im really worried
Hi everyone.
I've just started my postgrad in Physician Associate Studies, a course I was so happy and excited for. Of course I knew about the controversies but they never bothered me too much because it was something I really wanted to do.
However since starting, I just can't avoid the hate. I find myself reading reddit forums, newspaper articles, posts on social media all about the hate towards PA's. I just read a reddit post with someone saying something like: Of course universities wouldn't stop offering the course, they'll just console students and take their money. Normally id have sympathy for naive teen students but these are mature postgrad students who should've used their critical thinking from their undergrad and never have gone for this course.
Not to mention all the talk about how newly qualified PA's cannot find jobs. That really scares me.
Ive just started, it's my third week, I haven't paid the fees yet. I really domino know what to do. Should I just continue and hope for the best, should I leave?? its such a big decision and im feeling very apprehensive. I'm so happy here at this university. The course is very full on and im enjoying how much I'm learning. I like how it's different from my undergrad in terms of applying what you learn in clinical settings, like how to approach patients, how to carry out examinations etc.
I just wish the amount of effort im putting in to my studies would correlate with the amount of respect my profession gets, because currently the two are as far away from each other as possible.
Applying for medicine is such a headache. so was applying for PA, everyone knows its a very competitive course with just 20-40 places in most universities. Sigh
I've just started my postgrad in Physician Associate Studies, a course I was so happy and excited for. Of course I knew about the controversies but they never bothered me too much because it was something I really wanted to do.
However since starting, I just can't avoid the hate. I find myself reading reddit forums, newspaper articles, posts on social media all about the hate towards PA's. I just read a reddit post with someone saying something like: Of course universities wouldn't stop offering the course, they'll just console students and take their money. Normally id have sympathy for naive teen students but these are mature postgrad students who should've used their critical thinking from their undergrad and never have gone for this course.
Not to mention all the talk about how newly qualified PA's cannot find jobs. That really scares me.
Ive just started, it's my third week, I haven't paid the fees yet. I really domino know what to do. Should I just continue and hope for the best, should I leave?? its such a big decision and im feeling very apprehensive. I'm so happy here at this university. The course is very full on and im enjoying how much I'm learning. I like how it's different from my undergrad in terms of applying what you learn in clinical settings, like how to approach patients, how to carry out examinations etc.
I just wish the amount of effort im putting in to my studies would correlate with the amount of respect my profession gets, because currently the two are as far away from each other as possible.
Applying for medicine is such a headache. so was applying for PA, everyone knows its a very competitive course with just 20-40 places in most universities. Sigh
Reply 1
Hey, I’m a 3rd year biomedical student and I have always wanted to do a physician associate postgrad but now I‘m starting to rethink my decision because it gets such a bad rep and I’ve also heard about the lack of jobs and the way some PAs are treated on placements and things. It really worries me and now I’m considering doing nursing. I really want to work as a healthcare professional in a hospital and nursing is such an established career with so much respect and progression. I wish the hate on PAs would stop. One person’s mistake should not be an opportunity to run a hate train on people who work hard and only want to do good. I’m not really sure what I want to do right now. My heart still lies with physician associate but I don’t want to have regrets. So how is it going for you? How are your placements? Have you spoken to careers support?
Reply 2
Hey, I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. I was in a similar position, I received a PA offer and didn’t know what to do because of all the uncertainty. I ended up declining the offer, (also withdrew my QM application) and for now I think it was the best decision I could’ve done.
The course is such a huge financial commitment and everything is so wishy washy atm regarding the role, scope, job prospects, I just didn’t think it was worth it. I think what really solidified my decision was after speaking to 2 PA’s who recently graduated, and told me they still didn’t have a job after searching for 7-8 months. They were both also in a lot of debt because they took out a *private* loan to fund part of the course - this terrified me the most because that’s exactly what I was planning to do. I can’t imagine the amount of stress they (and other graduates) must be under, trying to figure out how to pay off the loans.
