<p>I keep debating on these two professions and not sure which one would be better for me since I'm interested in medicine AND rehabilitation. I want to be in close proximity to sports, but I'm also very drawn to the less schooling/higher pay of PA's... Help!</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the two professions. You might be better off asking in another forum. But if I HAD to choose between those two, I would choose physical therapist. If you’re a physician’s assistant, you basically help out the doctor and do what they say, right? I feel like a physical therapist would have more independence because they have their own patients and come up with the treatments. Plus, if you’re a really good physical therapist you could probably start your own business and be successful but a physician’s assistant has to have a doctor to work for. Again I could have it all wrong but that’s my take.</p>
<p>While it’s true that PAs are required to work under the supervision of a physician, PAs are not there to “help out the doctor”. PAs can see and treat patients, order tests, write prescriptions, perform minor surgical procedures–all without even consulting a physician. </p>
<p>PAs cannot have an independent medical practice. They usually work as part of large medical practice, at clinics, or in hospital settings. PAs are able to specialize either during their clinical training or by taking an additional ‘residency’ after they complete their licensure. </p>
<p>Admission to PA programs is extremely competitive. There are 2 routes to a PA: a 5-6 year BA/MS program or 2 year MS program after the completion of a BA/BS and all pre-req courses plus the GRE. Many PA programs have specific clinical experience requirements for applicants. </p>
<p>Physical therapists have more options in their practice settings than do PAs. They can set up and run their own independent practices–which PAs cannot. A PT licensure now requires a DPT (Doctorate in Physical Therapy) in most states. DPT admissions are extremely competitive, though not as competitive as PA programs. A DPT takes 3 years to complete. (2 years classroom instruction; 1 year clinical training.)</p>
<p>If you want to work in rehabilitative medicine–how “hands-on” do you want to be?
PT would be much more hands-on than a PA. Ortho PAs would mostly work in with post-surgical patient care.</p>
<p>Physician Assistants (NOT “Physician’s assistants”) have great flexibility in changing specialties. They have to pass certification exams in all fields of patient care, so if a PA becomes bored with sports medicine or ortho, s/he can easily move to a family medicine or general surgery position, sometimes even without having to take a new residency.</p>
<p>Working under a doctor’s (indirect) supervision can be a positive thing. My PA-to-be kid doesn’t have to worry about malpractice insurance since the doctor or practice will cover that for her. For the most part the doctor has very little say in what she does as a care provider - the doctor is there to consult, but she certainly won’t have to go running to the doctor to confirm a diagnosis or order tests/consultation.</p>
<p>KKmama - while you are of course right that the correct plural is “Physician assistants” instead of “physician’s assistant” (which gives the wrong impression), I’d like to expand upon or correct some of your other statements. </p>
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<p>PA’s actually only take one certification exam, called the PANCE - yes, this exam includes topics from a variety of medical specialties, but they do not take multiple certification exams in different fields.
However, you are quite correct that a PA can change their field easily because of this. Several of my friends who recently graduated from PA school have already switched fields 
And about residencies - the vast majority of PA’s don’t complete additional formal training after PA school before starting work. There are some PA “residencies” in fields where PAs are frequently utilized, like Emergency Medicine, but these are not required to work in the field and still are not very common. </p>
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<p>Indirect supervision (e.g. chart review, etc) is one possible setup for a PA, but more commonly there is much closer interaction with the supervising physician. All of my PA friends have regular contact with their supervising physicians, and have most/all of their notes cosigned by an attending. However, I have heard of PAs whose “supervision” only includes spot checks via chart review, etc. It seems like this usually occurs with PAs working in rural areas.</p>
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<p>I’d imagine that’s definitely not true. In general, a PA’s scope of practice is at the discretion of their supervising physician.
The best description of the PA profession I’ve heard is that they are perpetual residents and, while they generally will get varying levels of increased independence and responsibility with the more experience they get, they will always operate until a supervising physician. </p>
<p>To the OP, I would recommend becoming a PA over DPT - you can get involved in physical therapy as a PA (perhaps at an orthopod or physiatrist’s practice), but also have the opportunity to do other things as well, which isn’t true of DPTs.</p>
<p>Also - 3,000th (official) post! :)</p>
<p>@wilson2 what year are you in? My son is a junior in college now…Hes getting his BS in health science…Hes thinking PT,PA or even DO. You just need to meet your requirements in your undergrad program. Shadowing is also a big part of it. I am encouraging my son now to shadow PT and PA now. He needs to start applying to programs in the late summer and fall.</p>
<p>GCmom415: Make sure that your son does more than shadow a PA. He will need to have an average of 300 hours of direct patient contact by the time he is accepted into a PA program (some require those to be completed before applying). That means paid or volunteer hours working in a clinic, nursing home, dialysis center or the like. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get into a graduate PA program directly from college - it happens, but the majority of admits come from medical professions (CNA’s, techs, EMT’s, etc.).</p>
<p>Icarus: it is a matter of semantics. I shall rephrase myself - the certification exam that PA’s must take covers most fields of medical care, which makes it relatively easy for PAs to switch from one specialty to another. By “new residency” I simply meant that there was no need to take an additional residency in addition to the ones taken prior to graduation.</p>
<p>As for independence, the PA I use has never had to ask the doctor in the practice before ordering any medical tests for me. She certainly doesn’t “help out the doctor” in the dismissive sense that mmmgirl used, but is a fully competent medical provider.</p>
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<p>That’s fair, I guess, but I think it’s important to get the information right (including terminology) so that others who may read this aren’t confused or misled. For example, your use of “residency” would seem to indicate to someone else the same thing that MD’s go through after graduating, which is certainly not the case. Nor does it refer to what PA students go through prior to graduation (as your most recent post posits) - prior to graduation, PA student go through clinical rotations (like med students), not a ‘residency’.
As to independence, while it is true that PAs don’t have to consult a doctor for every test and are not, as you say, “helping out the doctor”, they are not independent medical practitioners and do not hold unrestricted medical licenses. This is not an attack on the profession - it is merely fact.</p>