- Job Outlook
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard that physician assistant(PA) is one of the highest-ranked careers year in and year out. In 2021, it ranked #1 in US News and World Report “100 Best Jobs” list with a median pay of $121,530 in 2021. While you may not get rich from this salary, you definitely won’t go hungry from it either. PA jobs are also expected to grow 28% over the next 10 years (according to bls.gov). With self-driving vehicles right around the corner and other forms of automation, I wouldn’t pick truck driving or any other profession that is threatened to see a large disruption in the coming years. With increasing physician assistant autonomy increasing, and healthcare dollars being more tight, should the decision makers look to save money on provider labor, I would expect them to cut physician hours far before cutting a PA’s.
- Return on Investment
For a 2-3 year master’s degree, the return on investment is one of the best in medicine. Most bachelor’s of science without a specialized degree are lucky to come out of undergrad making in the 40-50k range for salary and after getting a master’s degree can mostly double or triple their salary after a couple(grueling I might add) years in PA school.
- You Don’t Have to be a Doctor
While medical school will obviously provide a higher salary in the long run, that comes with studying for and taking the MCAT, 4 years of medical school, 3-5 additional years of residency training and often 1-2 years of fellowship on top of that.
Doctors are more than ever encouraged and incentivized to specialize and if your dream was to be an orthopedist, dermatologist or neurosurgeon your whole life, you may be in for a shock when you realize that there are hundreds, if not thousands of other incredibly qualified applicants competing for a very select few seats in those residency programs at the end of your med school training. At the end of the day, doctors do get compensated very well for the hard work they put in, but that often comes with much more liability and years of your life solely dedicated to your training. Studies have shown the fact that money only increases happiness to a certain point above your basic needs being met. So no, a 300k+ salary as a doc will not make you 3 times happier than a career as a PA.
- Flexibility
The level of autonomy can vary based on specialty, but one of the best features about being a PA is what as known as “lateral mobility”, meaning that our license allows us to work under any type of physician whether it be in Cardiology, Pediatrics or Plastic Surgery.
I never wanted to go into a career and risk being bored doing the same things all day for 40 years, so the fact that I knew I had the option to work in Emergency Medicine for a few years, and then go into Family or Sports Medicine later on without any additional school was a big factor in my final decision.
Not only is the setting very flexible, but the hours and shifts people work can vary greatly to allow for a work life balance far superior to many other professions. There are plenty of jobs, especially in primary care fields that are your typical 9-5 Monday-Friday deal seen with most other jobs where there is no weekends, or holidays and little to no call. Then there is also positions that work 3, 12-hour shifts per week for a full-time job that allows for plenty of flexibility for scheduling multiple days off in a row without having the use any vacation time. I have even heard of some rural Emergency Medicine and Critical Care positions that have 24+ hour shifts with access to on-call rooms to get some sleep on the clock when not busy. This gives people the option to only work 5-6 days a month if they want to, or make an extra $1,500-$2000 a day as a part-time gig on top of their full-time job.
- Fulfillment
I think most people working in healthcare would agree that going to work every day dedicated to helping others provides them with a sense of meaningful fulfillment often not found in many other professions. While I’ve always had an appreciation for allied health care (physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, audiology, speech pathology etc.), I knew I wanted to be on the medical side of things. For those concerned that PAs just take orders from the doc, that couldn’t be further from the truth. PAs work in collaboration with their supervising physicians to practice medicine with a great deal of autonomy. PAs can prescribe medications, order and interpret laboratory and diagnostic imaging, diagnose and treat medical conditions. In many settings, a PA is just another provider like the doc that sees their own patients and makes their own decisions, while knowing they always have a supervising doc to refer to with any questions.
So my advice to you is, if you can’t see yourself as being anything but a surgeon running the show…go to medical school. If you want to make a lot of money, sell your soul and go work in finance. If you want to work in a fulfilling, growing field..in a position with plenty of more than comfortable pay, flexibility, autonomy and great work-life balance, then go to PA school.