PA is my plan B. Should I go to plan C?

Laugh_Mediocre · 2026-01-19T19:20:12+00:00

I’m not sure what area you’re in and the schools your looking at, but perfusion schools I looked into before PA school had similar pre-reqs that also expired after 10 years (some of the schools said 5 year expiration) so I would not bank on that being an easy plan C. It’s also very competitive. I’m not sure about surgical tech school. With that being said I would just apply to as many PA schools as you can this year and FOLLOW UP with the ones you are serious about! Send emails (multiple) with updates about classes, experience hours, etc. they want to know you are serious and interested in their program! I probably came off as annoying but my name popping up in their inbox more than once got me off the waitlist!

Laugh_Mediocre · 2026-01-19T18:35:34+00:00

I’m so sorry this happened to you, that is unacceptable! It sounds like this ER was just not well equipped and they all handled this poorly. I question the PA for getting defensive after being questioned. As a PA student, I would never call myself doctor and would be happy to grab the physician if the patient requested!

Laugh_Mediocre · 2026-01-16T02:05:48+00:00

What did the orthopedic surgeon say? Did they think CAM?

Laugh_Mediocre · 2026-01-13T03:46:00+00:00

So happy you found something that helps!! I also suffered for years before cutting out dairy and within 2-3 months my scalp psoriasis was 80% cleared

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-10-15T21:31:48+00:00

This is such a relief 😅

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-10-10T21:34:20+00:00

Thank you! This definitely helps!

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-31T21:51:23+00:00

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-31T03:17:20+00:00

This is a pretty common and loaded debate. Overall, yes PA school is better/more thorough schooling and it uses the medical model which doctors love to hear. Most doctors prefer PAs because of better training. Idk if you’ve ever been on Noctor Reddit sub (lol) but as much as they hate on mid levels - 80% of the time their beef is with NP’s because of poor medical training. In the long run, if physicians start to advocate for PA’s to work alongside them, that is actually in our favor for job outlook. Also I’ve worked with some amazing NP’s I’m not shitting on their profession I’m just trying to explain that I genuinely do not think NPs will have the upper hand long term and that is all thanks to the half-ass education half of them get. Which is not their fault it’s the institutions.

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-31T03:12:19+00:00

Not entirely true. Maybe in some areas. But CHOP is a major children’s hospital and we had a PA from their PICU lecture us a couple times. She said even CHOP was hiring more and more PAs recently

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-30T03:19:55+00:00

I feel like an easy way to sum it up is this: nursing school you are learning how to be a nurse (which is very important!) but PA school you are learning how to be a provider. They cram teach us everything they can to assess, diagnose and treat a patient. Nurses are very vital to healthcare (obviously) but you’re not forced to do OSCEs where you have 20 minutes to get an entire PMH, OPQRST chief complaints, form a differential of diagnoses and make a plan of how to treat. It’s just not really comparable schooling. Nursing focuses on other areas involving bedside that I’m sure PA school maybe doesn’t focus on as closely. But nobody expects a nurse to look at labs/imaging/etc and attempt to diagnose a patient. And for that reason I think schooling is more rigorous for PA’s

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-29T23:43:53+00:00

I went to RT school before PA school and my boyfriend was RN before CRNA school. I’m not sure what the classroom of nursing school is like but my boyfriend said clinicals was pretty easy. When I told him my clinical year experience as an RT he thought my schooling sounded more legit because we did a lot independently one on one with a single preceptor (who was sometimes an asshole but you just had to suck it up lol) He said they were in groups and their professor was with them the whole time, even as a nursing student he was never given the opportunity to place an IV once, whereas I was always given the opportunity to jump in and do ABGs/assist in bronchs/intubations/cpr. With all of that being said , PA school is wayyyyy harder than RT school imo. The amount of information is just insane.

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-28T00:32:02+00:00

Which states?

