Physician Assistant VS. Family Doctor

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
1

<p>Whats your views on each? Which one WOULD YOU prefer?</p>

2

<p>an MD has 8 years of extensive medical training vs. a PA with 2 years of much less intense training.</p>

3

<p>The PA will be an employee, will likely not take uncompensated call, and must be supervised by a physician. PA compensation could be more or less than that of a family doctor.</p>

<p>See general info <a href="http://www.aapa.org/geninfo1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aapa.org/geninfo1.html&lt;/a> and statistics <a href="http://www.aapa.org/research/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aapa.org/research/&lt;/a> at the American Academy of Physician Assistants site.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Results of the 2006 AAPA Physician Assistant Census survey indicate that the mean total income from primary employer for clinically practicing PAs working full-time (32 or more hours per week) was $84,396 (standard deviation $21,975); the median was $80,356. The mean total income in 2005 was $81,129.

[/quote]
<a href="http://www.aapa.org/research/06inc-change.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aapa.org/research/06inc-change.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The PA role is well defined, but it is differs from being a physician in many important ways. With tight health care budgets, PA working as physician extenders have good job prospects.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
an MD has 8 years of extensive medical training vs. a PA with 2 years of much less intense training.

[/quote]

PAs usually need a bachelor's degree, so it's technically 6 years. But physicians also have to go through residency, fellowships, etc.</p>

5

<p>PA is a great career choice.</p>

<p>More freedom, less time (and thus money) spent in school, less call, and a lot of other positive aspects...</p>

<p>Have a lot of friends who are PA's and they all really enjoy it. Most have actually gone into specialty fields, so they're not just limited to doing primary care.</p>

6

<p>agree totally with bigredmed....i know someone in PA school and he says he's getting the same as MDs, except the THEORY behind the work is omitted. yes, they work UNDER MDs but for many, that's a good thing. and yes, they enter all specialties. on a personal view, i think MDs as we knew them prior to managed care, etc. are gone for the most part. it's a HUGE commitment, with HUGE loans afterward, with a terrible insurance system largely now in control. hard for truly committed docs to do what they want to do.</p>