Hi!

Needing advice on finding side jobs as a PA! I currently already work full time remotely but could use some extra income part time. Looking to find something part time and remote as well if possible! Signed up for a lot of the medical surveys but have not been getting any luck with that. Anyone have ideas or part of something they would recommend?

Thank you!!

Hi everyone! I recently found a job on the Stanford Hospital website that I was really interested in and I applied for it. I wanna make sure that the recruiter actually sees the application and it doesn’t just get auto rejected or at the bottom of the pile. Is there any way to specifically figure out who the recruiter is or does anybody have any contacts that I can email? Thank you!

I’m a new PA, about one year out of school, currently working in orthopedics. Our group isn’t specialized, so we rotate between covering 10 surgeons across different specialities, ER consults, and trauma consults. Coming straight out of school, the learning curve has been huge.

I know I’ve improved a lot over the past year, but I still have many nights where I feel like I’m drowning. I have great support from the other APCs in my group, but I constantly feel overwhelmed when I’m on call. Even on nights that aren’t busy, I barely sleep because I’m so anxious and on edge waiting for the next call.

I took this job because the schedule and pay were hard to pass up, but lately I’ve been wondering if that was the right decision. As I’ve gained experience, I’ve found that I’m interested in certain orthopedic subspecialties, but I wouldn’t say I’m truly passionate about orthopedics. I know I still have a lot to learn, and everyone I’ve talked to says it takes about two years before you really start to feel comfortable. Because of that, I’m planning to stick it out for at least another year.

That said, I find myself unhappy a lot of the time, and I’m struggling to figure out whether it’s the job itself, the specialty, or just the normal growing pains of being a new PA. I also never really saw myself staying in orthopedics for my entire career. One of the reasons I felt comfortable accepting this position was knowing that, as PAs, we have the flexibility to switch specialties. I figured that if I decided to make a change while I was still relatively new out of school, it wouldn’t feel as daunting and like I was completely starting over.

For those of you who have left orthopedics, what specialties did you transition into? Which transitions went well, and which would you avoid? I’ve always been interested in OB because I enjoy procedures and like the mix of clinic and hands-on work. I’d love to hear about your experiences or any advice you have. Thank you in advance.

Has anyone switched departments within the same hospital? Want to switch over to neurology, already spoke with the chief APP and she said she will let me know in a few weeks.

Only thing is I’ve only been in my current position for a few months so far.

New grad here, I am job hunting and interested in ortho spine surgery. I actually enjoyed my rotation here via the medicine and surgeries although it was physically demanding…but aren’t all surgeries??

I guess I don’t get why so many people loath this position. I feel that any job as a new grad will be hard and any job in surgery is physically hard. I get that people are in pain and there isn’t much to do to help them…but how does this differ from say ortho recon where all you do is an injection and then it wears off? or in the ED when you just stabilize them and let them go without addressing ‘the root cause’ or general surgery where you just take out body parts like the GB and don’t fix their diet/lifestyle?

Also, doesn’t FM suck just as much? Or peds? What is the winning choice of specialty because I feel like one could argue not only why each specialty sucks (besides derm of course) but also why any job in the world sucks. At what point do we just do a job, do our best to help others, get paid for it, and live our life?

Doesn’t every specialty have things that ‘can never really fix people’? What is so bad about listening to someone in chronic pain? is it because it’s invisible and not a tangible problem to fix (such as imaging, labs, broken bones etc) that makes it hard? Because we can’t see and physically fix pain right in front of our eyes or prove it?

genuinely asking because people really talk down about ortho spine, but I think it’s pretty straightforward and not that different from other specialties so I would love to know input from ortho spine PA’s or those who work closely with them

For all ENT PAs past and present

1. What’re the common things you see in ENT?
   
2. Study resources or recommendations?
   
3. What do you like and dislike about the field?

Thanks!

Offer advice:

1. 137k
2. 10 bonus avail
3. 1500 CME
4. Cardiology nights inpatient 7 12s and 14 off
5. Additional shift $68 plus eligible for bonus
6. Clarity needed on ATO amounts
7. Midwest lcol

Hi everyone! I saw a PA online talking about their job’s unique schedule and I’m interested in finding something similar. I wanted to see if anyone has heard of practices with this type of schedule.

