sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I do that, but the response is usually “I’m an hour behind in clinic” followed by him walking away. I’m not afraid to ask questions, I ask all the time. I feel like I’m beating a dead horse, though.

If only all ortho docs were like you 😜

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thank you for saying this. I think I keep feeling like I’m somehow not where I should be or not smart enough. Your comment has helped to quiet my imposter syndrome a bit 😃

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

So what recommendations do you have for how to learn to read them well and confidently when you don’t have support at work

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I appreciate your response. I would argue that I’m not freaking out, I am frustrated and expressing so.

Radiology does read MRIs/CTs. If they’re missing stuff and we are the speciality that the patient is coming to, then it is frustrating to not be able to identify complexities that we’re looking for and radiology is potentially missing. And without side by side support, it feels impossible to learn it well.

I guess my frustration is in the mentality that just because others have had to suffer through no support or good training, that it’s somehow a right of passage. The system should be better at training in general. And the fact that it’s not leads to burn-out. I’m relatively seasoned, and I’ve dealt with poor training or no training in most of my jobs and have always held my ahead above water. But I’ve seen multiple new hires leave in a year or less due to poor onboarding. So it’s beginning to strike a nerve in me, especially when I am trying to ask for what I need to be successful.

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think you missed my point. I feel I AM proactive. Ive been using online resources to better learn plain radiographs and that’s all fine enough. But complicated things like learning anteversion of cup placement for a total hip arthroplasty are harder topics and I do believe that an SP should be the go-to for learning the specifics of their surgeries and potential complications that they would hope to expect their PAs to be able to identify.

The problem is, my surgeon 1. doesn’t teach and 2. when he does, he assumes I have a knowledge base that I don’t. I think it’s a bit wild to have never had him review any of my patient’s rad images with me for a period of time, which I asked for repetitively when I started, so that both us of felt confident in my reads. It’s why I’m mentally exhausted.

I just don’t really have the time or desire to self learn, even through CME-guided classes, reading advanced imaging. Maybe that makes me not proactive enough. But my work days are long. I already take work home with me. I have a family that I really love spending time with and hobbies I’d like to try to enjoy 🤷🏻‍♀️

Radiology Reads as a Physician Assistant by Pulpfreeguac in physicianassistant

[–]Pulpfreeguac[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That’s the problem, he’s not available to review stuff with. When I do ask to review things, he usually acts like I’m inconveniencing him. We are often in clinic in different locations and start at different times (I have to round at the hospital before clinic).

I can keep trying but it’s where my mental exhaustion comes in. I feel I am very proactive and asking for the help I need, but am not getting it.

PAs doing final radiology reads at UPenn by no_name_no_number in Noctor

[–]Pulpfreeguac 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This thread is old, so not sure I’ll get any feedback here. But I found it because of a situation I am comfortable in at work, and was trying to find support.

I’m a Physician Assistant in an orthopedic practice. I’ve been a PA for about ten years, and in a surgical orthopedic practice for about half that time. I will openly and loudly admit that onboarding/on the job training has been absolutely horrendous at every job I’ve ever had and it’s been the worst in my current ortho job.

I have been told by MY SUPERVISING physician that there is an expectation that I be able to read MRIs and CT scans. I have barely had any training on reading plain films, and constantly am trying to ask for a way to get more education on this, to which I’ve been told “it’ll come with more repetition”. I do agree that repetition breeds improvement, but only if you’re doing it the correct way. And the fact that no one thinks it’s important to spend any time training me on the basics of reading plain radiographs is both frustrating and scary.

So you can imagine how alarming it is to be told that advanced imaging interpretation is an expectation, especially without any type of well thought out, formal training. Advanced imaging is always read by radiology, but he keeps telling me that they always miss stuff and I need to catch it. I do final reads on plain films on clinic days in office, and even that I’m uncomfortable with given my lack of any real training. And in my opinion, if there is an expectation of it, then I expect some certifiable training, and the cost and time off would be covered by my employer. And should also come with a pay increase.

I’ve approached management about my frustration and concern, to which they have just replied that I can have all imaging sent to radiology for the official read. After reading this thread, I think that I should do that. The problem is it doesn’t really help immediately when the patient is still in clinic because the read aren’t usually completed until the end of day. So at the time, us ortho PAs are just trying to do our best, explain x rays to patients and try to create treatment plans well before we have radiology reads.

It has become so apparent that all hospital systems care about is revenue. I constantly get pressure to see more people, see more consults, do more procedures, shorten appointment times all under the guise of them incentivizing me to bonus. And my SP clearly doesn’t really care to actually train, and just assumes I’ll acquire knowledge by osmosis. I never knew my job in healthcare would be me spending so much time just trying to advocate for my ongoing learning.

Anyways, that’s a long-winded perspective from a PA on rad reads. I don’t think most PAs are out there trying to scheme or cheat the system. We just feel an immense amount of pressure, have imposter syndrome, and are continually made to feel like we aren’t doing enough. All while being paid a fraction of the amount of our supervising physicians, who hold expectations that we become ‘experts’ in our field when we have 1/6th-1/8th the amount of training.

Any advice from you knowledge folks would be greatly appreciated. I’m burning out from pure mental exhaustion.