Mikayla asked what the hardest parts of being a PA actually are. So I answered honestly.

This isn't a doom episode. I love this job. But you should walk into interviews knowing the real challenges facing the profession, because you will get asked about them.

At the end I get into mentorship, including why you should never hand someone a big check just to shadow them.

What I cover:

• People still not understanding what a PA is or does
• Insurance headaches and how they affect your day
• How much state regulations change what you're allowed to do
• Why interviewers ask about challenges in the profession
• Working this into your personal statement without sounding negative
• Finding real mentorship, and the shadowing scams to walk away from

Resources:

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

Mock interview with me: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview

Free application timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

One-on-one pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to episode 21.

Today we're talking about PA mentors and answering a voicemail question and diving into some common questions.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Alright, guys, I'm your host.

I'm Savannah Perry.

I feel like I haven't introduced myself in a while, so I'll try to be a little bit better about that.

But just for fill you in, we're 20 episodes in now, 21 today.

But I am a practicing PA.

I'm a dermatology PA and I also run a website called the PA Platform.

And now I have a podcast called the Pre PA Club.

But it's my mission to help educate people and students about the PA profession and help people to feel prepared going into application cycles for just making sure that they have their ducks in a row and that they are ready to start PA school.

So that's kind of my mission and what I'm doing with the Pre PA Club podcasts and with the PA platform.

So today I wanted to address a couple things.

It's been a little while since I've done a solo episode and I know that there are a lot of common questions that come up.

So I want you to know that you can always leave a voicemail question and those will be featured in these episodes.

And the more questions we get, the more of these types of episodes we can do.

And a lot of times it may help me and help someone else because someone may have a very similar question.

So I would encourage you to go to the paplatform.com podcast and on the right hand side there's a little button where you can leave a voicemail.

It's really simple.

And then we'll get those answered in an upcoming episode.

So today's question comes from Mikayla and I'm going to let her share her question.

Hey Savannah, I was just wondering from a practicing physician assistant, what are some of the greatest difficulties or issues that PAs and the PA profession itself face today?

Now, Mikayla has thankfully already been accepted to PA school.

Congrats, by the way.

But this is a very common interview question and something that comes up frequently because it's important to show that you have done your homework on the PA profession and that you understand what it is that you're getting into and that it may not be all roses and just happy go lucky stuff.

And this is also something that you may want to address in your personal statement, I've said on previous episodes, but I am an editor for MYPA Resource and that's a great place to go if you're having trouble with your personal statement.

It is the most important thing for landing you an interview and you cannot afford to risk sending off your application with an essay that is incomplete or not addressing what it needs to and part of what you should address is showing that you understand the PA profession.

So if you need help with that, make sure to check out my PA resource.

You can use the code prepaclub for for a I think it's $15 discount and they have some great resources there as well with just a free workshop that kind of goes through what should be in your essay and how to address everything.

But I definitely want you to know about that and be able to check it out.

So if this question comes up in an interview, you have to think, and this is something that I try to encourage whenever I'm doing mock interviews.

You have to think about why you're being asked this question.

Why do they want to know that you understand the challenges and the issues that PAs in the PA profession faces?

They just want to know that you're not walking into this naive and that you have really learned from your shadowing experiences and the PAS that you've talked to.

So in my opinion, some of the challenges facing PAs are some of the challenges that face everyone working in medicine.

Now in an interview, this may not be the best answer because they're asking you specifically about PAs and you want to be as specific as possible.

But there are things like insurance issues, getting medications covered, not having enough time in the day to see all the patients who need care, having patients who are non compliant who still, despite getting care, don't really listen or follow instructions.

And that can just be frustrating day to day things that you deal with.

Working in medicine, if you've gotten patient care or healthcare experience, you may have experienced some of these and those are definitely things you can talk about, but they may not be the best answer to this question.

As far as a PA specifically, the most common answer to this question is the fact that some patients still don't understand what PAs are and what our role is.

And to be honest, sometimes some physicians don't either.

And so I think that can be really frustrating as a pa, to be honest, it doesn't really bother me and I don't feel like I get questioned that often, but I will get comments such as, well, when are you going back to medical school?

Or so you're a doctor or you're not a doctor, and they just don't really understand, or they'll say, what kind of schooling did you have?

So that's a really great opportunity to educate patients and educate the population on the role of a physician assistant and really share with them the type of schooling we go through and the training we go through.

One thing I love in my job is if there is a patient that needs to see the doctor as well, or maybe is questioning my decision, and I decide to pull the doctor in.