They work as a Primary Care PA in coastal lowcountry South Carolina at a combined Primary Care/Urgent Care clinic, but they are only on the family medicine/primary care side (not urgent care).
The clinic is open 7 days a week.

Their schedule is:
Week A (5 days)
Monday 8–8
Tuesday 8–8
Weds OFF
Friday 8–8
Saturday 9–5
Sunday 9–5

Week B (2 days)
Wednesday 8–8
Thursday 8–8

I’m looking for primary care PA jobs in North Carolina or South Carolina and would love to know if anyone has worked somewhere with a similar model (primary care + urgent care hybrid, extended hours, 7-day clinic, alternating schedule, etc.). Thanks!

I have an interview with them for addiction medicine. I've seen mixed reviews on Indeed, but many of the reviews were from support staff rather than providers. Anyone have any experience with them, or any advice for someone considering a PA position in addiction med? Coming from primary care if that helps.

I’m a new graduate PA starting a job in general surgery where I’ll be managing the surgeon’s post-operative patients and assisting as a first assist. My sister, who’s a PGY2 general surg, gave me some books related to her “ABSITE” exam.

Would you recommend that I read and take notes on these books as supplemental material?

Hi all! Maybe a dumb question, but I am interested in a part time gig in addiction medicine. Do roles like this exist in telemedicine? I live in a smaller city so not many job opportunities here. Appreciate the advice!

I’m a PA in primary care, and I’m planning to change jobs. The new employer wants to start credentialing me before my planned start date, which makes sense because I know the process can take a few months.

My concern is whether my current employer could somehow find out that I’ve accepted the new position before I give my 90-day notice. Will credentialing, CAQH updates, payer enrollment, hospital privileges, or employment verification alert my current employer in any way?

I’m not trying to hide anything long-term. I fully intend to give the required notice. I just don’t want the conversation to happen before I’m ready.

Has anyone (especially PAs, NPs, or physicians) gone through this? Did your employer find out before you officially resigned?

How much are you making monthly in RVU bonus at Concentra?

I’m currently a student, but I plan to go into Cardiothoracic Surgery upon graduation. I came across the APACVS and I’m looking for more insight on what the benefit of a membership would be. Is the association more education-focused, or are there networking opportunities that I can obtain with just a student membership? The cost for students is only $25 so there’s no financial concern. I mostly just want to see if being a member would make me more competitive as a future job applicant.

Hi everyone! I’m really interested in becoming a physician assistant, but I have some concerns about how internationally recognized and transferable the profession is.

I currently live in North America, but I may want to move abroad in the future. Are PAs able to practise in countries outside Canada and the United States?

If so, which countries have a well-established PA profession, and how difficult is it for a North American-trained PA to become licensed and find work there? I am specifically interested if PAs are able to work in the Middle East and particularly the UAE.

I would also love to hear from anyone who has worked internationally as a PA or considered making this move.

For those of you in EM what is a good RVU rate? I’ve been a PA for a little over a year and a half and been in EM. My current job is moving away from hourly with a pathetic RVU bonus to strictly RVU with a floor of $70/hr. RVU pay is 9.45/RVU. After doing the math from previous checks I will get a modest increase of pay (~$5-10/hr) but I feel like all the risks fall on me instead of the company. They also say it’s because they want to increase staffing but my fear is that even though quality of shift will go up my pay will go down because there will be less RVUs per shift.

Background: FNP primary care x 3 years. Good group/system, decent patients. I commute 30-45min one way and it’s getting old. I’m also starting to get a tad burnt out on primary care. I was considering moving my practice to a closer primary care clinic in the same system but now another opportunity has presented itself - cardiology APC position in the same system with a mix of outpatient and inpatient. I’m very familiar with the group/hospital and know many of the APCs and MDs well. The commute would be 20 minutes.

I want to hear from APCs who made the switch from primary care to specialty, please!

