Before you read this post I want you to take a quick survey.
What do you think?
Physician Assistant vs. MD - Show Me The Money
Often the decision between PA and MD is considered a difficult one, but should it be?
Today I am posting the first in a series of posts to help prove to you why this age-old debate is not a debate at all.
And since the biggest search phrase in Google following the word "Physician Assistant" is "Salary" I thought I would start by addressing the elephant in the room and show you the numbers.
Annual salary numbers themselves are useless, as they are not a good representation of salary in relation to all the hidden variables such as time spent in training, debt, residency, and average hours worked per week.
This post is going to address all of these variables using an elegant equation and we will calculate a more important indicator:
True Hourly Wage!
This post is heavy with numbers so you may need to grab your glasses (and a calculator), but as you will see the results are interesting!
So let's get going...
Medical Doctors (MD) - True Hourly Wage
Becoming a physician is expensive!
For the 2018-2019 academic year, the average total student budget for public and private undergraduate universities was $25,890 and $52,500, respectively.
If one attends an average priced institution, receives subsidized loans and graduates in four years they will have about $33,310 of student loan debt from undergraduate college.
For the 2018-2019 academic year, the median cost of tuition and fees for public and private medical schools was $32,495 and $52,515 per year, respectively.
This does not include the cost of rent, utilities, food, transportation, health insurance, books, professional attire, licensing exams fees or residency interview expenses.
Therefore, the average medical student budget is about $55,000 per year; $40,000 for tuition and $15,000 for living expenses.
If one attends an average priced medical school, receives 1/3 subsidized loans and graduates in 4 years; at a 7% APR, statistically, they will have $200,527 of debt from medical school at graduation.
If one borrows $22,500 bi-annually and two-thirds of this accrues interest compounded bi-annually at 3.5% – their total student loan debt for both college and medical school will then be $300,527. Forbearing this debt through 5 years of residency and paying it off over 20 years will cost about $788,880 of one’s net income.
Loan repayment programs such as those offered by the military are not a solution for the majority. Each year, about 22,000 medical students graduate from U.S. allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. Each year the military matches 800 students into its residency training programs because that is the military’s anticipated future need for physicians.
The U.S. tax code allows taxpayers to deduct a maximum of $2,500 per year of student loan interest paid to their lender.
This deduction is phased out between incomes of $115,000 and $145,000. Therefore, this benefit is of no help to most physicians.
If one were to start a business, they could deduct nearly all of their expenses. Yet for unclear reasons, one cannot deduct the cost of becoming a physician; not the tuition or even the interest on the money they borrowed to pay their tuition.
During residency, if one makes payments of $1,753 per month, or $21,037 per year, to pay off the accruing interest, their debt will still be $300,527 at the end of residency.
However, they will have spent $63,111 over the course of a 3-year residency or $126,222 over the course of a 6-year residency to keep their debt from growing.
Though paying off the interest during residency is the responsible thing to do; coming up with $21,037 each year from one’s net pay of $40,000 may be quite difficult.
Time spent training, student loan debt and the U.S. tax code makes the income of physicians deceiving. A board-certified internal medicine physician who is married with 2 children, living in California and earning the median internist annual salary of $211,441 will be left with $140,939 after income taxes and $106,571 after student loan payments.
This is assuming a federal Income tax rate of 28%, California state income tax rate of 6.6%, Social Security tax rate of 6.2% and a Medicare tax rate of 1.45%.
You can go to paycheckcity.com to get an idea of what one’s net pay would be for different incomes, states of residence, marital status, the number of children, etc. Paying off a debt of $369,425 over 20 years at a 7% APR will require annual payments of $34,368.
Those student loan payments will continue to consume about $34,000 of their net income for 20 years until they are finally paid off.
What started off as $300,527 in student loan debt will end up costing $687,360. This debt that consumes one-fourth of their net income for 20 years wasn’t accrued because they bought a house they couldn’t afford – it is because they chose to become a physician.
Believe it or not, the amount of money reaching a physician’s personal bank account per hour worked is only a few dollars more than that of a high school teacher.
In order to make this calculation, we will neglect inflation of the U.S. dollar by assuming that inflation will increase at the same rate as the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar decreases.
We will also assume that physician incomes keep pace with inflation. We will also assume that tuition costs, student loan interest rates, resident stipends, physician reimbursements, and the U.S. income tax structure are as described above and do not change.