A lot of times she echoes exactly what I've said because she trained me.

And it'll be funny because the patients will go, oh, well, she just said that.

And it's true.

I mean, once you're trained under someone, as long as you're paying attention and kind of taking the initiative to learn, you should kind of emulate a lot of what they do.

That doesn't mean you'll agree with them 100% every single time.

But for the most part, you want to be on the same page as your supervising physician.

And that just gives patients reassurance when they see you, and especially when they see both of you and you say the same thing.

So definitely educating patients and just knowing that as a pa, you're going to be explaining your career, there will be people who don't understand it, and so you will be faced with a little bit of adversity there sometimes maybe some skeptical patients, which is fine.

That is their right as patients.

And all you can do is try to earn their respect and.

And earn their trust based on your knowledge and your rapport that you develop.

So, yeah, that's definitely the most common answer.

As far as just a practicing pa, what is the biggest challenge specifically to being a pa?

Not just working in medicine, other things.

I mean, a lot of that depends on kind of the state level.

And this comes down to getting into laws, which is a little more complicated.

And it can also apply to the PA profession in general.

Just there isn't a lot of consistency between states and between regulations.

So I'm in Georgia, and that looks completely different than, say, California, actually.

There was a PA who spoke to our class who had gone to California to do an OBGYN residency after PA school.

And so she went there, delivered tons of babies, and.

And came back to Georgia, where she was not allowed to deliver babies because they don't let PAs do that.

So that type of thing can be frustrating and something that you'd want to look into if there's a certain field you're interested in see what that looks like in your state and what the responsibilities are, what you're able to actually do to make sure that you will be able to fulfill your goals and that you're on the same page with the state.

And so this is if you've heard of optimal team practice, which is what the AAPA kind of voted on and approved at their last conference.

This is what it's trying to address.

Just the fact that states have different rules and that the responsibilities of a PA should really be decided on at a, at a personal level between the supervising physician and the pa, because that's who sees you in action.

That's who you're basically who's responsible for you.

And so if they trust you in a certain field or to do a certain task or procedure, it shouldn't be up to the state to determine that.

And if the patients trust you as well.

So that's just something that the way AAPA passed is an idea and a proposal.

Now the states have to pass it.

So just because AAPA said this is what we think, it honestly doesn't really mean anything at this point until the state legislations start pushing for it and passing that which a few have.

So it gets a little complicated.

One piece of advice for interviews is don't talk about anything you feel like you can't and explain well or expand upon.

And this stuff does get a little messy.

So it may not be where you want to go with that question.

But those are some things to keep in mind.

And I recommend the AAPA Advocacy tab as a place to kind of see what's going on in the world of PAs as well as the PA forums, physicianassistantforum.com and just Google search.

I will frequently just do a Google search for physician assistant and see what comes up.

Sometimes you'll see PAs getting in trouble, sometimes you'll see announcements for new PAs in practices.

And there have been some interesting articles just about the role of PAs.

So those are some places you can look for challenges and issues and kind of recent events.

All right, so I hope that answers your question, Mikayla, and again, congrats.

If anyone else has questions, feel free to send them in.

And let's get to talking about PA mentorship.

So this is something I've been getting questions about more recently and it's kind of interesting to me.

So one question I got was on Instagram basically asking this person has offered to mentor me.

They've said I can have shadowing hours and I can get healthcare experience.

And they'll Write me a letter and I will pay them $6,000.

Okay.

That completely took me aback.

What?

Who.

Who's charging $6,000?

And then they said that if they get accepted to school, they would have $6,000.

That blew me away.

That, to me, is completely insane, unreasonable, and honestly unethical.

So I just wanted to address that because I do not want you guys getting scammed, honestly.

Yeah, you should not be paying foreshadowing hours.

You should not have to pay for.

For your healthcare hours.

I could see volunteering and maybe not necessarily getting paid, even though a paid job is obviously better, but you should not be paying for that.

And so I just want that to be clear.

There's a difference in paying for advice and paying for hours.

And also there's a difference in $6,000.

Really?

So, yeah.

So just right out the gate, I am not on board with that.

I know that.

I consider myself a mentor, and I try to make sure that you guys have tons of information and free information, and that is why I do this podcast and my Instagram and my website and YouTube webinars and all that stuff.

But.

And I do offer a paid service called a Prepa Assessment, where we break things down and come up with a plan and offer kind of a more personalized mentorship.

But it's like $75.

And that may be changing in the future.

