Sunday, May 27, 2012

New job

I just finished the second week on the new job. My time so far has consisted of training with some patients here and there. The clinic I work in sees occupational medicine patients primarily but we also see urgent care patients as well. This is abig deal for me and I am very happy to have any chance to practice an expanded scope of medicine. I am truly excited to have three day weekends for the forseeable future. That is huge benefit and worth at least $10k per year to me. I am amazed that I work 40-43 hours per week without call, have been out of school for less than 2 years and now make six figures before any bonus! I realize this is not the rule but rather a significant exception. When I interviewed for a family medicine job a couple months ago they wanted me to take call and work 50 hours a week for $75k. I never went into this for the money to be honest, but I am so happy it seems to coming for me anyway. Occ med is seen by many as the dregs of medicine and I have felt that way at times. I would love be in the hospital rounding and patients and managing grave illnesses. But the reality is that what I do is very important although no one will make a medical drama about it. I heal people so that they can work and earn a living and keep they economy running. Not glamorous. There is a shit ton of BS at times. But you know what, there is BS with EVERY specialty I can think of. So, my job is not ideal and will be complaining about on this blog, I know it. But, there are a lot of really good things about it too.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I just found your blog and I plan to read through it. Its great that you are loving what you do. I'm really interested in becoming a PA in the future.

Right now Im in my late 20s earning a B.S in cardiovascular technology to be a cardiac sonographer. I wont be done until probably 2015 sometime since I have to do an internship that will be a year and a half two years long. Then I figured I would work for at least 2 years to get health care experience and then apply to PA school.

Am I thinking about PA school too early since I will not be applying any time soon?

Thanks in advance!
Kat

-p- said...

You never start planning too soon. You could just straight to PA school if that is your ultimate goal. There are cheaper and easier ways of getting healthcare experience. EMT, MA, CNA for example.

Anonymous said...

Man, I'm so glad I found your blog! Sometimes you need to share the nuiances of daily work/life with others, even if they don't always have a solution for you. I'm in PA school myself and while it's rough, it's also very exciting. We'll be starting rotations in August and I am so terrified! Best of luck in the new job and the home shopping!

Zina

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm a 22 yo female going for my CNA right now to get experience and I have an AA in business. I've finally found my passion and I have been completely obsessed with researching PA "stuff" since I started. My email is karilcrawford@yahoo.com I would love to hear from you to ask you a couple questions!

-p- said...

Send me an email with you questions