The median gross income (income before taxes) among internal medicine physicians is $230,441.
The median net income (income after taxes) for an internist who is married with two children living in California is then $191,939.
Internal medicine is a three-year residency, so throughout residency, they will earn a total net income of about $120,000 and spend about 34,000 hours training after high school.
The total cost of training including interest, forborne for three years and paid off over 20 years as explained above is $687,260.
One study reported that the average hours worked per week by practicing Internal Medicine physicians was 57 hours per week. Another study reported the mean to be 55.5 hours per week. We will use 56 hours per week and assume they work 48 weeks per year.
If they finish residency at 29 years old and retire at 65 years old they will work for 36 years at that median income.
Lets Run The Numbers:
True Hourly Wage for a Medical Doctor
[(140,939 x 36) + (120,000) – (687,260)] / [(56 x 48 x 36) + (34,000)] = $34.46
The adjusted net hourly wage for an internal medicine physician is then
$34.46 per hour
And Now The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For...
Physician Assistant - True Hourly Wage
The median gross income (income before taxes) among physician assistants is $104,760
The median net income (income after taxes) for a physician assistant who is married with two children living in California is then $76,277
Physician assistants do not have a residency. They spend about 6,400 hours training after high school plus they will need roughly 2,000 hours of direct patient care experience prior to applying to PA School. PA school is roughly 4,300 hours of training. This is made up of 2,000 hours of didactic and 2,000 hours of clinical hours plus the amount of time it takes to get a bachelor’s degree.
The total hours of training for a Physician Assistant are roughly 12,400 hours of training after high school.
The total cost of training if one attends an averaged priced institution and pays off their debt over 20 years at a 6.8% interest rate is roughly $197,176. You can estimate your own payments here.
One study reported that the average hours worked per week by a practicing Physician Assistant was 40 hours per week. Another study reported the mean to be 42 hours per week. We will use 41 hours per week and assume they work 48 weeks per year.
If they finish PA School at 27 years old and retire at 65 years old they will work for 38 years at that median income.
Since most PA's do not receive a pension we will say our hypothetical PA will get a 3% employer match for 38 years and I am going to ignore interest on this income so it is about $114,000.
Lets Run The Numbers:
True Hourly Wage for a Physician Assistant
[(76,277 x 38) + (114,000) – (197,176)] / [(41 x 48 x 38) + (12,400)] = 42.63
The adjusted net hourly wage for a Physician Assistant is then
$32.29 per hour
And Just For The Fun of it Because Both of My Parents are Teachers
True Hourly Wage - High School Teacher
The median gross income among high school teachers, including the value of benefits but excluding their pension, is about $57,720.
The median net income for a high school teacher who is married with two children living in California is then $44,791.
This is assuming a federal Income tax rate of 15%, California state income tax rate of 6.6%, Social Security tax rate of 6.2% and a Medicare tax rate of 1.45%. You can go to paycheckcity to get an idea of what one’s net pay would be for different incomes, states of residence, marital status, the number of children, etc.
Teachers spend about 6,400 hours training after high school, the amount of time it takes to get a bachelor’s degree.
The total cost of training if one attends an averaged priced institution and pays off their debt over 20 years at a 7% interest rate is $186,072.
At this income one would be able to deduct the interest on their student loans from their income taxes; however, those savings are not accounted for in the calculation below.
High school teachers have about 10 weeks off each summer, 2 weeks off during Christmas, 1 week off for spring break and 1 week of personal paid time off. Therefore, high school teachers who work a full-time average of 40 hours per week for 38 weeks each year.
Yes, teachers spend time “off the clock” preparing for class, correcting papers, etc. However, physicians also spend time “off the clock” reading, studying, going to conferences, etc. If a high school teacher finishes college at 22 years old and retires at 65 years old, they will work for 43 years.
Most teachers also receive a pension. We will assume their gross annual pension including the value of benefits is $40,000 which is a net pension of $35,507. If they die at 80 years old they will receive this pension for 15 years.
Lets Run The Numbers:
True Hourly Wage for Teacher
[(42,791 x 43) + (35,507 x 15) – (186,072)] / [(40 x 38 x 43) + (6,400)] = $31.67
The adjusted net hourly wage for a high school teacher is then
$31.67 per hour
For The Love of Money
The median gross income among internal medicine physicians is $211,441.
