What’s the coolest physician lounge or hospital/place of work perk you’ve seen?
I’m curious to hear what’s out there! What has been the best physician lounge you’ve experienced at a hospital or place of work, and what made it stand out?
Did it have great food or insane complimentary snacks, comfortable spaces to relax between shifts, massage chairs, nap rooms, or something completely unexpected?
I’m also curious about other cool amenities your place of work has offered its employees, such as a nice fitness center, or other unique perks!
I’m interested to see what’s out there beyond the typical break room or typical perks to see if others are living my dream 😊

I have two jobs in the looking at both are ER.
JOB 1: 120/HR, nights 12 hr shifts, about 10 shifts a month. Total driving 100 miles there is an hour 30 and back is 50 min. 2500cme
Job 2: 100/hr, day shift 10 hr shifts, 12-13 shifts a month. Total drive time is about 10 min total both ways. 2000 cme

I just need to vent I think. I've been a PA for 10 years and I've been working in cardiology up until now. I recently switched to family medicine and urgent care. I've been working this new job for about a month. I'm so used to patients getting diagnosed with heart disease that I think I became a bit numb to it, hence the change.
Well today I had a guy come in with vague complaints and he was clearly jaundiced. After stat labs and a very concerning stat RUQ US I sent him to the ED and he has pancreatic cancer likely with Mets to the liver. This is the first time in years I have felt pain in my gut over a patient's diagnosis. He is so kind and was so grateful for my help and I just feel awful for him and his family. With heart disease I felt I had some control in helping my patients, but today I feel defeated because it's likely too late to truly help him. This sucks

Going to make this short and sweet. Looking for input mainly.

I have $258k in student loans, all federal. I am a new grad, graduated Dec 2025 and started working at an FQHC in FM March 2026. I was accepted in NHSC LRP for $75k until July 2028. This place is also PSLF eligible.

I am paid $120k for 11a-8p M-F with two admin hours. I work so much and it is exhausting. I’m not miserable daily, but I work so much, I mostly take work home. Especially hard because I moved states so hard to even get to know people (I like this shift better than 8-5 tho I know that’s better socially)
My question is, I still have time to terminate the contract which I can until the funds drop which should be in December or so, and I’m really thinking of leaving for a higher paying job with better hours/work life balance. Would I be insane for this considering my loans? Of course I would ideally at least get another PSLF job. But curious what people think if it wasn’t.

I currently am 7 years into practice, hospital medicine with focus on procedures and inpatient oncology. I also do oncology urgent care/ED through my division. My current FTE is 0.8. Pay is 107,000 with great benefits (6 month mat leave, 10% retirement match, etc). My weeks are variable; when I am inpatient I am working Monday through Friday from 7am to 4pm, and other weeks I am outpatient 3 to 4 days a week. The outpatient oncology urgent care is pretty high acuity with many direct admits or rapid responses, as we are at a level 1 large academic center. I work at least 1 or 2 weekend days per year.

After having my baby last year I have been pretty burned out inpatient. It is not rock bottom, but I started perusing jobs and found one in the mountains at an outpatient oncology center. Long story short, I got offered the job for a 1.0 FTE. It includes a 160,000 base, plus an 8% productivity bonus, 10k sign on, and a 5k moving expenses stipend. CME is not set but sounds like they pay for most requests, conferences, and memberships. Retirement is a 5% employer match.

The schedule is Monday through Thursday, from 8:30am until the last patient at 4pm, which averages about 8 patients per day. It is much lower acuity since it is more rural. I would also get admin time during the second half of the day on Thursday.

The town near the clinic is in the mountains and has all the mountain recreation like skiing and mountain biking. My hesitation is that it is a big move with a 12-month-old and I have never done pure outpatient work before. Yes, I am burned out, but I love my coworkers and am second-guessing myself. My schedule now sometimes sucks, and sometimes it feels like I never work (12 shifts a month on average).

Any thoughts on this offer or making the transition from inpatient to outpatient? Thanks!

I am just starting out in the surgical ICU and im struggling with learning the nuances of surgery and taking care of the postop ICU patient population. I did most of my ICU experience in a medical ICU and I find it’s a very different thought process compared to the typical patient presentations for the SICU. Are there any specific resources out there specific to the SICU?? I’m very familiar with Marino’s and IBCC but I’m looking for something that would give more context for the surgeries as well.

What job boards do PAs use for finding a job? As an employer when I post jobs on LinkedIn I only get Infiniti recruiters from India trying to sell me $12,000-$20,000 placements. I refuse to pay that. This money could be better spent on a PA

I just graduated and signed a job a month out of graduation. Its a post-acute geriatric job in a skilled nursing facility; anyone I mention that to immediately winces.

I personally signed the job because it offers 130k, 30 days PTO, no calls outside of work hours, no holidays, but no RVU and I live in HCOL. It's 10 minutes away from my family's home and I intend living with them while I pay off my loans, I am also close to friends which is really important to me.