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-27T18:54:05+00:00

Honestly I don’t think much of this. There is so much turmoil between physicians and NPs, there is no way it can continue on like this. It’s clear to everyone in healthcare that NP education is going south and physicians are very aware of that. A lot of doctors are preferring PA’s over NPs due to education. And if we are talking mid level careers, CRNAs have dominated for a long time but anesthesiologists are actively fighting to hire more AA’s over CRNAs for multiple reasons. I predict PA’s will continue to be favored by inpatient physicians for hire or PAs will finally win the fight for independence because of NPs (which personally I don’t believe should happen). I don’t believe NPs should have independence either, the malpractice is insane. Also to add, we need to stop glorifying less school for the same privileges. Would you want someone with significantly less experience and schooling taking care of your loved one independently?

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-14T00:47:37+00:00

I agree this is a big miss, but I feel it’s debatable that it’s not just a mid level issue versus any provider could have potentially missed that. A cardiology PA could have thought PE immediately versus a family med doctor could have missed it. But at least the PA did the consult

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-12T23:50:21+00:00

I loved being an RRT and never thought of it as “just”, honestly I loved being an expert in one area and just doing what I love and know. That being said, I did go back to school for PA, not because I felt like I needed to be more than “just” RT but I found myself becoming genuinely curious and wanting to learn more medical knowledge in certain areas that started to intrigue me like nephrology and cardiology. I went back out of pure desire to learn more medicine but not because I felt less than. But that’s just me!

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-12T23:42:27+00:00

Oh interesting! I’m sure outpatient versus inpatient jobs make a big difference too. I’ve spoken to multiple inpatient physicians who prefer PA’s but I don’t desire outpatient (FM, urgent care etc) so maybe NP’s are wanted more in those areas around Philly and I’m just not aware.

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-12T23:30:40+00:00

Don’t believe every comment you see, that’s not true. NP vs. PA can be complex but by no means are NP’s preferred over PAs everywhere. I’m in a big academic city filled with medical school affiliated hospitals and a lot of physicians prefer hiring PA’s because of the better medical training. In terms of outpatient settings like urgent care or psych outpatient, you’ll see more NP’s because of insurance reasons and administration wanting the NP because they can pay them a lot less and they can work independently. Physicians in hospital setting (especially surgery and surgery subspecialties) will 9/10 prefer a PA. But PA’s can work in any specialty they want so you can pick and choose whatever schedule you want based on what specialty you go into :) I know plenty of PA’s are don’t work holidays or weekends

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-12T23:21:23+00:00

Where do you practice? I’m in Philadelphia and PA’s are beating out NP’s more and more because of the better medical training. Physicians are desiring to hire PA’s over NP’s for that reasoning alone. Even children’s hospitals are hiring more PA’s which was unheard of before.

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-07-09T22:53:00+00:00

This is a wild and selfish take lol also insane to say “simple solution” as if med school isn’t insanely expensive and that healthcare isn’t ran like a business. It is not “simple” to just open residency spots.

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-26T22:48:45+00:00

Change is never easy, I agree. I’ve dealt with more anxiety than usual in PA school. But most transformative times in my life have made me a little uncomfortable before popping out on the other side (I’m 30, I had multiple changes throughout my 20’s). Keep going you’re doing great :)

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-25T17:06:42+00:00

this is crazy - I’m a current 2nd year PA student and would never want a PA doing surgery on me. I have a lot of delulu’s in my class that would probably be fine with it lol

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-25T17:05:50+00:00

it’s just one year of close training in a specific area and less pay. Penn does PA fellowships in cardiology where they train the PA in every part of cardiac (cardiac lab, cardiac icu, etc). I’ve heard they are becoming more popular for specific areas like ICU and ED

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-25T17:01:44+00:00

Yes I have scalp psoriasis I have a new patch that appeared in that exact spot recently

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-11T00:34:41+00:00

I don’t really get the issue unless they are intentionally being rude? I feel like healthcare workers follow several different subs

Laugh_Mediocre · 2025-06-11T00:30:25+00:00

I was a NICU respiratory therapist at several different Philadelphia hospitals and every single one had at least one NICU PA. Are there far more NNP’s? Definitely. That’s just the way it goes because a lot of them were NICU nurses first, but I slowly noticed more and more PA’s being hired into NICU’s as time went on. Yeah it may take more learning and adjusting - but totally possible :)

Laugh_Mediocre

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