The median gross income among high school teachers, including the value of benefits but excluding their pension, is about $57,000 per year.
The Median gross income among physician assistants, including the value of benefits is around $115,000 per year.
Accounting for time spent training, student loan debt, years worked, hours worked per year and disproportionate income taxes – the net adjusted hourly wage of an internist is $34.46 per hour, while that of a high school teacher is $31.77 per hour and that of a physician assistant is $32.29.
Though the gross income of an internal medicine physician is 4 times that of a high school teacher, the adjusted net hourly wage of an internal medicine physician is only 1.13 times that of a high school teacher and 1.07 times more than that of a physician assistant! Click To Tweet
PA vs. MD Round 1 - goes to MD (but by an extremely narrow margin)
*Oh yeah, and how about that stay at home 35-year-old living in the basement in our poll? If anybody has time to do that calculation please post it in the comments section... We may all be working way too hard!
If you liked this post please feel free to share with a like 🙂
- Stephen Pasquini PA-C
MIKE says
Is it possible for a PA to start their own practice? I live in Michigan just applied to PA school. I have always wanted to be business owner. Is it possible to co own a practice with a doctor?
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Hi Mike,
Yes absolutely! You must have a doctor on staff and in some cases they must own a portion of the practice (a small amount like 1%). Here is a great video of a physician assistant graduate from Duke University doing just that http://www.paflix.com/videos/part-4-history-of-the-pa-profession-opportunities/
Often times a PA will also buy into the practice as you have suggested and become a co-owner. We will continue to see more and more PAs doing this, especially in primary care medicine!!!
– Stephen
Dr. B says
This post negates alternative repayment programs. I am a military Internist who went to undergrad at the Univ of Louisville with multiple scholarships (the norm among many of my colleagues) and made $12,000 on top of my costs, went to medical school (USUHS) for free as an active duty 2nd Lt ($45,000/yr), and made about $60,000/yr as a resident. As a staff physician, you start at $135,000/yr but jump to $150,000 after three years (promotion to Major) and, for me, to $190,000 two years later (bonuses). Average is closer to the $200-210,000/yr during career. Average net (as staff) is around $140,000 for argument sake. Total in 28 years (20 year service not including retirement here) is $2.78 million. We work 46 weeks per year (30 days of leave + federal holidays) at the expense of deployments (during deployment, I worked 12-16 hrs per day, 6 days per week, 8 months). For a nondeployable IM physician (doesn’t exist mind you), the average hourly wage (assuming 55 hrs/week [I actually do 60ish with resident and medical student teaching], 46 weeks per year, 28 years working) comes to only $39.36/hour. This comes at the cost of (a) deployments, (b) military politics that interfere with good medical care (a “Captain” physician has difficulty with his “Lt Colonel” nurse for example), (c) added stress from frequent moves, and (d) innumerable other things. Personally, I love it. This goes up to ~$60/hr if I factor in that I might collect retirement for 20 years afterwards. I am probably GROSSLY underestimating my hours, however. For instance, I do 10-12 weeks of inpatient but only get a TOTAL of one comp day PER WEEK of inpatient (could factor in 0.625 days of leave I accrue during that inpatient week, but this doesn’t make up when compared to a typical hospitalist schedule). My actual duty includes 10-12 weeks inpatient, acting medical director (19 physicians), resident clinic director (30-40 residents), medical student preceptor (two months per year during administrative time), staff physician (only 350 patients), disaster response team lead, group practice management advisor, and am the de facto physician alternate for several working groups. I average about around 800 RVU/month. So, hey, if youre feeling patriotic and want opportunities early in your career, I’d say go military; I wouldn’t, however, just do it because the “actual” hourly compensation is better!
Dr. B
Scott says
The author’s conclusion that doctors make approximately the same as teachers is categorically false.
The conclusion of this article is based on the premise that the MD-loan holder will choose to pay off his/her debts over a period of 20 years. If one chooses to pay it back faster, interest is reduced and the scale soundly tips in favor of doctoring over teaching, even assuming correctness in the author’s other assumptions.
However, he egregiously glosses over extra hours worked by teachers as equal to that of doctors who must read up and stay current. Of course, teachers also read up to stay current, and in addition take mandated continuing education classes over their (unpaid) summer to stay licensed, and have unlimited planning and grading to do, completely outside of work hours as prep time has largely been removed. Teachers will often spend several hundred to a thousand dollars yearly for classroom supplies out of pocket or to attend teaching conferences/trainings. The teachers’ salary is also boosted in this article via paid vacation/pension funds, which are highly variable.
The author seems to know quite a bit of the medical side of the equation, but little of the realities of the teaching side (not surprising).
The thing is, real life check-balancing isn’t experienced the way he is calculating it. True, if you totaled lifetime income and subtracted loans, interest, etc. you MIGHT get a “tie” but you have to consider that this large debt doesn’t amount to much monthly compared to other adult cost-of-living expenses like mortgage, 2 cars, diapers, etc. The difference in monthly income of a physician and a doctor makes a HUGE difference in how comfortable you are.
In fact, many teachers never make more than the average salary that medical residents make ($40,000-50,000).
(Education is often touted as a panacea for crime & poverty…yet why are teachers paid so little?)
Dr. S says
This is a pretty awesome post. I am a fellowship trained surgeon. Besides the financial aspect, following 7 points will make your decision easy:
1. It takes on an at least15 years (after high school) of head in the sand (books) to complete fellowship and reach the 200,000 figure that you are quoting.
2. 40-50 hr work week is a dream for most MD. Most of my colleagues work 60 hrs and some upto 80 hrs a week.
3. Not counting the hours after you go home and come back for ’emergencies’.
4. Family life is a ‘possibility’ for PAs. Look around and see how many MDs have kids before 30. You will be surprised by the small number.
5. Most my PA friends work two jobs (totaling 60-80hrs/ week), so their salaries go up accordingly. Ever heard of a MD working two jobs. I guess 120-160 hrs/ week is kinda difficult. Huh..
6. PAs work just as well and earn just as much respect by the patients and colleagues.
7. The only trajectory this trend is going is upwards. Mid level providers’ need and utilization has been increasing exponentially.
I am totally happy with what I am doing. But if I were to advise an aspiring student for MD vs. PA, I would totally refer him/ her to this post. I think the round 1 showdown is won by PAs, not MD
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Wow, Dr. S this is a wonderful summary and it is the first time I have ever received a comment like this from an MD. If you don’t mind I would like to make this into a blog post and share it with my readers, I think many people would benefit from reading what you have to say. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts, these 7 points are spot on!
– Stephen
Justin J says
Interesting Article, would like to see the welfare recipient calculation….
Anyways, reference the 35 year old on the couch at home…if he decides to be productive at age 15 and start a website and assuming 0 cost then works an average of 40 hours per week to improve his own product and develop name recognition. Well do your own research…but here’s a starter. Now having attempted this myself for 6 months now …it’s a lot of work…but it is completely possible and after 20 years you could make a lot of mistakes and still be in a good position.
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-income-reports/
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Yep Justin, I agree completely and Pat Flynn is a great example. That being said, would you say the pursuit of a truly “passive” online income stream is becoming more or less elusive? Are there still profitable niches out there for the once “average” Joe such as Pat?
P.S if you run the numbers of a California Welfare recipient I will post them as an update on the blog!
– Stephen
Diana says
But I’m still thinking about the recognition of the community as a PA and if we can help her with the money What is the best decision.
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
The best decision is the one that she feels confident about. Communities don’t recognize great titles they recognize great people!
– Stephen
Diana says
Thank You very much, as a parent of a student ,you open my mine and you make a happy family supporting my doughtier to do what’s she feels is better for her.
Jennyct says
Oh and I was wondering why a 50k residency does not provide any money to pay down some debt, while a teacher making 50k has enough money to live?
Also, my own friends who have become physicians were able to have their loans forgiven if they moved to an underserved area. Not too shabby.
Jennyct says
Teachers must acquire a master’s degree after their bachelors to work in a public school system (about 50k). Although they have more vacation time, you’ve factored this into the equation already, right? So let’s throw that out – because if you wanted, you could work part time as a PA and come out way ahead. I doubt physicians have that option, but my dentist works M, T, 1/2 day on Wed, Thurs, and he’s off for the next 3 days.
BTW, I ended up at this site because I have the option of teaching or going to PA school… It’s a little dreadful working with no breaks (even for emergency bathroom) and making about 50K – still knowing you have to correct papers and do lesson plans at night. You also can’t change your vacations during the school year. You’ll always be fighting prime time travel, etc. PAs and physicians have access to better healthcare, even getting that blood test on the first try instead of trekking to multiple appointments before you get a decent diagnosis.
