Essential Question: What justification is there, for me, in becoming a Physician's Assistant, rather than the alternative of a Doctor?
Growing up, I always thought I would be a doctor. When someone says “I want to be in the medical field,” you assume they mean either a doctor or a nurse. I presupposed as well, until my mentor provided me the opportunity to shadow with a Physician's Assistant for a day. While I had seen the role of a Doctor before, a PA was something totally unexplored to me. I began to question what role a PA had in the medical field and there purpose in being there. As I shadowed with this incredibly smart and well spoken PA, I found myself assisting in activities I thought were strictly for doctors. We traveled around a section of the Emergency Room, answering question, diagnosing, and treating patients. When the nurses put in new charts, we would quickly grab them and go. The Physician's assistant prescribed medicine, ordered tests, and even cut open an infection right then and there. I was in shock that this role, I had never previously taken into consideration, was performing the daily tasks I wished to see myself doing. I needed to understand how they got there, what their lifestyle/workload consisted of, what they are permitted to do, and even how they decided a PA was the career path for them. I knew this position posed as a possible occupation for me, but I needed to know why. I needed to understand the underlying difference between a Physician's Assistant and a Medical Doctor, in order to determine my career in the future.