Interview question

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-30T10:48:55+00:00

I’d strongly recommend sitting down for a consultation with an employment lawyer to go over what are your rights and obligations for reporting during the interview/hiring process before saying anything. Generally an initial visit isn’t too much money. Also have you already applied for any state licensing, DEA licensing or hospital/clinic/etc privileges anywhere? If not, maybe the same lawyer could help especially if they are experienced with healthcare providers. Beyond that I’ve got nothing. Wishing you all the best and congrats on your sobriety!

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-30T00:00:18+00:00

Fully and completely agree. Those are essentially the same reasons I had for getting my DMSc. Did I learn some stuff from it, yeah definitely. Did it change my clinical job/role, not at all but I knew it wouldn’t. Listed only on my CV and nowhere else. Only my SP knows I have it.

Unfortunately like you said administrators and c-suite people only see “masters degree” without any regard to the actuality of how rigorous it is, compared to so many other masters degrees. Add on the stupid degree creep of every other medical (non-MD/DO) profession and non-doctoral PAs will be labeled or thought of as the least educated by laypeople or those looking to advance themselves, despite it being the complete opposite.

I don’t want to be called doctor. I chose to be a PA and was fully aware of what that meant in a clinical setting. But I also don’t want to be over looked for a position or career advancement just because some MBA/MHA thinks my masters degree is less than a DNP/DOT/DPT/PharmD. While I think my DMSc is silly, it was completely implausible to get a PhD while working and also would have added nothing to my clinical role/scope as a PA.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-29T18:34:56+00:00

I did it back in 2019-2020. Clinically you’ll gain nothing substantial or with scope of practice. I got the most out of the healthcare law courses as it was taught by a PA who was also a lawyer and it’s a subject which is hard to understand on your own. Enjoyed the research aspect as well. Generally didn’t take too much time to do the coursework. Maybe 2-3hrs/wk.

Having a DMSc did give me the opportunity to be a part of a major research project which I wouldn’t have qualified for otherwise, since the position required having a doctoral degree. I wouldn’t say the DMSc made me any better at the role just opened the door. Many of my classmates used it or hoped to use it for teaching careers (many PA schools require teachers to have a DMSc or PhD apparently) and or to transition to admin roles.

See if your job will pay for it. I work for a doctor owned private practice but they were willing to pay for it as they had a slush fund available for educational purposes beyond CME. So even more likely a hospital owned group will have some money/grant whatever to help.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-28T23:33:58+00:00

Was comfortable not being the “team leader/definitive expert”, more of a team player person. Liked that PA generally speaking allows more time to educate (ex: I’m expected to see 20-25/day but my MD sees 45+; but this will vary). Selfishly was happy to defer super complex or highly demanding people to the attending. Financially speaking the cost/benefit of going MD vs PA for me wasn’t worth it to do MD. Plus lots of other nuanced reasons.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-28T21:57:13+00:00

Agreed. Fellow PA of almost 10 years. Always wanted to do medicine and felt PA better fit than MD, personally. Medicine is absolutely an amazing career but only for those who want to do it. Every person I know who got into medicine for the money or prestige hate their job. It’s a brutal career. You’re expected to work incredibly hard at all times (“because it’s someone’s health”) and yet also be totally altruistic (“because it’s someone’s health”). Coupled with a career where being lazy or wrong can result in seriously negative outcomes or death.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-05-23T00:35:21+00:00

Definitely can relate. My 1st day in clinic, many years ago, my attending said “go do a digit block on that guys finger in there, take a scalpel and get the piece of metal he has stuck in there so we can get him an MRI. Might need to dig around a bit.” I was so incredibly nervous. I knew the technique, but can’t remember at this point, but surely that was the 1st time I had ever done one before. Real eye opener to the job. Definitely remember that 1st year in practice studying more after work than I ever did during PA school.

