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As the host of the So You Want to Work in Healthcare podcast, I shared a bonus episode to provide more content to my listeners. In this episode, I discussed my experience as a Physician Assistant (PA) in orthopedic surgery, highlighting why I chose this field and why I find it rewarding. I emphasized the hands-on experience, the satisfaction of seeing patients recover after surgery, and the PA-friendly nature of orthopedics. I also shared personal insights on starting in orthopedics right after PA school and the importance of following your passion in choosing a specialty. Additionally, I mentioned the fun and camaraderie among orthopedic surgeons and the exciting conferences I attend with my colleagues. Overall, I expressed my love for orthopedics and the fulfillment it brings to my career. Stay tuned for more bonus episodes and interviews with healthcare professionals on the So You Want to Work in Healthcare podcast!
*Not Medical Advice. Our views do not reflect the views of our employers.*
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Leigha (Host):
Welcome to the first bonus episode of the So You Want to Work in Healthcare podcast. I would like to bring you guys more content, so we're going to do some bonus episodes. If you listen to the show, you know that I do interview style podcasts and I interview people in the healthcare field. to give you guys a better idea of what you might want to do with your lives. But, you know, I can only get so many interviews out per month right now. I'm able to do about one to two interviews per month. I do work a full time job and have a very busy schedule. So to give you guys a little more content, I'm going to roll out shorter bonus episodes every other week. And this is the first one. And for this one, I'm going to tell you what I do as a PA in orthopedic surgery. This audio you're going to hear today is actually from a YouTube video I did a little while ago, so I hope you guys don't mind that I'm repurposing a little content here, but the audio from this YouTube video is really exactly what I'd want to say on this episode. You're going to hear about why I went into orthopedics, why I love orthopedics, and why I think you should go into orthopedics as a physician assistant or become an orthopedic surgeon or work in orthopedics as a nurse practitioner or a nurse. Ortho is such a cool field and it's the only field I've ever been in. I started my career as a PA 12 years ago almost now. One of the things I love so much about going into the PA profession was the versatility of it, but the funny thing is I've never left orthopedics. So here's a little insight from me, who is somebody who started in ortho, probably will never leave orthopedics, and I hope you enjoy. Today, I have a really exciting video for you because I'm going to explain how I got into the field of orthopedic surgery. In PA school, we do clinicals our second year. There's one-year didactic work, which is just studying, taking a million tests. Actually, I think it's something like 60 to 70 actual exams throughout the one-year period. And then the second entire year is clinicals, which means you're on different rotations every few weeks. I think my rotations were about five to six weeks long. I want to say I had nine different rotations and we got to only pick one elective. I chose orthopedics as my elective. I already had an idea that that was the field I would like. I always knew I wanted to do something that involves surgery, and I've also had a really close relationship with sports and injuries my whole life. Luckily, never anything crazy, but I think that definitely affected my decisions. But I wasn't totally set on orthopedics before my rotation started. I actually thought that I would like general surgery better. I know. If you know, you know. And I actually hated that rotation. It wasn't awful, it was just not what I thought it was going to be. I love my orthopedic rotation. I got to work in one of the best hospitals in New York. I worked with some really great doctors. I have to say the residents on that rotation were amazing. They were mostly responsible for where I went every day and I got to be in the OR like 90% of the time, which was awesome. I got to see so much. The residents would let me close the skin sometimes and and they'd really let me kind of be involved. I started out in undergrad as pre-med and I did finish my undergrad degree with a bachelor's of science with actually a master's in Spanish studies. That's a whole other thing. So even though I didn't know I was going to choose to go to PA school until about sophomore, junior year, I always had an idea of what kind of medicine I wanted to go into. So back to the sports thing, right? Orthopedic surgery involves a lot of sports related injuries. And I've always been interested in those injuries because I had a few of them growing up. I played soccer that was like my whole life. I also played lacrosse ran track at one point, I was always in a sport, I was always dealing with some type of injury. And I got pretty good orthopedic care, I thought. As a kid, I really looked up to my orthopedic doctors. Luckily, I never needed surgery, knock on wood, but I didn't know I was going to like it as much as I actually do, which is the most exciting part about all of this. So luckily I chose my one