I ended up going for my backup option which was always Dietetics, applied for a fast track MSc which starts in Feb and got in. My plan for now is just to do the Dietetics course while keeping an eye on how things pan out with the whole PA situation. If things improve and I still want to be a PA, then I’ll just apply for the course in the future. If things don’t improve, then it’s not an issue since I’ll be qualified in something else I’m interested in.
There’s no rush to do the course *right now* and it’s not worth committing so much to a course without knowing what things will be like in the future. Furthermore the recent news about the RCGP’s stance on employing PA’s in a primary care setting isn’t promising at all and further reassured me that I’ve made the right decision for now.
I think you’re in a really good position atm, given that you haven’t paid any tuition fees yet. My advice is just have a good think about what you want, decide if the risk is worth it and try to speak to as many qualified PA’s as you can.
Hope this helps somewhat
The course is such a huge financial commitment and everything is so wishy washy atm regarding the role, scope, job prospects, I just didn’t think it was worth it. I think what really solidified my decision was after speaking to 2 PA’s who recently graduated, and told me they still didn’t have a job after searching for 7-8 months. They were both also in a lot of debt because they took out a *private* loan to fund part of the course - this terrified me the most because that’s exactly what I was planning to do. I can’t imagine the amount of stress they (and other graduates) must be under, trying to figure out how to pay off the loans.
I ended up going for my backup option which was always Dietetics, applied for a fast track MSc which starts in Feb and got in. My plan for now is just to do the Dietetics course while keeping an eye on how things pan out with the whole PA situation. If things improve and I still want to be a PA, then I’ll just apply for the course in the future. If things don’t improve, then it’s not an issue since I’ll be qualified in something else I’m interested in.
There’s no rush to do the course *right now* and it’s not worth committing so much to a course without knowing what things will be like in the future. Furthermore the recent news about the RCGP’s stance on employing PA’s in a primary care setting isn’t promising at all and further reassured me that I’ve made the right decision for now.
I think you’re in a really good position atm, given that you haven’t paid any tuition fees yet. My advice is just have a good think about what you want, decide if the risk is worth it and try to speak to as many qualified PA’s as you can.
Hope this helps somewhat
(edited 9 months ago)
Reply 3
Run while you have the chance. If you like the Uni do another course there. I wish I could do back and change my mind.
We depend on doctors - if doctors stop supporting our role, which they are increasingly doing, we cannot survive. As far as doctors are concerned, PAs can only financially make sense to a healthcare system, if they are replacing doctors, as their salaries are higher all the way to registrar level. But then they cannot replace doctors as otherwise it makes med school pointless!
All the royal colleges are doing the maths and turning their back on PAs as a concept. There are some PAs smoking hopium thinking being added to GMC register will change things - it won't. The economics still wont make sense. And if drs wont supervise us, there is no job.
Sorry to be negative, but I am living this nightmare.
We depend on doctors - if doctors stop supporting our role, which they are increasingly doing, we cannot survive. As far as doctors are concerned, PAs can only financially make sense to a healthcare system, if they are replacing doctors, as their salaries are higher all the way to registrar level. But then they cannot replace doctors as otherwise it makes med school pointless!
All the royal colleges are doing the maths and turning their back on PAs as a concept. There are some PAs smoking hopium thinking being added to GMC register will change things - it won't. The economics still wont make sense. And if drs wont supervise us, there is no job.
Sorry to be negative, but I am living this nightmare.
Reply 4
Original post by smallcatbigmeow
Hey, I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. I was in a similar position, I received a PA offer and didn’t know what to do because of all the uncertainty. I ended up declining the offer, (also withdrew my QM application) and for now I think it was the best decision I could’ve done.
The course is such a huge financial commitment and everything is so wishy washy atm regarding the role, scope, job prospects, I just didn’t think it was worth it. I think what really solidified my decision was after speaking to 2 PA’s who recently graduated, and told me they still didn’t have a job after searching for 7-8 months. They were both also in a lot of debt because they took out a *private* loan to fund part of the course - this terrified me the most because that’s exactly what I was planning to do. I can’t imagine the amount of stress they (and other graduates) must be under, trying to figure out how to pay off the loans.
