For my first informational interview, I chose to meet with a physician’s assistant that I know, Milena Beer. Milena is based in Colorado and works as a PA as a pulmonologist’s office. As someone thinking of going into medicine, I wanted to hear about her experience as a PA to see if I should consider that instead of the MD/DO route.
First, I asked her about her educational experience. In college, she majored in Early Childhood Development, so, in her words, she did a bit of a 180 in terms of career path by choosing to go into medicine. This was helpful for me because I am planning on majoring in Astronomy, which probably has even less to do with medicine that what Milena majored in–but at least I know that it won’t impede my ability to succeed in medicine. Then, she applied to PA schools a few years after graduating (she entered PA school at 25, which was pretty old for the time–taking gap years wasn’t as popular). When I asked her why she chose PA over medical school, she gave a few reasons. For one, she said that an MD she knew told her she’d be miserable in medical school, and she wanted to have more freedom and work-life balance. Also, she like that as a PA, she didn’t have to be the final decision for most things, which takes much of the pressure off of her job.
Her career path has involved a lot of lateral movement. She started working in cardiology in Baltimore, then moved to the army medical center in DC (which she thought was pretty cool because she was a federal employee so she got great benefits), then to GW to work in cardiothoracic surgery. She really loved her job at GW; she said that her responsibilities basically included everything that happens after the patient leaves the OR. She decided when to extubate, monitored vitals, and basically headed up all post-operative care. Then, about 14 years ago, she and her husband moved to Colorado where she started off as a critical care hospitalist. Then, a few years ago, the doctor she works for went private, and she has worked in his office since then. In her job now, she says that she does a lot a patient interaction; she calls herself a “pulmo-chiatrist” because of how much her job involves talking to patients about their problems–both pulmonology-related and otherwise. Overall, it was really interesting to see how much freedom her degree allows her to have and how extensive her options have been throughout her career.
With regard to the differences between being an MD/DO or a PA and what she recommended for me to consider, Milena told me that of course there is much less schooling involved. The MA program she did was only about 18 months of didactic work (much of which was with medical students at GW) and then just 12 months of rotations–no residency or fellowship like most MDs do. To me, this is definitely an appealing factor to consider. However, as a result, she had to do a lot of learning on the job, which is a bit a of a stressful idea for me (but then again so is all of med school and residency). She says that she was basically trained to fill in holes, and that, depending on where you work, you can do basically everything that an MD or DO does. The only caveat is that you can’t practice on your own as a PA; you’re always working under an MD or DO.
With regard to her decision to be a PA rather than go to med school, she says that she loves how much freedom she has (she only works 12 days out of the month, which is definitely a stark difference from what I saw with my dad, an MD, growing up). The only time she ever feels a slight sense of regret is when she’s working with an MD who is not doing their job well, whom she feels she could do the job of better.
In all, I learned that in choosing between MD/DO or MA for becoming a PA, I just need to really consider the amount of freedom I want in my life and in my career. I don’t really like the idea of never being able to give the final say, but I do love that I could spend a lot more time with my family in the future as a PA. Of course, I have time to figure these things out, and I think shadowing a PA (and also the life experiences I gain during my GAP years) will help me do so.
