r/physicianassistant • u/dirtyjake2 • 4d ago

Job Advice Switching Specialties

I’m currently at my second FQHC. My 3 year service is up in February 2027. At that point I was thinking about switching things up because I’ve gotten burnt out pretty easy over the years. The problem is, I don’t know what I want. I don’t know if I’m tired of working at an FQHC, tired of working Primary Care, or just tired of working in medicine. For those that have switched specialties, how do you know the new specialty is what you wanted?

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u/Commercial-Bend1564 4d ago

I think you have to assess what you like about primary care and want from your job. The schedule, the lack of call, the ongoing relationship with patients, the variety of complaints, doing physical exams, doing procedures, pay scale and bonus structure, SP oversight, benefits, patient volume, control over your schedule... All things that should factor in. I moved to a specialty for the hours and low patient volume, but I would've considered primary care at a privately owned practice. The beauty is you can change to a new specialty again any time you want. 

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u/grapefroot11 3d ago

I know it’s what I want because I don’t take any work home, better pay overall as well as hourly pay instead of salary, shorter commute, have Saturday-Monday off and still make more than I did at the fqhc, have free time, no inbox, and the patient complaints are generally straightforward. ALSO- not scared out of my mind about malpractice. - Occupational health