I ended up going for my backup option which was always Dietetics, applied for a fast track MSc which starts in Feb and got in. My plan for now is just to do the Dietetics course while keeping an eye on how things pan out with the whole PA situation. If things improve and I still want to be a PA, then I’ll just apply for the course in the future. If things don’t improve, then it’s not an issue since I’ll be qualified in something else I’m interested in.
There’s no rush to do the course *right now* and it’s not worth committing so much to a course without knowing what things will be like in the future. Furthermore the recent news about the RCGP’s stance on employing PA’s in a primary care setting isn’t promising at all and further reassured me that I’ve made the right decision for now.
I think you’re in a really good position atm, given that you haven’t paid any tuition fees yet. My advice is just have a good think about what you want, decide if the risk is worth it and try to speak to as many qualified PA’s as you can.
Hope this helps somewhat
The course is such a huge financial commitment and everything is so wishy washy atm regarding the role, scope, job prospects, I just didn’t think it was worth it. I think what really solidified my decision was after speaking to 2 PA’s who recently graduated, and told me they still didn’t have a job after searching for 7-8 months. They were both also in a lot of debt because they took out a *private* loan to fund part of the course - this terrified me the most because that’s exactly what I was planning to do. I can’t imagine the amount of stress they (and other graduates) must be under, trying to figure out how to pay off the loans.
I ended up going for my backup option which was always Dietetics, applied for a fast track MSc which starts in Feb and got in. My plan for now is just to do the Dietetics course while keeping an eye on how things pan out with the whole PA situation. If things improve and I still want to be a PA, then I’ll just apply for the course in the future. If things don’t improve, then it’s not an issue since I’ll be qualified in something else I’m interested in.
There’s no rush to do the course *right now* and it’s not worth committing so much to a course without knowing what things will be like in the future. Furthermore the recent news about the RCGP’s stance on employing PA’s in a primary care setting isn’t promising at all and further reassured me that I’ve made the right decision for now.
I think you’re in a really good position atm, given that you haven’t paid any tuition fees yet. My advice is just have a good think about what you want, decide if the risk is worth it and try to speak to as many qualified PA’s as you can.
Hope this helps somewhat
Thank you so much. I spoke to my academic advisor and he said I should watch this space but also have a backup plan. For me it was always PA studies or nursing. It's just that all this time I was leaning heavily towards PA studies. But I've been looking into adult nursing just in case and the more I learn about it the more I want to do it. So now I've decided I'm going to apply for nursing. I know that nurses can also become PAs if they do the MSc so if the situation improves and I really do want to become a PA one day then maybe I can do PA studies later on as a registered nurse. But I just want to thank you. I really appreciate your time and I'm so glad it worked out for you. Much love x
(edited 8 months ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Sadia Firuj
Thank you so much. I spoke to my academic advisor and he said I should watch this space but also have a backup plan. For me it was always PA studies or nursing. It's just that all this time I was leaning heavily towards PA studies. But I've been looking into adult nursing just in case and the more I learn about it the more I want to do it. So now I've decided I'm going to apply for nursing. I know that nurses can also become PAs if they do the MSc so if the situation improves and I really do want to become a PA one day then maybe I can do PA studies later on as a registered nurse. But I just want to thank you. I really appreciate your time and I'm so glad it worked out for you. Much love x
Girl you have no idea how happy your reply made me!! I was thinking about your post for the past few days🥺 I’m so glad you’ve started thinking about a back up plan, I honestly hope it all works out for you, if you need any advice or anything at all just feel free to pm me. Adult nursing is a really good option, and like you said, you can still become a PA after this course if it’s still what you really want. Good luck with everything
Edit: I thought it was OP replying lol my bad, however everything I said still stands!
(edited 8 months ago)
Reply 6
Oh lol I made a similar post a few days ago so I thought you were replying to me lmao but everything still stands on my end too. Thanks for helping me and others with your advice 💗
(edited 8 months ago)
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