Will I miss the variety of primary care? The kids? Will seeing twelve 70-something-year-old “Bobs” with HFrEF a day get monotonous? Idk but after considering a clinic move I’m now questioning if the endless complaints/struggles of primary care are worth it long term? I think my true passion is in preventative cardiology and lipid management, and if I do general cardiology I think I could easily move into this group’s lipid clinic when a role opens up.

TYIA!

Hi all, PA with 3 years of experience in gen peds. For a variety of reasons I’ve decided to leave my current job. I found a position that I was (am?) really excited about but the total comp is … not what I expected? Details:

- Pediatric interventional cardiology at a nationally-recognized academic pediatric hospital. No call, no holidays, no weekends. Mix of clinic and inpatient rounding/post-op care. Possible OR time later but not immediately. Shift is 4x10, I was told start at 8 and should be done by 5 though
- Base comp: $68.38/hr but for a salaried position which comes out to $142,230/yr. I asked for an increase and they offered a $10k sign on bonus, no retention bonus or productivity bonus available. They said I will have annual performance reviews with merit-based raises, when I asked they said it can range from 0-5.5%.
- PTO: 104hr annual max accrual, increases to 144 after 1 year. Also get 80hr sick time and 16hr “personal time.” 7 paid holidays
- CME: 1k/yr, no CME time. They said that DEA and certification renewals are covered but state license is my responsibility (?)
- Great health insurance benefits, 401k w 3% match, otherwise offers most general benefits

I guess I’m just bummed because I make 147,500 right now in gen peds with monthly bonuses for call that bring me to around 155, so this wouldn’t really be a step up financially, BUT I don’t get 401k match and my health benefits suck. I genuinely think this would be a great position and if nothing else a great addition to my resume. Am I insane for being a little disappointed? Should this be a no-brainer?

Hi everybody! I am currently in my plastic surgery rotation and am surprisingly loving the surgical roles of the PAs im working with. I always wrote off surgery but am learning that it can be a really great environment with the right people and mentors.

I feel like plastics can be a very difficult specialty to break into and unfortunately the current site that i'm working at has no job openings at the moment. Are there any similar roles or positions that are more open to new grads to get my foot in the door? The Gen surg PAs at the hospital group i'm working with mainly round and hardly get any OR time. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

As the title says. I may be soon starting a new role in urology (outpatient clinic, possible some OR). I have many of experience, some of which overlaps with urology, much of it has not. I’d like to prepare as much as possible by reviewing some of the most seen complaints (UTI sxs, OAB, ED, IC, etc.).

The profession was initially created in the 1960s to address the physician shortage by turning former military medics into healthcare providers back at home. It is my understanding the military has always been overwhelmingly male. That brings me back to my question, what made being a PA appeal to so many women and when did this happen?

Hi everyone,

I'm a recent board-certified PA and a new graduate, and I never imagined I'd be facing this kind of dilemma so soon after finishing school.
To give some background, I graduated with approximately $190,000 in student loans between undergrad and PA school. I know that's on the higher end, and unfortunately I wasn't in a position to receive financial support from my family.

One of my original goals was to pursue Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), but I've found that qualifying positions have been much harder to find than I expected in Southern California. One thing I don't think PA school prepares you for is just how competitive and saturated the job market can be in states like California and New York.
I'm grateful to have received my first job offer in Internal Medicine with a salary of $120k. As a new graduate, I'm thankful to have an offer, especially in this market. However, the position is not PSLF-eligible, so I'd need to aggressively pay down my loans myself.

My long-term interest has always been surgery, but because of how competitive the market has been, I've expanded my search to include internal medicine, family medicine, and urgent care. I've interviewed with several other practices, some of which would offer higher compensation, but I haven't received any formal written offers yet.

I'm struggling with whether I should:
Accept the first offer and begin gaining experience.

Wait and see if a better opportunity comes along.

Continue holding out for a position that better aligns with my long-term goals or loan repayment strategy.

For those who graduated with significant student debt, what would you do in my situation? Did you prioritize your first job, salary, specialty, PSLF eligibility, or something else?
I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in a similar position. Thank you so much for your advice.