Would being a PA be more realistic w/ my physical limitations?

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm continuing my journey of trying to determine how I can incorporate a career change to healthcare at 35yo with injuries (bad knees, hip, wrist, back, and neck due to being hit by a drunk driver).

Thanks to reading the experiences of others on this site, I'm starting to see/accept that while my passion is to be an RN (since I've been caring for others since I was a child), that perhaps I need to accept my current physical limitations and entertain other options.

Sooo, while I realize this is a nursing site, please don't throw tomatoes when I ask, would being a Physician Assistant be less taxing physically, than being an RN?

If it wouldn't be, are there *any* jobs where I can have patient interaction that wouldn't involve 12-hour shifts of endless standing, stooping, and lifting that my body couldn't handle?

Thank you in advance.

regarding the NICU suggestion, just be aware it is very unlikely to get hired straight into a NICU after graduating, so I wouldnt bank on it right away and make it your only option.

nursing school itself is very physically demanding, we do anywhere from 8-12 hour clinicals twice a week for 2 years. I dont have any major health problems and I am in pain when i come home from clinical usually.

so if you can get through that, then you'll need to find your first nursing job. If you want to work in a hospital, getting a med surg job is your best bet, but it will be physically demanding.

If you could find an office nursing job, it would be best, but the pay is usually quite less, and more and more offices are hiring medical assistants.

another idea is maybe dialysis nursing? i dont know about everywhere, but at the hospital i do clinicals at they have several dialysis nurses that will come up to the patients rooms, hook them up to the machine, then sit next to them and monitor them 1:1 for 4 hours +, then move on to the next. im not familiar with how outpatient dialysis nursing works.. and i also dont know how easy it is to get a job as a new grad in dialysis. good luck whatever you decide!

ashleyisawesome, you are awesome. Thank you for the insight and realistic information about the path I'd need to take to get there. That's exactly the info I was looking for (and worried about). I suppose I should accept that while my heart is in medicine, my body just isn't capable of caring for others the way I want to (which makes me even more angered about being hit by that drunk driver, but I have to keep faith that it happened for a reason).

In any case, I TRULY, truly appreciate the feedback from everyone. I know we're all super busy, so just your generosity of taking the time to answer the question of a stranger to help her on her life path really means a lot. Thank you.

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What doctor is going to want a PA who only has a 2 year degree? The PAs work directly under the MD so what MD is going to hire a PA with a 2 year degree? And what in the world would a PA get a PhD for ... why not just become a doc?

Well, when a family member of ours moved, she had numerous opportunities as a PA pursuing her.

She had been a PA since the first program in her home state was started, and it was a

certificate program. With all her years of experience, some very serious offers came in

for her to work part time. She refused as she had retired and was in her early 70's.

With all due respect, experience still counts for many doctors. Its not just about advanced degrees...

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Specializes in ER.
What doctor is going to want a PA who only has a 2 year degree? The PAs work directly under the MD so what MD is going to hire a PA with a 2 year degree? And what in the world would a PA get a PhD for ... why not just become a doc?

Uh, well, I've done two clinical rotations so far in my last year of PA school and I've been offered 4 jobs. Internal medicine doc that I just finished with this past Thursday offered me a job then on my surgical rotation 3 different surgeons offered me a job, vascular, ortho and urology. Guess there are a few docs that would hire this associate prepared PA that has 19 years experience as a RN in the ER.

Please, Please, Please, educate yourself on the PA profession and the educational requirements before you post things like this. PA school is not a cake walk and we are not some minimally educated providers.