elective rotation to be orthopedics. I got to do a lot on that rotation. I actually met my current boss on that rotation. So guys, if you're in PA school or going to PA school, don't ever miss an opportunity to make a connection. Learn who everybody is. Give your information to everyone. If you're interested in ever maybe working with somebody, you know, keep their contact handy. That's how I got my current job and my current job was pretty amazing. So the thing that I love most about my orthopedic rotation was the hands-on experience I got in the operating room. I was able to learn how not only to close wounds, but how different surgeons operated, how different surgeries were performed. I got to see so many different types of sports surgeries. Arthroplasty, which is like hip and knee replacements, which I do now. and spine surgeries. I got to see everything. All the doctors, the residents were super nice. I got to work with only a couple PAs on that rotation, which was kind of interesting. But I also had the opportunity to spend time with my current, now current boss in his clinic with his PA. And she was just amazing. She taught me so much in one day of clinic that I just knew that at that point, that was gonna be the field I wanted to go into. Why else do I love orthopedics so much? Besides the hands-on experience, Orthopedics is so rewarding, not only for me as a PA, but for the patients. And honestly, that fulfills me so much. I love nothing more than to see a patient, diagnose them, recommend what kind of surgery they might need, you know, along with my boss. I mean, at this point I I didn't recommend the surgery and he just converts it. And perform the surgery with my boss. And then a few weeks later, I get to see this patient who sometimes can barely walk, now leave the hospital the same day or the next day with a new hip or a new knee and just be like a whole different person. It's insane how much replacing a joint can affect somebody's life. I have patients who have gotten so emotional and it makes me emotional to think about it because a lot of people are really scared of surgery which is I get that I I'm even scared of surgery and I work in the OR every week they wait so long to have surgery because of that fear right and I see some people wait years past the time that they should have had surgery. And then they finally get it done. They're like, why didn't I do this sooner? It is just so fulfilling and rewarding. And it really makes you feel good to see somebody go from such a bad place to such an amazing place in their life. I love when my patients send us videos and pictures of them skiing or hiking or whatever it is they do, like playing sports. just a few months after surgery, they just seem so happy. Obviously, there are some surgeries that don't go so well, and that is one of the hard parts about working in medicine. It's never 100% guaranteed. There are always people who are going to have issues. There are always people who are going to have pain. And you know, you just have to try to help them as much as you can. The other aspect of the orthopedic field that I really like is that it's mostly PA-friendly. It does depend on what part of the country you're in. I have a few friends who, you know, work in the Midwest and they do have hard time finding jobs, but at least here in the Northeast where I'm located, it is very PA friendly. Almost every surgeon in my hospital now has a private physician assistant. a private PA. That really says something. There's a lot of orthopedic surgeons in my hospital so for almost everyone now to have a PA like that's huge. The other amazing thing about the hospital I work at is that the floors are completely run by PAs for the most part. The residents do round and you know they do a lot as well but there are I think over like 120 PAs now at my hospital so very PA friendly field that is super important when choosing a job. probably the most important thing because if you take a job after PA school that is in the field that you love but Maybe you're the first PA to work in that practice, or you're one of the first to work in the hospital. You might not get that autonomy that you're looking for. And yes, I said autonomy. As PAs, we do get autonomy. We get to make our own decisions a lot of the times. I see my own patients. I write my own prescriptions. I love that about being a PA, because while we're not the final decision maker in many aspects of the job, we do have the ability to make our own decisions. and treat our own patients and provide our own diagnosis and care. If you end up working for somebody who doesn't give you that autonomy or doesn't give you their trust eventually, I'm not sure you're going to be happy, unless you're somebody who doesn't want that. But for me, I want a say in things. And I love that my boss gives me that opportunity. He's always asking my opinion. He's always, you know, looking at me during surgery to make sure I don't have anything to add or say or do. He lets me help him out and perform parts of the surgery with him, which, by the way, is pretty normal for a PA to do. I close all of the incisions. It's also common practice for PAs to close incisions, as well as residents and fellows. And I love being able to do all of that. Now, granted, it took some time for my boss to build the trust in me to be able to do all the things I'm doing