Dear Paul,
I am in an interesting situation. After working in several non-medical areas, I am looking at going back to school to do something different. My problem is I have never worked or volunteered in the medical field and don’t really have a lot of time while supporting my family to go shadow someone. In all honesty, I have no desire to work as a CNA or EMT. I would love to work in family practice simply because I’m good with people and would be EXCEPTIONAL at helping them feel at ease. I don’t enjoy body fluids or blood and guts — they don’t make me sick, but it’s just not fun for me.
To sum it all up, I would love the stability of this career and the chance to help people, but I don’t know if the medicine is for me. If I could go straight through school into a family clinic, I think I would love it. But the idea of having to work as an EMT or CNA first does not sound like something I would enjoy at all. So how to know if the medical field is right for me when I am too busy supporting my family to go shadow some one for a decent amount of time? How do I get past having no desire to work any of the jobs that get me the experience I need to go to school?
Sincerely,
[name withheld]
Dear NW:
You are in an interesting situation. Medicine is not for some people. Since you don’t like blood and guts or the types of things that you would be doing as an EMT or CNA, you should know that in medicine, as in life, there is no free lunch. That said, a career as a PA will offer you a trade.
First, the DOWNSIDE of that trade if you choose Primary Care: some of your time will be talking about, touching, smelling, and caring about people’s’ stool, urine, blood, pus, feet, bottoms, armpits, bad breath, penises & vaginas, wounds, dandruff, fungal infections, colostomy bags, urinary catheters, body odor, “toe jam,” mucus, and items lodged in the rectum/vagina/penis (more on this last one in a forthcoming article). Did I put too fine a point on it?
The UPSIDE of the trade: you will do amazing non-yucky things like change the way your patients live, not kill themselves, feel better, have better relationships, understand how precious their health is, and yes, you will actually save lives. And if you are good, you will do it all for high pay and praise.
If the trade doesn’t sound good to you, then Primary Care (and possibly medicine) probably isn’t for you.
But before you despair, know that many books have been written about people in medicine who don’t like touching patients (click to see one) and often those people enjoy medical careers in the No Patient Care (NPC) specialties. The NPC specialties are generally considered to be Radiology, Anesthesiology, Pathology, Dermatology,
Ophthalmology, and Psychiatry.
But at the very least, you MUST shadow. It will tell you if you can do this work or not. Do yourself a favor and shadow several people (docs, PAs, NPs, whatever) in different specialties and different settings (hospital/clinic/other). You might find that you can stomach some of the things you don’t like if they are 1) temporary and 2) aimed at eventually getting you into an area that you like. Being squeamish about blood, for example, is not mission-critical.
With all that said, it is your last sentence that concerns me the most. “How to I get past having no desire to work any of the jobs that get me the experience I need to go to school?” Yes, you have a family to care for, but would you rather they see you doing what it takes to get out of the rut, or resigning yourself to unfulfilled work?
Changing careers involves risk. I worry about someone who wants this career, but doesn’t want to sacrifice the time, money, energy, and comfort to do what it takes to make the leap. If that really is you, forget about lunch — medicine won’t even get you a free refill on your soda.
Great article!!! You make a great point that I want to say to some prospective students who are in such a rush to get into school and want to rush past the phase of learning and gaining experience in a career before they start school. I feel like I was kind of like that before I got into PA school. I share your post “Quick Health Care Experience for PA School?” with those students.
p.s. I worked as an MA in Derm prior to school and I don’t understand why everyone always says that Derm is a hands off specialty! You have to prepare KOH preps from toenails and intertriginous areas and examine rashes and remove growths/skin tags from many private places 🙂 If someone doesn’t like looking at/touching funky skin then I can’t imagine how they could work in Derm 😉
Thanks, Hillary! I agree there’s plenty to do with your hands in dermatology. It’s definitely not a specialty for those who are squeamish in any way. For my part, I’ve always thought that skin can be a heck of a lot ickier that anything bloody, pukey, or poopy!
I’m a freshman majoring in sports medicine with possibly a minor in biology. Is that good or bad for PA school? I like biology but right now its boring. I LOVE learning about the human body and illness and deformities and everything but what i’m learning now is boring and about ants and camels so I switched majors. Sports Medicine interests me more and I still get alot of prereqs for PA school done within the major so did I make a bad choice by Sports Med major or no? I really need help. I’m becoming an EMT and later on will get a job as an EMT Tech at a nearby hospital along with shadowing hours not to mention I’m in plenty of extra curricular activities and I’m already practicing for the GRE. Am I going down the wrong path for my major or no?
Sports medicine is a fine major. Do well in your science classes to prove that you aren’t afraid of them. You can also major in a type of Biology that is specific to humans, such as Human physiology. But no, as long as you do well in your classes, I don’t see a problem with sports medicine.
You are LITERALLY the best!!!! Thank you so much! You just lifted a huge weight off my shoulders……..no joke.
Hello there, my name is Mark and I have been in the trenches ( clinical field) for 15 years. My own opinion after many years is that the PA job is rewarding at times and extremely stressful as well. You must have patience and stamina both physically and mentally. Just want to let you know the industry is changing vastly and there are aspects of the responsibility that they do not teach you in school. You must learn them out in the field. The career choice is attractive to a lot of people who entertain the idea, however they have know idea what it’s really like until much later. It is not like the shows you see on TV. You must have due diligence in your study and expect to work very hard at your craft. I believe soon that technology will eventually exceed what used to be the old school ways of educating medical professionals and that we will see big changes. There are many doctors who will tell you today if they had to do it over again they might not pick the same career choice. Research the career choice carefully and please shadow a professional before making your choice.