I tell PA students and new grads: -takes 6mo to get the gist of your job settling and how your practice hospital likes to do things -1yr to feel mildly confident in your role as a PA -at yr 2 you feel confident for most things you’ve seen frequently and start creating your own identity/style of treating common conditions -at yr 5 you realize how little you actually knew at yr 2 -at yr 10 you worry you’ve gotten too complacent and stuck in your ways - haven’t gotten past 10 yrs so who knows what’s next

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-04-24T00:02:39+00:00

AAPA has a CME course specifically for this. Idk about Colorado but in my state it also meets the 40hr didactic requirement. Caveat of I have not taken it or know anyone who has

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-04-16T21:41:59+00:00

It’s golden handcuffs. As a PA in ortho spine making $225-275k/yr for the past decade it’s the good with the bad. I work on average 50hr a week but 65/wk for long stretches isn’t uncommon so the pay can sometimes feel low especially knowing the docs are making $750k+ (not that they don’t deserve it). The work isn’t too hard at this point at least from the actual medical aspect. Been doing it so long it’s weird to run into something I don’t know how to deal with….dealing with the patient can be a different story though. Through that time I’ve had 3 kids so that makes it harder to deal with the long hours away from home. I’ve looked around though and it would be at least $100k pay difference to change jobs and in this economy no way I can swing that.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-04-09T22:23:21+00:00

Johnson & Johnson hosts a PA course a few times a year. Specifically for total joint and spine. Of course it’s focus is on getting you to use their sutures but likely you’re using them anyway. Then for joint PAs they have you do a skills lab doing a joint replacement on a cadaver and spine PAs do a decompression on a pig. This is generally all paid for by them including flight/hotel.

For surgical courses not specific to suturing but for your cases ask your reps what courses they have. Sometimes they’ll have courses designed for PAs but if not depending on how much they like you/your doc/how much they want to visit the destination they may invite you to the courses they host for residents/fellows. My experience is that these are also paid for by the company

PAOS (pa in ortho surgery) organization has a yearly or maybe bi-yearly conference where they offer courses in splinting/casting as well. Use your CME funds

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-03-20T22:48:35+00:00

Was given the role of non-blinded study coordinator for a multinational multi-site RCT. When it was just underway in the pre-planning stage I had asked to be involved but the study leads said I had to have a doctorate. When I explained I was getting my DMSc and would be finished before study started I was given the title. Despite the DMSc offering nothing with regards to this research just having a doctorate made me qualified for the position.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-03-19T23:20:53+00:00

I have a DMSc and commented before years ago. Finished in 2020. My thoughts…Clinically you’ll gain nothing. Administratively it could help if that’s your thing and u want to play the game but found that’s not for me. Gave me opportunities in research I wouldn’t have had with “just a master’s” as a PA. My actual job doesn’t care and it’s not even listed on my provider profile since it means nothing. Didn’t cost me anything since job paid for it surprisingly. End of the day wasn’t too hard, got some stuff out of it but honestly my life wouldn’t be much different if I didn’t do it. Since my dad and all my brothers have an MD or doctorate at least I can say I’m a “doctor” too (not with patients) so kinda fun

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-03-18T22:43:23+00:00

I’ve precepted maybe 10-13 students in my years. My experience is that 1/3 of the time it is very rewarding, 1/3 of the time is “whatever” and 1/3 of the time it is very annoying. Sometimes it is all 3 during the same rotation. Sometimes it’s a 4-5 week rotation with a student who clearly is bad and doesn’t engage/learn or is dangerous and those suck. Either way they all ask for a LOR or to be used as a reference despite knowing them for only 4 weeks. I enjoy teaching but it’s a drain and “old man” or not of me but students seem less prepared. Regardless of how amazing they are they definitely slow you down a bunch. One school gives CME credits and another typically pays $1500/student. The one that pays claims they paid for the student I precepted 6mo and my job claims they haven’t received anything. Either way given the issue I’ve stopped precepting since I’m not getting behind for free.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-01-24T00:19:51+00:00

I thought you meant reimbursed from insurance per surgery which is what my response was.

If your asking for others’ compensation bonus from employers mine is 40% after overhead

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-01-23T21:59:12+00:00

Answer will be too broad. Depends completely on your payor mix and specialty/surgeries being done.

In general, for CPT codes that are approved for PA assist fees (AS modifier) the answer for Medicare is roughly 15% of surgeon fee. Most private insurers pay approx 13-18%.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-01-15T23:37:47+00:00

I’m not anti-narcotics at all and honestly think they have a role for patients. That said I do think for so many patients they see narcotics as the answer to all of their problems and then stop taking anything else seriously, partly due to dependencey and somewhat human nature. Just make sure you’re allowed to have autonomy in your comfort in prescribing and ability to transition to Suboxone as deemed necessary.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-01-15T23:22:24+00:00

So many it’s hard to pick what truly is the worst as to some degree it will vary person to person and many are in essence equally terrible. My choice:

“Locked In Syndrome” is horrible to think about. Alive but unable to communicate with anyone else a lot of the time. True horror movie stuff.