To the OP, we have a girl in my class that has some back probs from a MVA years ago, has had surgeries but still hurts some. The program has made accommodations for her and she is a successful student. The education is difficult, I studied more in the 1st month of PA school than I did the entire time in nursing school and like a nurse on this board pointed out months ago when I made the same statement, "it is graduate level work". I've been a nurse and it is physically demanding. PA school is long days and tremendous amount of material to read. The job of being a PA is less physically demanding from a lifting standpoint but there can be some demanding days on patient load. Some clinics will expect you to see 30 or more patients per day, that can be tough on a body. My advice, go talk to some of these programs, see if they have open house and go to it, meet the faculty and students and get their perspective. Good luck in whatever you choose.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
You're attempting to compare apples to oranges. The comparison is invalid.

PA vs. RN is NOT apples to apples. One has prescriptive authority. The other doesn't. Other comparisons exist.

Now if you were to compare NP to PA, that would be comparable. But you won't ever, ever find a NP program that accepts an associates degree-prepared practitioner.

Not true, I am an associates's degree RN, I was accepted to 3 different programs for NP school......I do have a Bachelors and Masters degree BUT not in nursing....my nursing degree is an ADN.:)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
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Not true, I am an associates's degree RN, I was accepted to 3 different programs for NP school......I do have a Bachelors and Masters degree BUT not in nursing....my nursing degree is an ADN.:)[/

Wow. I leaned something today ;)

Didn't know it could be done. The last time I looked for such a program, it was nonexistent.

Either that or I wasn't looking in the right places.

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You're attempting to compare apples to oranges. The comparison is invalid.

PA vs. RN is NOT apples to apples. One has prescriptive authority. The other doesn't. Other comparisons exist.

Now if you were to compare NP to PA, that would be comparable. But you won't ever, ever find a NP program that accepts an associates degree-prepared practitioner.

Actually its not. I am attempting to show that competency based professions are similar. If someone had said no one would ever hire an RN with an associates and why would an RN get a doctorate they should just become an MD you would be justifiably angered. On the other hand you find it fine to disparage PAs that are licensed and practicing in most states. For that matter you find it fine to disparage the thousands of NPs that have an associates degree or no degree at all. The only thing they have is decades of experience. In actuality the PA programs that give out associate degrees are considered some of the strongest in the country.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

Hey, have you considered following several different PA's, like a hospitalist PA, a cardiology PA, a NICU PA an so on? If you know you are capable of the didactic portion, the physical portion remains your issue as you stated from the beginning.

Also, speak with an advisor to several schools, knowing that the verbal crap they will tell you, is more demanding than is really needed so be careful and divulge little personally, just generically ask. Protect yourself here.

There are several tracks you can peruse if you can do the studies. Can you get classified as disabled? Then the school MUST make accommodations to your learning and you then can choose the best career path for you.

Even a partial disability, documented can force any school to make adjustments in your case. Food for thought. We need many PA's in these tough economic times and I wish you well in your search.

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Specializes in NICU.

"regarding the NICU suggestion, just be aware it is very unlikely to get hired straight into a NICU after graduating, so I wouldnt bank on it right away and make it your only option.

nursing school itself is very physically demanding, we do anywhere from 8-12 hour clinicals twice a week for 2 years. I dont have any major health problems and I am in pain when i come home from clinical usually.

so if you can get through that, then you'll need to find your first nursing job. If you want to work in a hospital, getting a med surg job is your best bet, but it will be physically demanding.

If you could find an office nursing job, it would be best, but the pay is usually quite less, and more and more offices are hiring medical assistants.

another idea is maybe dialysis nursing? i dont know about everywhere, but at the hospital i do clinicals at they have several dialysis nurses that will come up to the patients rooms, hook them up to the machine, then sit next to them and monitor them 1:1 for 4 hours +, then move on to the next. im not familiar with how outpatient dialysis nursing works.. and i also dont know how easy it is to get a job as a new grad in dialysis. good luck whatever you decide! "

I was hired right out of school. The hospitals I've worked at love new grads for NICU, because there is really nothing comparable to it. It is a totally different set of skills. Vitals signs, medications, and a lot of lab work are different in new borns, then in other populations. If you get someone fresh, they can be totally NICU focused. My NICU orientation was about 6 months.

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