Client Interview

I interviewed Linda Ward PA-C who is a radiology Physicians’ Assistant (PA) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She graduated PA school in July 2018 and is now working at a hospital. Since Mrs. Ward PA-C lives in Mississippi I interviewed her over a facetime call. I asked her questions about why she chose to go to PA school and become a PA-C instead of going to medical school, both her personal reasons and her professional reasons. I also asked her about the benefits there are to becoming a PA, and how technology is changing her career field.

A PA is allowed to prescribe medications, do simple in office procedures, see patients without supervision and make decisions regarding a patient’s medical necessity. However is the PA is unsure of how to treat a patient or is unsure of the conditions a patient is presenting, they always have their overhead physician to refer the patient to and fall back on. This is why they are considered an assistant. They can do the majority of the job for the physician and can help the lead physician with most patients, however they do not have to make any decisions they’re unsure about. This gives PAs less liability and is what allows them to switch between specialties.

Technology in the medical field is constantly changing and advancing. There are new robots that help perform surgeries every year, there are new advancement in the type of “thread” used for stitches, there are new ways to administer pain medications and new ways to treat conditions as simple as acne. With technology constantly changing PAs are constantly learning about new tools to use to help patients as well as new techniques to old procedures. Most PAs work in more than one field of medicine which allows them to use more technology and learn about more advancements that can help patients. This diversity is a huge benefit to becoming a PA and is one of the reasons that it is a growing career option.

Being a PA has many benefits, however it also has lots of challenges. Many patients are skeptical about seeing a PA because they don’t understand that they receive almost the exact same education as a physician, however they receive it in three years instead of four. And when you see a PA you are also getting the knowledge of both the PA and their overseeing physician. Once patients see a PA they normally trust all PAs and will have no hesitation, it’s just trusting the first one a patient sees.

One of the major benefits of becoming a PA instead of a physician is that you do not have to choose just one specialty. It is relatively easy for a PA to change specialties, where as it is near impossible for a physician to do so. If a PA decides to change specialties they just need to apply to work in a different specialty, however is a Physician wants to change specialities, they have to redo their residency training, and they usually lose a lot of progress that had been made in developing their career. This is a major benefit and one undergrads should consider, especially if they don’t already have a desired speciality in mind. The ability to change speciality allows you to never get bored in your field as well as to drastically increase your knowledge.

Another major benefit to consider is that amount you will save on student debt. Three years of school is a lot less expensive than four years. Also being able to start their career sooner means you can start paying debt back sooner, which ultimately leads to less interest paid. Having less student debt can lead to more profit in the long run, if you are paying back over $600,000 in student loans and interest, it is going to take a lot longer before you are even making a profit in your career compared to the cost of your education.