PA Vs MD

Great Site for more information: Inside PA Training

From what I've read and from my own decision, the choice to take the PA route comes down to these four factors.

1. Goals in Life - According to PAs in the United States, they claim that they are able to achieve a life balance which is rare in a career in medicine. If you want to work in medicine and also in pursuit of something else then the PA career would be right for you. If studying medicine is the be all end all, then you should become a doctor.

2. Patient Care - In both careers you need to be able to care for people. Comparatively, doctors are very very busy which takes away time with patients. The PA profession is patient focused, you spend more time with patients compared to doctors.

3. Time - This is the factor that really determines your medical path. After all the prerequisites for both careers it takes another 2 years to be a working PA compared to a minimum of another 7 years to be a working doctor.

4. Do you need to be the boss? - As a PA, you will be working under the supervision of a physician. You cannot be independent. If this is an issue that does not work with your personality then take the physician route. Keep in mind once you become an experienced PA it is only required that the supervising physician is available if needed, ie. phone call. Your supervising physician does not need to be on site.

I found this chart on the site a Patient's Guide to The Physician Assistant but I changed it to make it more Canadian :)

	Nurse Practitioner	Physician Assistant	Physician
Prerequisite Education	Bachelor Degree in Nursing & Clinical hours	U of M: 4 year Bachelor degree U of T: 2 years university & 1680 hours of clinical experience McMaster: 2 years of university	Bachelor degree (3 year min)
Learning Model	Medical-Nursing	Medical-Physician	Medical- Physician
Program offered	Part-Time & Full-Time	Full-Time	Full-Time
Program Length	2 years Full-Time 4 years Part-Time	24-25 consecutive months	4 years
Classroom Time	36 Credit hours (U Manitoba)	3 semesters (56 Credit hours) (U Manitoba)	4 semesters (6 Blocks) (U Manitoba)
Clinical Hours	400 hours + Thesis (U Manitoba)	42 weeks + 4 weeks (electives) + Capstone project (U Manitoba)	48 weeks + 21 weeks (electives) (U Manitoba)
Residency	None	None in Canada yet! but optional in the US (1 – 2 years)	3 – 8 years
Degree Awarded	Masters of Nursing degree	•Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) – U Manitoba •Bachelor of Science Physician Assistant degree (BScPA) – The Consortium of PA Education (Toronto) •Bachelor of Health Sciences (Physician Assistant) - McMaster	Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)
Average Salary (Manitoba Full-Time)	$70,000 - $85,000	$80,000 – $100,000	$120,000 -$ 180,000 (Family Physician)

My Story - How I got onto the PA path

As all university students start out, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I always had medicine on the back of my mind but I felt that I was not ready for the commitment. After switching my  mind in the first few years of university from becoming a physiotherapist to nursing, I ended up deciding to pursue med school and finish up my Bachelor Science degree in microbiology. After marriage, obtaining a mortgage, ~3 years working at a lab and a few tries at the MCAT (verbal is my enemy), along with my persistent husband's question, "can we have a kid?" I decided to look at other options.

One day at work :P - I looked onto the University of Manitoba website to figure out if there is anything else I could be interested in. I remembered from a recent personality workshop (true colours) I took at work It concluded that I am social (blue) and organized (gold). That confirmed that I needed to leave the lab and work in health care. I saw the Physician Assistant option and for some reason I thought that I would not qualify. After looking at it multiple times and a few calls to the program I realized...I CAN APPLY :D. I had a new goal and I began frantically researching the profession and thinking of how my application would look. After hours of research I realized how this profession fit well with my personality and goals in life. I would like to study medicine but also be able to start a family soon. What I like about it is the ability to have time with my family and friends which is an important part of my life. I also would like to pursue other interests such as musical theater and possibly do Moksha Yoga training :)

Now here I am a few months before classes excited and nervous. I am so appreciative that I was accepted and able to participate in the program. To have a chance to be part of the exciting change in Canadian health care is itself rewarding and exhilarating.

Sometimes I wonder If I had known about this profession during my undergrad if I would have chosen it right away before medicine...

With the end of my pursuit to becoming a doctor I learned that I had trouble letting go of my ego. The title "Dr." was something I sought after, but after carefully looking at both professions and the quality of life I would like to live, I discovered that the PA route is what I want to do. What is important is that I will have the ability to treat patients and help them. In the end that is all I really want to do, is help others through medicine.  :)