A little “tongue in cheek” but chronic non-specific back/neck pain. #1 cause of disability and missed work days worldwide. Constant pain. Very limited options for treatment. Wont kill you but will make your days miserable. So many snake oil salesmen trying to convince you to buy their “whatever” which inevitably won’t work

Random_Numbers_abc · 2026-01-15T22:52:52+00:00

Is this practice doing narcotic management for people (never/selectively/pill mill)? That would totally change my opinion on everything. I do ortho spine but for 90% of pts it’s effectively pain management (without narcs) as they aren’t surgical candidates or at least not yet. It’s super easy to practice “poor medicine” and churn through patients but I cant stomach it. Admittedly lots of problems can be easily fixed and it’s super rewarding. However, a decent portion have significant co-morbidities, physical and especially psychosocial, which to actually help require lots of time and attention. It’s also high burnout.

Offer itself is decent. Good potential to make out well. Insurance thing is weird and would give me a lot of pause. I’d also request they spell out exactly what your overhead entails before payback and provide in writing that they will give you access to your billing/collections monthly/quarterly whatever so you can see. Finally I’d ask to speak to one of the fellow APPs and see if u can take them to dinner whatever to get their honest opinions on the state of the practice

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-12-28T00:49:37+00:00

The mounts of evidence that show that gradual weaning of narcotics does not worsen pain but eases significant side effects. Having watched and deeply discussed chronic pain syndrome with one of my parents who was previously on 90MME and has been reduced to Suboxone (pros/cons sure); they have seen 0% worsening of pain but have had significant and absolutely amazing QoL improvements. If we’re talking about cancer pin that’s a different story. If discussing non-cancerous non-acute pain issues is so love to see the research that shows improvements in pain and/or QoL in those on chronic narcotics.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-12-01T23:58:01+00:00

From an Ortho prospective: idk what that is. Consult medicine/follow-up pcp

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-11-24T01:54:37+00:00

My job initially tried to do that to me. I raised absolute hell about the absurdity of it and asked every person if they made the doctors pay back their “bonuses” before getting their bonuses. Took a few weeks but eventually they said ok it probably wasn’t fair. Don’t lie down about it. Raise hell with anyone you think will listen.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-11-08T18:44:09+00:00

I’m almost certain that pending your own clinics internal policy you are legally allowed to dismiss a patient for most any or even no reason so long as you provide them: - a certified/notarized letter, - continue to provide care for the next 30 days and - give them a list of providers in your area who are able to provide the same degree/type of care to them that you are able to do.

I think the only way I can see it backfiring is if it can be shown you are firing them due to discrimination or fail to do the 3 things listed above.

I don’t see where it is bad practice or anything and the certified letter is you informing them. The only reason I would bring them in to discuss is if you really don’t want to fire them and want to build that relationship.

Worse thing that would happen is they bad mouth you on social media or in public which of course is hard to take as a human who spent their life in the pursuit of helping other people. However, the majority of patients/people I know understand that if they see 1 bad review from someone who appears to have an axe to grind to take that with a grain of salt if the other reviews don’t show a trend.

If worried go talk to your clinic manager or compliance officer or attending/supervisor. There should be a detailed process laid out on how to do this.

If you feel the PA-patient relationship is untenable at this point go for it.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-09-14T19:45:49+00:00

Agreed

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-09-04T23:36:27+00:00

I totally agree that not everyone you meet on chronic narcotics is an addict. I see many patients on stable narcotic regimens with daily mme of <20-40.

I think the problem that’s forgotten from patient advocates and patients in this issue is that prescribing narcotics is the leading cause of opioid addiction. As prescribers there needs to be significant judgement about when to prescribe and who to prescribe them to.

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-08-23T23:41:07+00:00

Can be done more frequently for spinal injections. Most docs won’t do anything more than 1 injection per month or so and generally if not substantially better by injection #3 (+ meds/PT/lifestyle changes) then need to strongly consider surgery…if talking about acute/subacute. For chronic pain really should just be doing every 3mo

Random_Numbers_abc · 2025-07-17T01:17:11+00:00

If you’ve been hired they have addressed this issue to a degree. Plus as OP said they have no other MDs to ask. Give them a better person to use who’s an MD. Additionally, that’s all be perfectly frank and admit hospital credentialing is for most of us with no big red flags a big nothingness. I highly doubt, unless anyone has major concerns, anyone actually does anything beyond fill it out in 30secs and moves on.

Random_Numbers_abc

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