I know there are different specialties in a PA career, but what are your typical hours/weekend/holiday schedules.
One of my main motivations for seeking a career outside of nursing (not specifically why I am looking at PA) is the search for better work life. Working 12 hour night shifts 3 days a week, every third weekend, and two full holidays out of the year sucks. While I don't mind typical nursing duties (the yucky stuff), it does particularly drag on your compassion when you have to directly care for an ungrateful, rude, psychotic or downright nasty patient for 12-13 full hours. Now I understand that handling these personalities is exclusively a nursing problem, but being in full exposure to them as a nurse is quite different than the types of interactions I've observed physicians and PAs having with them. Very heavy care assignments (obese, quads, paras, frequent incontinence, multiple skin integrity issues) are also physically exhausting. The politics of healthcare has also created a great many cons for our profession as well, including but not limited to shortstaffing, overworking, pulling personnel from one area to work in another with no notice, and making budget cuts that we have no influence over but are expected to give the same care.
I'd like real life testimonies to help keep me from ending up in another dissatisfying career! Thank you all!
Work life of a PA
Re: Work life of a PA
Your days and hours will depend almost entirely on two things:
1) your specialty
and
2) who you end up working for
and to a much lesser extent on
1) your level of experience
If you go into cardiothoracic surgery, you can count on long hours and a work week that is very long indeed, and perhaps being on call as well.
if you go into primary care or a nonacute specialty, such as dermatology, you can count a much more 9-5 existence.
Don't forget, there are also PT and per diem jobs, as well as working as a locum tenens PA (google that if you don't know what that is).
Yes, health care reform has made all of us busier, so you need to choose what you do and whom you do it for carefully. There are amazing and amazingly shitty PA jobs just like there are amazing and amazingly shitty MD jobs (and in every other profession). Some of your colleagues will be willing to do some of the ones you consider yucky, but if you aren't, then don't accept such a position and keep looking for one with a better fit.
1) your specialty
and
2) who you end up working for
and to a much lesser extent on
1) your level of experience
If you go into cardiothoracic surgery, you can count on long hours and a work week that is very long indeed, and perhaps being on call as well.
if you go into primary care or a nonacute specialty, such as dermatology, you can count a much more 9-5 existence.
Don't forget, there are also PT and per diem jobs, as well as working as a locum tenens PA (google that if you don't know what that is).
Yes, health care reform has made all of us busier, so you need to choose what you do and whom you do it for carefully. There are amazing and amazingly shitty PA jobs just like there are amazing and amazingly shitty MD jobs (and in every other profession). Some of your colleagues will be willing to do some of the ones you consider yucky, but if you aren't, then don't accept such a position and keep looking for one with a better fit.