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help! grad entry medicine or physician associate MSc?

currently doing undergrad psychology , but i want to go into something medical now.. stuck in between medical school & physician associate postgrad.

medicine is 4 yrs at entry level & physicians associate is 2 yrs MSc. i know the salary is capped at £50k (band 7) for physician associate which is kind of a con because I can’t progress to higher bands etc.

can anyone give advice or their own personal experience? thanks.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

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Reply 2

hippychick17

well, do you actually want to be a doctor?

Physician Associates are a new not-quite-but-just-as-good-as-a-doctor-but-not-actually-a-doctor healthcare worker. the government likes them because they are seen as cheaper to employ and quicker to train… just ask yourself if you want to have three more years of debt to become one of these as it’s very unclear what the long term career progression will be.

If you do want to be a doctor with full qualification then grad medical school is the way (if you can afford it).

If you want to work in healthcare but aren’t bothered about being Dr X, have you considered paramedic, where you work and get paid while achieveing qualification? it is NOT an easy option in the slightest but is clinically fascinating, my friend retrained as a paramedic in his thirties and loved the change.

Reply 3

Appio001

Hey, how did things pan out for you?

I've completed the MSc PA programme but I'll give you the advice someone had given me when I was torn. If becoming a Doctor is what you've always wanted to do then do that.

Regrettably, I didn't listen to this advice and chose the MSc. I'm now looking at GEM but long story short the finances and resources accrued could have been used for GEM and if I had applied I'd be in my penultimate year.

Both courses are financially burdening and will require a lot of dedication. Ensure you think through your decision so that you make the correct one - one that you won't regret.