<p>I was just wondering, what is the process of getting there and how is the job?
To my understanding, in order to become a PA, you need two years of schooling at a PA school? Would neurosurgery require more?
I know that as a PA, you won't get to do the real thing during the surgery; but is being a PA and an actual neurosurgeon totally different? like are the hours for a PA crazy? Does it pay higher compared to other fields in PA?
How much do you have to learn? Obviously not as much as actually becoming a doctor, but you need atleast some background knowledge on the brain and the nerves, etc to participate in surgery.
As much information as possible on neurosurgery PA please :)</p>
<p>PA’s and NP’s going in to most surgical subspecialties are going to do mostly the following things: </p>
<p>Clinic - the majority of the cases they’ll see will be the pre-op (to do the required History and physical), and post-op (to make sure things are going okay, remove sutures, etc). Depending on the specialty, they may see a fair number of initial presentations to clinic, but that’s going to be more frequent in the fields where there’s a higher number of conditions that can be managed without surgery like in ENT where medical management needs to fail first. </p>
<p>In patient management - the mid-level providers may get to spend a lot time rounding on patients that are admitted to the hospital prior to surgery, immediately post-op, and those that come back with complications. This is to free up the surgeon from having to do all the paperwork with daily progress notes, coordination of care with other specialties and dealing with the issues of sending the patient home (home health, social issues, etc). There will be some medical decision making, but much more is being a paper pusher. You may also the be the first contact for other services seeking a consult (more paper).</p>
<p>Surgery - dependent on the surgeon and the hospital setting. If you’re out with a private practice neurosurgeon/ENT/whatever, the most a mid-level is going to do is be first assistant. That means holding retractors, adjusting lights, suctioning the field, preparing some instruments for particular configurations, the occasional cutting and suturing if you have a better angle than the surgeon, closing up the incision while the surgeon goes and talks to the family. You are not, will never be, the primary decision maker. If you end up at an academic center, you’re less likely to see the OR, or if you do go, to be bumped further down the table for the fellows, residents, medical students, pre-med shadowing, etc.</p>
<p>The hours are going to be entirely dependent on the practice you join. It’s possible that even working for a different surgeon in the same group practice could yield very different expectations. For example, say that the neurosurgeon you’re under likes to be in the OR at 7am, but wants to round on all the patients in the hospital before going to scrub. That may mean you’re there at 545 to make sure everyone’s seen and notes are in the chart. That same surgeon may then spend all day in the OR, finishing up around 5pm. If they like to then round a second time, check up on all the patients who had surgery that day, get around to discharging those who are ready to go home, that may end up taking another 2 hours or so depending on what’s going on. If you’re the type of PA who ends up doing much more OR time, you may struggle to squeeze in all the paperwork to get done (discharge instructions, prescriptions, follow up appointments) in between cases. That may mean you have to do it at the end of the day, or delay cases while they wait for you, making your day even longer. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you’re spending more time in clinic and aren’t doing much on the inpatient side, you may have very normal 830 to 430 hours most days. So there can be an extremely wide spectrum of experiences. And it’s possible that the surgeon will spend 2 days in clinic and 3 in the OR each week or some variation of that. The inpatients will still need to be seen and discharged, but you might have an entirely different schedule each day of the week. You may negotiate having every Thursday off in exchange for seeing inpatients briefly in the mornings on the weekends. So there’s a lot of flexibility, but you have to find someone who is willing to pay you for the schedule you want. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean anyone will want to hire you for the type of schedule and division of time between OR/Clinic/hospital you may consider ideal.</p>
<p>First off, it is Physician Assistant - there is no “s”.
It’s two and a half years of schooling for the Master’s Degree. The majority of students do a 5 year program combining undergrad and graduate school, since it is very difficult to get accepted into a grad program otherwise. There are strict requirements for courses that must be taken prior to entry into grad school, and many hours of professional medical experience (those going the 5 year route can use volunteer and shadowing hours for exposure).</p>
<p>The first year of the grad program is mostly classroom learning and human anatomy lab. There is a lot of education on body systems, pharmacology, etc. Some time is spent shadowing physicians and there are practical labs on giving injections, suturing, interpreting ekgs, etc.</p>
<p>The second year and a half is spent entirely in the field doing 5-6 rotations. Some are required and some are optional - if you wanted to go into neurology as a career, you would chose a rotation in that specialty. </p>
<p>Unlike physicians and nurse practioners, PA’s must be certified for all fields of medical practice. The positive thing about this is that it makes it somewhat easier to switch fields (get tired of neuro, you can switch to obstetrics). The negative is that you must stay current to pass the licensure exam every few years in all areas of medicine.</p>
<p>Do a google and find the PA organizations that can give you the information you need.</p>
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<p>Sorry, but have to disagree with you on this, KK. There aren’t many of us who even know about 5 year programs. There are only about 20 combined 5 year programs(BS/Masters), but at least 200 regular graduate programs. </p>
<p>My son is doing a neurosurgery rotation at Cleveland Clinic this fall. If he likes it, I’m not sure what the next step would be. They may offer some type of internship for more training, but the internships I’ve seen only last about a year.</p>