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A comment on Become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a doctor (2012).

Re:Become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a docto... by rediguanayum on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @03:22AM (#20632614)
Not a MD but married to one, plus my brother and some friends are docs. They would echo the sentiment in this piece. My brother has argued that being a PA, NP or especially a dentist has a better ROI as the training is way shorter and pay pretty good.

Some of my observed pros and cons of the medical profession:

MD pros

  * Respect
  * Pay
  * Satisfaction that a resuscitation saved a life (PA don't run those at my wife's group)
MD cons

  * Required overnight shifts for some specialties e.g. ED or hospitalist.  PAs at my wife's group don't do overnights.
Practitioners all have stories of friend of friend doc falling asleep at the wheel and getting into fatal accident. * PAs work under the supervision of the MD, hence all more medically challenging cases go to the MD along with the stresses e.g. running a code (resuscitation) or getting a difficult admission through.

PA cons

  * Seems like the PA coverage expands and contracts depending on how the hospital is doing financially, while the physician coverage is constant.
Cons for both MD and PA/NP

  * Dealing with drug seeking patients
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Re:Become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a docto... by amedstudent1 on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @06:17AM (#20633354)
Under MD cons I wouldn’t necessarily put night shifts. More often than not the way nursing units are staffed is a shift based roster meaning you’ll be doing evening and nights for your whole career. Contrary to popular belief a lot of medical work is business hours with on call for after hours work. Depends on the speciality some are shift based (ED for instance) but in general the nurses do more night shifts than we do over their career.
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Re:Become a nurse or physicians assistant instead of a docto... by SkyPuncher on Wednesday August 07, 2019 @11:37AM (#20635680)
My wife is also an MD. She just talked her youngest sister into PA school over MD school.

To save costs many organizations are pushing PA's into rolls traditionally held by lower level doctors. Instead of two MD in an ER or clinic, you'll have one MD and one PA.

IMO, being an MD only makes sense if you're going into surgery.

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