractured leg, attend to a neonate in intensive care, do oral sugery, do a C-section on a goat and get a diabetic’s insulin regulated. Never a dull moment and tons of diversity.

I have cients all the time expressing a desire that I could attend to their medical needs as well. If I had the time, I would become a nurse practitioner or naturepathic Dr or some such and open the practice to everyone. I’d have to get some bigger kennels though. :wink: )

Doc

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Thanks for all the responses folks, much appreciated. I’ll try to write more in response when I have more extensive internet access.

Loren

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Go for it.

I’m an EMT but I don’t work as one. I’ll probably let my license lapse.

I was going to attend paramedic school but in Michigan they don’t make enough to live on.

10

Fascinating discussion. I used to want to work in the medical field, but I see my classmates who are pre-medicine majors or nursing majors going insane because of all the work that’s required, and I’m glad I’m not! The world always need more healthcare providers, especially in lesser developed countries, so I say go for it, too!

11

Sounds fabulous, and being borderline ADHD, the diversity sounds perfect.

However at 43, if I spent half of my remaining life in school, I’d have to graduate Veterninary school only to be wheeled directly into a Nursing home :laughing: Paul, can you hook me up with that?

Besides, I’m allergic to cats.
And nippy little pocketbook size dogs.
And their owners.

Don’t think I’d be able to payback the med school loans just treating well trained and well behaved cool medium and large size dogs…


Loren

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Sure thing-- and I could cut your toenails too if you promise not to sue me, since I cancelled my malpractice insurance as of yesterday! :smiley:

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Uhh, thanks, but I’m high functioning, and still flexible enough to handle my own toenail clipping :laughing:

What I really need are new orthotics: Mine are well over 10 years old and coming apart, but the darn things are so expensive it’s just plain crazy. What can you do though? I’ll have to break down and get fit for a new pair eventually.


Loren

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Hey Loren,
It just occurs to me that I suggested nursing to you a couple of years ago. My point being??

Anyway, yeah, you really don’t want a monstrous debt like you’d have from med school. A friend of mine attended PA school in California. It was an accelerated program for people with medical backgrounds (he was a chiropractor). I forget if it was one or two years, but it was very intense for him. (He was also an emt long before he was a chiropractor.)

Seriously, nursing would be a quick way (3-4 years worth) into a good paying profession, but you’d need a way to eat while you’re attending. (You should marry a rich woman.) As a nurse, you work with a lot of women. I leave you to your own opinions on that score.

Good luck, man.
Tony

15

My suggestion would be nursing school. You’re looking at sinking ludicrous sums into paramedic school only to drop it and go on to something else. It’s not like paramedic is the first stages of PA, either, or even that there are programs that expect you to go that route. Or even that it pays particularly well. Nursing pays much, much better.

You can get into the field quickly if you go the 2-year RN route. While working, you can complete the BSN. Still while working, you can complete nurse practitioner school. This is a normal progression at reasonable cost. You can even do the PA thing after getting the BSN.

If you go to work for the VA near you, they’ll probably fund, facilitate, and encourage you all the way through it.

In fact, here you can do an LPN very quickly, less than a year, I think, then do an LPN-RN transition program, followed by a BSN program, all without much aggravation at all.

There isn’t as much of a straight-line progression if you go the EMT route–it’s more of a do, re-do, re-do affair–and I would think you would be so tangled up in shift work as an EMT that you’d have difficulty going back to school.

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I’ve been trying to think of a good way to respond to this query myself.

I agree with Lamby (Lammie?) that EMT to paramedic to PA isn’t exactly a logical progression. It seems to me (having taught paramedics and EMTs) that it may seem logical from outside medicine, but from the inside, it doesn’t make sense.

Of course, you might get EMT training to get a job to make some money while you’re training to be a PA . . . that would make sense. But the suggested RN routes make sense as well, and once you see how you like all of that there are a bajillion ways to move from RN-dom into advanced practice nursing, be it as some kind of nurse practitioner, or CRNA, or whatever.

The thing that complicates all of this, in my opinion, is that medicine in the US doesn’t really know what it wants from the so-called midlevel practitioner (PA, NP, CRNA, AA, blah blah). The PA was designed, initially, to serve in a rural/underserved primary-care role. They probably instantly got extended into taking chronic stable patients off the hands of MDs (who then had more time for more complicated patients).

I think, Loren, that it all boils down to what you want to do. Sounds trite but it’s the truth. Have you got a particular niche into which you’d like to fit? Your sights on a particular job? That might help you decide which route is best.

OK, donning my flame-proof vest, and in the interest of honesty . . .

PAs and NPs aren’t MDs and won’t function the same way. The happy PAs, NPs, and CRNAs that I work with have all arrived at those careers as a logical progression rather than as a way to side-step medical school. Meaning, the best (and the happiest) CRNAs I know were ICU nurses who got bored and wanted something different with more responsibility. Same for the other advanced-practice nurses. But the really unhappy ones who hop from job to job, in my opinion, are really frustrated at not being physicians or surgeons.

Does that make sense? I mean it with all respect, and NOT in the Talladega Nights all-due-respect sense. :wink:

Stuart

17

Sorry Loren, just saw this thread. Guess I can’t help you here, I don’t even know what a PA is! But, if that’s where your heart it, go for it. :slight_smile:

18

I’ve had, and continue to have, sporadic and unpredictable internet access so it’s taken me a while to get back to this but I did want to take a moment to say thanks to all who took the time to reply, I very much appreciate it.

Obviously, there’s much for me to consider.


Thanks again,

Loren

19

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… you could become a podiatrist :smiley: