Pa - Physician Assistant

Akulahawk said:
I think you meant: "...and when they do, that their physician will allow them to practice with the same amount of leeway."

I was hoping you weren't using "they're" as "they are"...
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Yep... "their" would be the proper their/they're. Opps.


Now I'm sure you also recognize that it's highly possible that your Certificate PA and your Master's PA could actually have the same educational preparation going into the PA program... but I'm sure you'll also discover the actual performance differences in your PA as time goes on, and adjust their scope of practice accordingly. It would be a big disservice to yourself as a physician and your PA if you restricted your PA to a minimal scope for the duration of their employment with you simply because of your own bias about where they got their education and not actually upon what they know and their performance...
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Very true, it all is going to be individually tailored, however just as we discuss education for EMS, and about how all EMS educational programs meets the same minimum requirements regardless of if the EMS program is certificate or degree, wouldn't the same be true regarding PA education?
 
I am completing a B.S in psychology at the University of Central Florida... I am currently an EMT-Basic but have not yet found a job... looking for a private ambulance or ed tech position. I plan to go to paramedic school and work as a medic for a while after I graduate. I feel this will allow significant career experience opposed to trying to go right in to PA after I graduate.
 
Are there any job opportunities in pre-hospital medicine for PAs? What about flight PA or a PA who manages a long-distance transport of an unstable patient?

I think the name of this thread was changed. It now says "Pa- Physician's Assistant" but I didn't write that. PA is a Physician Assistant not Physician's. How did that happen or did I screw up?
 
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EMT2PAC said:
Are there any job opportunities in pre-hospital medicine for PAs? What about flight PA or a PA who manages a long-distance transport of an unstable patient?

I think the name of this thread was changed. It now says "Pa- Physician's Assistant" but I didn't write that. PA is a Physician Assistant not Physician's. How did that happen or did I screw up?
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Pa is a rather unspecific title, I'd bet one of the mods changed it to be more clear.

To my understanding there are very few (if any, I can't find any at the moment) flight programs that use PAs. Even the few programs with doctors (EM residents usually) seem to be cutting back and starting to use more "traditional" RN/PM crews.
 
Tigger said:
Pa is a rather unspecific title, I'd bet one of the mods changed it to be more clear.

To my understanding there are very few (if any, I can't find any at the moment) flight programs that use PAs. Even the few programs with doctors (EM residents usually) seem to be cutting back and starting to use more "traditional" RN/PM crews.
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What do you mean by "unspecific title"? I've done a fair bit of research and shadowing of PAs and it seems pretty specific from what I've seen. I know that PAs get really upset when you add in the 's. One of them told me they are more like Assistant Doctors or Assistant Physicians which actually made a lot of sense to me, sort of like an Assistant Professor at a college or Assistant Director in an organization. They have a lot of their own authority but work under the guidance and ultimate authority of the full professor, full director, etc.
 
EMT2PAC said:
What do you mean by "unspecific title"? I've done a fair bit of research and shadowing of PAs and it seems pretty specific from what I've seen. I know that PAs get really upset when you add in the 's. One of them told me they are more like Assistant Doctors or Assistant Physicians which actually made a lot of sense to me, sort of like an Assistant Professor at a college or Assistant Director in an organization. They have a lot of their own authority but work under the guidance and ultimate authority of the full professor, full director, etc.
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I honestly had no idea what this thread was going to be, it wasn't fully capitalized. I thought it would be EMT courses in Pennsylvania, or perhaps licensing or getting a job. You may have also been talking about your "pa" and how he was an EMT and you want to be like him, I could go on, you see what I mean?
 
Point EMT2PAC is making is it is Physician Assistant. (No "s" at the end of physician)
 
Tigger said:
I honestly had no idea what this thread was going to be, it wasn't fully capitalized. I thought it would be EMT courses in Pennsylvania, or perhaps licensing or getting a job. You may have also been talking about your "pa" and how he was an EMT and you want to be like him, I could go on, you see what I mean?
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Oh I totally understand! I originally entitled the thread "PA- Physician Assistant" and in the first post I gave a brief description of PAs as being licensed, quasi-autonomous medical providers. I think the administrator of the forum changed the title, but I don't know why?
 
So here's a question- assume you are a licensed PA working in an ED. Maybe you even did a one year PA residency in emergency medicine, like this one. Are you able to be the medical control for an EMS crew? Can you legally (and if the hospital allows it) override their SMOs in order to allow them to treat a patient differently?
 
EMT2PAC said:
So here's a question- assume you are a licensed PA working in an ED. Maybe you even did a one year PA residency in emergency medicine, like this one. Are you able to be the medical control for an EMS crew? Can you legally (and if the hospital allows it) override their SMOs in order to allow them to treat a patient differently?
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Considering RNs answer the phone/radio and give medical control in some areas, I would think it is possible.
 
EMT2PAC said:
So here's a question- assume you are a licensed PA working in an ED. Maybe you even did a one year PA residency in emergency medicine, like this one. Are you able to be the medical control for an EMS crew? Can you legally (and if the hospital allows it) override their SMOs in order to allow them to treat a patient differently?
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It all comes down to delegated authority. If a PA can demonstrate competency then he or she may operate in any capacity as agreed to in his or her practice agreements within law.


There are PA's serving as assistant medical directors, and those that respond in "fly" cars in some parts of the county.

Check out the PA Forum for more answers. A member that goes by "medic25" is one such PA.
 
Jambi said:
It all comes down to delegated authority. If a PA can demonstrate competency then he or she may operate in any capacity as agreed to in his or her practice agreements within law.


There are PA's serving as assistant medical directors, and those that respond in "fly" cars in some parts of the county.

Check out the PA Forum for more answers. A member that goes by "medic25" is one such PA.
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Right, I was thinking this. If the hospital delegates this authority to their EM PAs then it should be ok for them to give online medical control. What is the role of an assistant medical director?
 
Physician Assistant can give medical control in Westchester, NY or the lower Hudson Valley assuming they have passed the same REMAC test the MDs are required to take allowing them to give medical control. The medics, MDs and PAs must all be on the same page.
 
firecoins said:
Physician Assistant can give medical control in Westchester, NY or the lower Hudson Valley assuming they have passed the same REMAC test the MDs are required to take allowing them to give medical control. The medics, MDs and PAs must all be on the same page.
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Cool, good to know. Do you know what the role of "assistant medical director" is?
 
EMT2PAC said:
Cool, good to know. Do you know what the role of "assistant medical director" is?
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It's non existant here. Companies don't need one and won't pay for one. Plenty of MDs available. PAs work in the ER and can give medics orders. That's all that's needed.
 
I'm looking at becoming an EMT to gain clinical hours before applying to a PA program. Some background for my question: I live in NYC. I have a masters/career in another field and I have to go back to school for my prerequisites before I can apply to PA programs. Is it possible to work part time as an EMT while getting my prereq's? I'm trying to stay in my current position as long as I can (reluctant to give up the salary) and love to get my clinical hours while taking a year for prereq's. Where do you think I could get part time EMT work?

Also, I've been looking at EMT programs in NYC and I'm not sure if matters where I get my training. I know you test through the state, but I don't want to sign up just where (especially in this city- I'm sure there are some bogus programs out there). I want strong training and I'm not sure where I should go... any suggestions?
 
Mindy said:
I'm looking at becoming an EMT to gain clinical hours before applying to a PA program. Some background for my question: I live in NYC. I have a masters/career in another field and I have to go back to school for my prerequisites before I can apply to PA programs. Is it possible to work part time as an EMT while getting my prereq's? I'm trying to stay in my current position as long as I can (reluctant to give up the salary) and love to get my clinical hours while taking a year for prereq's. Where do you think I could get part time EMT work?

Also, I've been looking at EMT programs in NYC and I'm not sure if matters where I get my training. I know you test through the state, but I don't want to sign up just where (especially in this city- I'm sure there are some bogus programs out there). I want strong training and I'm not sure where I should go... any suggestions?
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I think it depends on how quickly you want to finish the pre-reqs. Do you want to be done as quickly as possible, then you probably want to take a full load of classes and study full-time. Do you want to space it out and take only 1-2 prereq classes at a time then, then you can probably work part-time. During the slow hours you can study and sleep.

I'm finish the last of the pre-reqs now and it's a full-time job of studying. That's what you get when you take 12 credits, work full-time, and need to study. What's this thing called "sleep"?
 
I need to shadow a few PAs/AAs since so far I have only followed NPs. I can apply for PA school as soon as a graduate but not sure if its worth it over waiting for ACNP/CRNA
 
Mindy said:
I'm looking at becoming an EMT to gain clinical hours before applying to a PA program. Some background for my question: I live in NYC. I have a masters/career in another field and I have to go back to school for my prerequisites before I can apply to PA programs. Is it possible to work part time as an EMT while getting my prereq's? I'm trying to stay in my current position as long as I can (reluctant to give up the salary) and love to get my clinical hours while taking a year for prereq's. Where do you think I could get part time EMT work?

Also, I've been looking at EMT programs in NYC and I'm not sure if matters where I get my training. I know you test through the state, but I don't want to sign up just where (especially in this city- I'm sure there are some bogus programs out there). I want strong training and I'm not sure where I should go... any suggestions?
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Try emergency care programs. They have a variety of schedules for EMT-B. and once you get your certification you might also want to look into some vollie's, if you only want to do it part time.
 
PA School Path

Out here in California, I'm working with CCT nurses and hopefully trying to get on PICU/NICU cars to work on Health care experience hours for applying.

ER tech is the next step in a couple months - but those are far and few between in SoCal :glare:

Got my BS though already, so thats one step out of the way!
What do you guys think about this plan?
 
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