But anyway, yeah, just don't let someone.

Don't let your desire to become a PA or someone's.

I don't even know what the right word is, someone else convince you that that is reasonable, because it is not.

And there are plenty of people out there willing to help you.

Myself on Instagram, on the physician assistant forums, on Reddit, there's so much information out there now.

Okay, next point.

Who should be your mentor and should you have a mentor?

So I think it's great to have someone that you can go ask questions to and to have someone that, you know, you trust what they're saying.

Saying.

And so I do feel like sometimes in.

I mean, we have a Facebook group, which is great, and I love a lot of the responses in there, but sometimes.

Sometimes they're wrong, and that's okay.

And so I think it's worth just.

If you are out there in kind of public forums, taking the advice you get with a grain of salt and just seeing where the consistencies are and where the inconsistencies are and.

And also just using some common sense there.

But I do think it's great to have that person, you can ask questions to.

And again, that's what I'm trying to provide here.

So I'm happy to answer your questions on the podcast in the Facebook group.

Email.

Ideally, if you are choosing a mentor or trying to find someone to help you, ideally that person would be a pa.

It's great to get advice from PA students and it's great to get advice from other pre PA people, advisors.

But at the end of the day, if you want somebody who's been through every single part of it and really understands it, I mean, yes, you do want a practicing physician assistant.

And I know that may not be realistic in all scenarios, but just something that you can look for.

And here's the deal.

If it's a PA that you know personally, you want that person.

You want to have a relationship with that person.

You don't want to just email a random PA and say, hey, will you mentor me?

That sounds like a lot of pressure for somebody who maybe has never done that or has never had that role.

And so they may be less inclined to say yes.

But if this is somebody that you've shadowed frequently and you've gotten to know, it may be worth saying, hey, do you think we could just talk every couple months about where I'm at and I can update you and you can just give me advice and make sure I'm doing what I need to do?

They may say no, and that's okay.

They may not feel comfortable or feel like they have the knowledge.

The PA process, application process changes very frequently.

And so someone who applied 10 years ago may not really know or understand what's going into the process now or how competitive it is.

And so what they needed or what their requirements were may be completely different and probably are than what you need today.

And so they just may not feel like they can do that.

But if you have a mentor, I mean, I wouldn't look to them as someone that you can call and text every single day, but more.

So go out there and try to find the information yourself.

There's tons of information.

I mean, again, I love Google, but the physician assistant forums, the Facebook groups, Reddit and Instagram, I mean, there's so much information and so try to find it yourself.

If you can't, then ask a pa, ask your mentor and see if they're able to direct you a little bit or get you to someone who has the answer.

So I think it's great to have that person.

But as far as getting shadowing hours, healthcare experience, those are things that you just gotta keep working towards and keep asking for and keep learning, looking.

You will find the opportunities.

You just got to put yourself out there and be willing to ask.

And yeah, just I do not think that those are things that you should be paying for.

So obviously I feel pretty strongly about this.

But if you have any questions about that or if you've gotten any of these strange offers, please let me know.

And yeah, so I think that's about all I have to say for mentors.

And if you're not in our Facebook group, definitely join it.

I mean, there's tons of people in there answering questions.

They are awesome.

A lot quicker than I am.

I try to get in there.

If you ever need me in there, just tag me so I'll know.

But yeah, so yeah, but anyway, so if you have questions that you want answered, please go leave a voicemail and we'll get to those.

And I hope everyone has a great weekend.

That's all I have for today and I think next week we'll be back with another interview.

I have some fun, fun interviews in the works for you guys, but I also want to do a little bit more solo episodes and if there's something you want to hear about or somebody you want me to interview, please let me know.

Just email me.

My email is savannahepapaplatform.com you can get with me on Instagram.

And yeah, that's about it.

If you feel inclined, leave me a review on itunes.

And I would definitely appreciate that.

It helps more people to find the podcast and really just know that it's out there so that you can.

So they can learn about it and then we can just kind of keep getting the word out there about our profession or our future profession.

And I wanted to actually see if I could share a review with you guys that I got last week.

Let me see here.

Sorry, I'm trying to use my phone while I'm doing this.

Yeah, I wanted to say thank you to Kumari who said I haven't even received my undergrad degree yet, but I love listening to Samantha so that I can prepare myself for the future.

And I love that you are still an undergrad and working on this, so the more prepared you are, the better.

But yeah, if anyone feels inclined to give us some stars, that'll help us out.

But alright, everybody have a good week and see you next time.

Bye.