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
All good points Jenny! Also, it sounds to me like you may have made your decision… Maybe after a couple years you will find yourself teaching at a PA school, in which case you may have the very best of both worlds 🙂
Cheers,
Stephen
Kaitlin says
But really though, would you rather be a teacher (and deal with no appreciation or respect) OR be a PA or an MD (and have an exciting and respected career).
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
There are some advantages to being a teacher as well, for example, I recently traveled through South East Asia and met many American teachers traveling the world, teaching at international schools and having a great time. PAs, although we definitely can work Internationally are more limited in this regard. Also, teachers have summer vacations and holiday’s off, whereas we in the medical field often are working Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving Day. Also teachers have schedules that work well if you have small children. So there are pluses and minuses I guess to both. The two professionals I remember from my childhood were my teachers (I remember all of them) and my Pediatrician, so what teachers lack in pay they make for in changing the lives of kids and making future PAs. I have confidence that Society will eventually recognize the contributions made by our great teachers and they will be paid appropriately, especially as many more jobs become outsourced to computers. Teachers will have even more freedoms working and teaching online, which may provide them with even greater freedoms and the ability to earn income in a variety of ways from anywhere in the word.
– Stephen
care bear says
I know you are trying to provide a simplified calculation of average hourly rate over the life of a Physician Assistant (PA) and Physician. However, I think a more accurate comparison would be to calculate the internal rate of return (IRR) or net present value (NPV) for each option. The IRR or NPV would allow you to compare both options over a multitude of periods and pick the option with the highest rate of return.
I know you are assuming wages will remain constant with no inflation. However, your calculation does not account for the time value of money which is very important when comparing investment options over time. If we view a medical education as an capital expenditure (asset) that produces future cash flows, we need to compare the rate of return. Although, your calculation is very instructional and produces a very high level analysis of future income and expense of medical professionals. I don’t think it accurately reflects which option is the better financial investment.
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Hi Care Bear,
You have a great point and it would be interesting to see the result of your calculations! I am not sure I would know how to run these numbers. If you have the time I would love to post any calculations you have as an update on the blog.
– Stephen
OPAP says
Just read through this article Stephen, and it’s quite enlightening. One thing that came to mind to me is that a lot of kids today don’t go straight to college after highschool – or they goof off for a year or two during college and don’t finish when they should have. Your numbers are based on ideal students with the MD finishing residency at 29 and the PA finishing school at 27, yielding a working life of respectively 36 and 38 years.
It would skew the numbers a bit if you add just a few years to the age of the graduates. Say the MD finishes residency at 34 and the PA is finished at 32. Looking at the age of students today that’s quite common. The decreased years of full earning capacity would be more detrimental to the MD than to the PA. I’m not going to crunch the numbers like you did, but I think it’s worth thinking about for prospective students who aren’t 18 anymore.
Josh says
With the correction, this is about $32 an hour. Shoulda been a teacher.
Stephen says
Yes, my 4th grade teacher mom has said that from the very beginning 🙂
T Ferguson says
I appreciate the factors you use – comparing hourly wages is useful.
One big issue in the calculations is that for the Doctor, you use a “After Tax” in the actual computation, and for the PA computation, you use the 100k before tax figure, instead of the 76k after tax figure.
After this adjustment, I think the hourly wage become less than the MD – but the quality of life (as described in your “why my wife is happy…”) post more that makes up for this.
Thanks for the useful info on this site
Randster says
It’s pretty sad and telling that more people believe that the 35 year old living in his (yes, I’m just going to assume that’s a “he”) parents basement makes more than the average teacher, lol. Poor educators just can’t get any respect around here, I tell ya!
On a serious note, great and thought provoking article! I’m currently studying for my MCATs and going through all the lovely hoops for medical school admissions, and I’ve been wondering more and more if it’s the right choice for me over becoming a PA, so thank you for the great insight and resources! Individual outcomes within the field of medicine are so diverse, it seems like you really can do anything you want so long as you have the imagination, inspiration and drive, which I love! Once again, thanks!
mike says
What did you end up choosing? Medical school or PA?