now. I was not able to do that from day one. I've been with him for seven years. I guess I've proven myself. Now, finally, I'm not going to lie, the pay is pretty nice in orthopedic surgery. I think it's one of the highest paying fields for PAs, but I don't think it's actually in the top five anymore. I did a video on TikTok about this, and I believe cardiothoracic surgery was one of the top. five and maybe even dermatology or plastics. I can't remember, but I may have posted it here on my channel if you want to check that out on my YouTube shorts. But yes, it is one of the higher paying specialties for physician assistants. I'm not going to say how much I make on here right now, but I will say that is well above the national average. And I think most PA's at my hospital make above the national average. These are my main reasons for choosing orthopedics. And I have been in orthopedics now for almost nine years, which is crazy. Part of the reason why I chose to become a PA was so I could switch fields if I got bored. I have yet to get bored of orthopedics. I love it so much. I love how much I get to do. I love surgery. I love being in the operating room. But even more so, I love how successful people's surgeries are and how happy the patients are afterwards. Nothing makes me happier than when a patient comes up to me and thanks me for being part of their new hip or their new knee. Another point I'd like to make, and this was just my experience, but I'd like to say it here because I kind of went against what a lot of people advised me to do in that I started straight out of PA school in orthopedics. A lot of people said to me, don't do that. Don't specialize at first do something more broad like emergency medicine, or, you know, internal medicine or something like that. But I applied for my first job in orthopedics. because I knew I loved it. I figured if I didn't get it maybe I'd apply other places but I got it and I wasn't going to turn down an amazing opportunity just because a few people told me I needed broader knowledge. You know I was always afraid that because I specialized so soon I would have a hard time recertifying Um, I didn't I actually did better on my panry, which is the standardized test We have to take every 10 years now in order to keep our license I actually did better on that test than I did on the original pants Which is the first test you have to take to become a PA so guys Don't let people tell you you have to go into some broad specialty at first. If you love something, do it. And especially if you're given that opportunity. If you love dermatology, go be a dermatology PA. You might have to study a little harder for the pannery in 10 years, but who cares? At least you'll be happier. So that is my biggest piece of advice for you today. So remember, if you are somebody who likes to have some say in what you're doing, and some autonomy, orthopedics, I think is a very good field for you. If you're somebody who likes to be in the operating room, orthopedic surgery is amazing for that. Especially if you're someone who's hands on, like really wants to be involved. Also, if you're interested in sports, great field for you. And lastly, but most importantly, I find that it's a very PA friendly field. and not all aspects of medicine seem to be. Oh, I'm forgetting one of my favorite parts of orthopedics, and that is the people involved. Orthopedic surgeons are mostly so much fun. We have a really good time while we're working. We usually have music playing in the operating room. We do a lot together as an office, and I get to go to a lot of conferences with my colleagues, which is really fun. To be honest with you, the orthopedic conference that I go to every year is one of my favorite parts of the entire year. We learn a lot. I think that really says something where one of the times of the year that I look forward to the most is actually with my co-workers and colleagues. I think that really says something. That's why I love orthopedics. I hope you guys enjoyed that episode. I hope it gave you some insight into what I do and into the PA profession as a whole. Thanks for tuning into the first bonus episode of the So You Want to Work in Healthcare podcast. I can't wait to do more of these with you. And I plan to have a special guest on an upcoming bonus episode. So stay tuned. I'm going to do my best to bring you guys weekly content. I love doing this. It's so much fun. And if you haven't already, please don't forget to give a five star review. It's super easy on Spotify. Just click the stars on Apple. You can give a star review and write a little something about the podcast. I really, really appreciate it. If you do write a review, I'll shout you out in the next episode. I plan to bring you interview style episodes every other week. The last episode I did was with Chrissy Macero. She's a CRNA. It's such an insightful episode. So any nurses out there, anybody who's interested in becoming a nurse anesthetist, you need to listen and watch this video. It's it's such good content. I have a couple of really awesome interviews with people that you probably will recognize coming up. So definitely stay tuned. Subscribe to the podcast. And thanks for tuning in. This is the So You Want to Work in Healthcare podcast with new episodes every month. Don't forget to subscribe to stay up to date on the latest releases.