Related to Mark de la Lama’s comment above: Is there any fear from PAs currently in the field that having mid-level providers take on more and more responsibility for primary care might mean that some of the complaints that you hear from primary care MDs (too much involvement with insurance companies, ever-decreasing amount of time with patients) are going to trickle down and become common causes of dissatisfaction for PAs?
The reason the PA profession (and primary care) is attractive to me is the potential to have strong, meaningful, long-term relationships with patients — but I don’t want to be naive to the possibility that our health care system may be making that less of a norm, even for PAs. Do you have any thoughts on this, Paul?
Good point Rachel, I had the same thoughts. I am just starting my journey into possibly pursuing a career as a PA. I love the Pt. care aspect of my job but am wanting something more fulfilling and was thinking this might be the right path for me. That said I do understand that Medicine is rapidly changing and I know many MD’s that are so overburdened with the insurance/paperwork that they almost no longer enjoy what they do. I would think it would eventually trickle down to PA’s as well.
Interested to see the response.
Hello Paul,
Thank you for this site! I have a question for you. I have been thinking about PA career for 5 years now. I have a bs in HR Mngmt (gpa is 2.4)-not good at all - and an MBA (gpa 3.1).
Basically, I have 0 medical experience. I was laid off from my job 2 months ago and I believe that it is the right time for a career change.
Is there any hope for me to be admitted? Where should I start? Is it late for me?
I don’t know how old you are, so it’s hard to say, but it would require a lot of work and you would have no guarantee to get in. You might have more luck thinking longer-term. If you started a Respiratory or Radiology Tech program, you could in fairly short order, make good money while accruing excellent health care experience. You will still need to retake your PA school science prerequisites. But taking one at a time and being careful to do well while working as a tech of some kind might over time give you a very nice income and prepare you for one day being an excellent candidate. I would urge you to look at respiratory tech — it’s relevant work, in demand, excellent pay, and great HCE.
Hey paul ,
i would like to prerequisites this semester and think i want to become a P.A. The reasons i want to become a P.A. are as follows, you can help others, and it has a good salary. However i think medicine interests me but im not sure… and i dont have time to shadow .
so my question is do you think thats enough to start my prerequisites.
Thanks for this awesome website
Hi Paul!
I worked in the medical field in maintenance for 2 years while in the military, and had the chance to see some doctors and PAs at work, and had always thought I was too squeamish to attempt this work myself. However, after reading this article, I feel it might be right for me because I truly love taking care of/helping people. I have always had a heart for people and I feel like that is what the medical field is really about.
My 2 questions for you are: 1) how do you go about shadowing a PA? I live in central California but haven’t for long so I don’t have a personal connection to any doctors yet, and 2) now that you have been in the field for a couple years, do you still feel like you went down the right path? As a single mom of twins I don’t have the money/time/energy to spend on something that I am going to decide I don’t like later. (I know you can’t really speak for me but I’d like to know that it is a career that continues to be rewarding, even after the newness wears off.)
Thanks so much in advance!!
1) read our articles on shadowing by clicking here.
2) I love my job. I definitely comes with frustrations, and there are days where it definitely feels like work. But I’m SO glad I became a PA. I get to do all the stuff I love and get to watch my supervising MD grumbling about all the things he hates (which are things I don’t really need to do!) I get paid very well and have a job that I’m proud to tell people about. I learn new things every day. I may eventually venture into a different specialty, but not so much because I don’t like primary care, but because I’ve always been partial to emergency medicine, and since I can still do it, I may one day see what I think of it by stepping into it.
(It’s a long email sorry)
I’m going back to community college and dual enrolling in science and an accelerated EMT program. I did bad my first year of college b/c there were many things going on in my life and plus I wasn’t happy where I was & in the end I didn’t do good in my sciences. I got an A in chem 101, but I got 2 C’s in both biology courses the 1st year and a C in math. I’m going back to community college to get my crap together (I also found out I have A.D.H.D) and am retaking chemistry 102 (B/c I did bad) but right now I have an A.
1) If I do good all around in comm. college AND when I transfer to a university, will my chances of getting into PA school still be low b/c of my 1st year of college?
2) Do you recommend being a Paramedic over just being an EMT-intermediate or Advanced Intermediate to get hours for PA school? (keeping in mind becoming a paramedic while taking other classes for my associates will limit the amount of other classes I could take)…I just don’t know whether to become an Intermediate & be able to take other classes that make me a unique applicant or stick w/ being limited to the classes I can take & become a Paramedic…what’s your opinion?
3) I have asked around for shadowing opportunities in clinics/hospitals/private businesses & PA’s & MD’s in my area/county are no longer allowing people to shadow even if they are certified as an EMT or MA or anything b/c of liability & privacy laws…What do I do if I literally can’t shadow?
4) Can PA’s specialize in surgery? Like general surgery, cardiothoracic etc…?
5) If you wish to change specialties from Emergency Medicine to Urgent Care do you have to take an exam, have extra training or no?
Lastly, how many years is it until a PA has to get re-certified to keep their license? I’ve been told numerous things & I just want clarification b/c I know it’s probably different in every state.