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Hi Mike,
It was PA for me all the way! Which I guess is a good thing, otherwise I would have to change the name of the blog 🙂
Cheers,
Stephen
sara says
Hi Stephen. This is great! But just as a sidenote ( and having had this argument with a friend who is in medschool), many med students go on to make much more than ~200K. Taking this into account, they probably will make more than the per hour you mentioned here. Also, this is a very interesting read on MD vs PA for women
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/is-medical-school-a-worthwhile-investment-for-women/260051/#.UA2RK8y_Cw4.email
Stephen says
Hi Sara,
Very thought provoking article, thank you for the link.
My wife is a Registered Nurse, I can say hands down without having even run the calculations that in California the Nursing Union has got us all beat if you were to run the numbers.
But, then again life is more than these numbers. A lot of it comes down to what you want out of life. In my opinion most Americans are willing to sell their most valuable asset (time) to the lowest bidder. Articles like these and the ones you referenced point out something that is important. And it goes along with what I have learned when I ask doctors why they became doctors. Most don’t (and shouldn’t) pursue medicine for money. If you do you won’t be a very happy doctor, just like you won’t be a very happy PA or a very happy person. In fact I have never met a doctor yet who chose her career with this in mind.
They say 80% of people hate their jobs. Most doctors I meet don’t hate their jobs, in fact most are happy they chose their profession. My next blog post is going to talk a bit about this, it is proving to be a difficult one to write!
Take care,
Stephen
Bryan says
No offense man, but your answers are vague and relative. I’m going to try giving a more specific answer.
Very few people HATE their jobs. Good chance that if you say that you “hate it” then you need a reality check. You won’t be happy if you pursue medicine for the sole reason of money? That’s not true either. You can be perfectly happy if you do that. It’s all about perspective. I can guarantee you that someone who is intelligent and has worked in the accounting profession pulling 80-hour weeks doing auditing bullshit would love to take a job that allows them to interact with people and make decent money (doctor).
Also, most doctors who I have met who have had a career in medicine (I’m talking 10+ years) would choose to do something else if they could have started over. Why? Bc of stress and lack of time. You live a good materialistic life and if that’s your goal then you win by being a doctor. But if your goal is to make a decent living and be able to have good leisure time and free weekends, don’t be a doc.
Ana Goldberg says
This is fabulous 🙂 thanks for working that out for us!
Stephen says
Thanks Ana!
sameer says
Such a calculative content!!
James Tiller says
This is not for you sameer, it is pretty calculated…but the author doesn’t mention that PA’s are “tool fetchers” and “scrip-tors”…I know a good auto mechanic with that kind of talent making a lot less money(oh and they didn’t require thousands of hours in deductive reasoning). Since my email is required to post this, I invite an onslaught from the author…because I could go on for days about “The smart person stealing from the intelligent ones” 🙂
Dr. S says
This just reeks of insecurity – I mean I’m a MD and let’s be honest here I would never send my kid to medical school. With the future of medicine moving toward mid level providers and the loss of autonomy within the medical profession, doctors are rapidly becoming “scrip-tors,” look no further than psychiatry or primary care. If you want a wild wild west devoid of real scientific evidence and evidence based protocols, look no further than the surgical specialties. I’m glad the new generation of doctors and the culture is shifting, but it will not stave off the long term transition to mid level providers (such as PA’s, NP’s, and CRNA’s) who have been shown to have close to or better patient outcomes in the majority of cases compared to doctors. Or you can keep your head in the sand and ignore all this and resort to name calling a much needed group of valuable allied healthcare professionals who will be part of the solution to fix this broken and undermanned US healthcare system. I think I would rather want someone be a “tool fetcher” than a tool.
Stephen Pasquini PA-C says
Dr. S, you just made my day! Thank you for standing up for us PAs, we salute you!!! You have an extremely valid point, it seems as though it may be just a matter of time until we are all computer assistants in a world of rapidly advancing medical technology. In this role the PA is very well suited, especially in primary care. The culture is indeed shifting from one of wild west “scriptors” to a more integrative approach in general to medicine. Hopefully this is just the natural progression of knowledge easily distributed and readily available. It takes a lot of time, and there are some very big obstacles to overcome – all of which I am sure you are very familiar.
– Stephen
Chris says
Yaaaaaay Dr. S!!
You rock,
– current PA student and former med student
Dominique says
Hey Chris,
With you as a former med student and current PA student I was wondering if we could please chat. I’m about to start a two year special masters post-bac program to help raise my sgpa and MCAT score but am strongly considering PA instead of MD. I know each decision is based on personal preference but I was curious as what made you decide to switch.
Thanks