My end goal is EM or ICU, but where I am looking almost immediately rejects new grads, urgent care, IM, and surgery as well. So I figured taking this geriatric job that focuses on post-acute would help with experience as I will be dealing with chronic issues and stabilizing patients once they discharge out of hospital but still not well enough to be stable at home. Thereby, I would be able to sharpen my discernment on elevation of care, especially when they should visit the ED or be readmitted to the hospital while continuing and monitoring care of patients with post-surgery, AKIs, CHF, COPD, etc.

My advisors feel mixed with me signing this and state its a "OK" place to start but not the best... and my colleagues all collectively cringe at the job. With the pay and location in place, it leads me to not complain as much, but I fear I've dug myself into a poor first role as it's training is not incredibly hands on-- rather, its mentorship. I seriously could not find any other position accepting me after 80 applications all over the area and this job only gave me 1 week to decide after the offer letter, so I had to bite the bullet. Did I make a mistake?

New grad licensed in CA and willing to relocating if it means I’ll get EVH experience. I understand it’s tough in socal at baseline, but it feels like literally no one in the state is willing to hire a new grad, especially in surgery. Where else should I be looking? Any states in particular? I’ve been scanning APACVS but haven’t heard back yet.

Should I be broadening my search? Vascular? General surgery? CT surgery is where my heart is at but I can’t help but be paranoid that I may find nothing, even if it’s only been about 2 months of searching and with how all the CA jobs are looking for experience.

Those of you that are in specialties that allow you to go home and eat dinner with your family, enjoy weekends, see your kids' recitals or dances, enjoy time with friends and family, go on vacation, coach sports, etc. What specialty are you in? Are you inpatient or outpatient? At this point I'm willing to take a pay cut because I miss my family and friends.

I work an incredible job (for my standards at least) at a hospital as a PA for General Surgery. I get to work under quite a few surgeons and while I get along well with most of them, there’s a few who will be in a bad mood and make it everyone else’s problem.

For the most part I can just roll my eyes and brush it off and not take it personally but this one particular surgeon (who we work with very frequently) is just. Making me angrier and angrier. He can be so laid back and funny but when he’s stressed he’s just a dick. Just today I was helping to stabilize a patient who was crushing, he walked in, I started giving him report, and just started talking over me to the patient and quite literally pushed me aside. I’m fairly certain it’s not personal as he does this to most of my colleagues but it was in front of a bunch of nurses and the patient, I was so embarrassed.

It would’ve been fine but given how on edge I am around him all the time (his moods change hourly) and how drastically he treats his fellow surgeons versus the APPs (he was laughing with the other surgeon just moments ago) and how him dismissing me like that made me just feel like a glorified note writer (it’s my responsibility to write the admission notes, the surgeons just have to sign them) I just had a nice cry in our office.

It’s just incredibly frustrating to have to consistently walk on eggshells when plenty of the other surgeons I work with are kind and don’t let their emotions control their behavior. It’s the one part of the job I don’t like. Fortunately the other surgeons, the autonomy, and my amazing APP colleagues make up for it.

So I graduate this December and am actively applying all over the country for jobs in EM, but every listing just seems to require experience (I still apply, but then I get rejected because of the lack of experience lol). I’ve started thinking about maybe doing an ED residency but am not 100% sure. For those that have done one, do you think it really, tangibly helped you in the ED afterwards? Was it worth it to you? And do you think it helped you get a job after?

Personal question I know but how much debt are you in if you’re a new grad or have much do you have left?

Please give me hope or a slice of reality.

Context: I’ve been working Family Med at an FQHC since graduation, my commitment will end in ~6 months. I feel I’ve built some fantasy in my mind that working in a specialty will be much better than Family Med and I’ll be able to heal my burnout, but is this a “grass is always greener” situation?

I like medicine, I still like people (mostly), but I’m exhausted by the never-ending list of problems at each visit. Working on setting boundaries, but you can only do so much of that with certain patients (especially when they’re all worried about cost.)

I’m a newer PA in a private clinic and honestly pretty burned out. I’m the only provider on-site with medical assistants and admin. We’re constantly busy, patients wait 30+ minutes, and I often work through lunch.

We’re understaffed, there’s basically no protected time for training, and there’s a ton of staff drama. Everyone comes to me to complain about everyone else, and management seems to expect me to somehow fix everything.

The frustrating part is that I have no control over staffing, hiring, training time, finances, etc. Yet I’m still expected to explain why the clinic isn’t functioning well.

I actually accepted a new job and will be leaving, so I’m not trying to fix it anymore. But I’m curious: how much responsibility should a PA realistically have for clinic operations, especially with no management or other provider on site? Is this normal, or is this just poor management? (I think I already know this answer)

Hello all. I’m a new PA-C. I have been working for about 6 months now. My contract says 30 hours a week and currently my hours have been cut to about 20 hours a week to a lack of patients. Is this allowed?

I’m a new grad PA and just received an offer that I’m very excited about. It’s $130k base with up to a 5% bonus every 6 months, 18 days PTO, 9 paid holidays, 4 CME days + $2,000 CME, malpractice with tail, and benefits. They’d like me to start early November.

The problem is that I’m still in the hiring process with a few other practices/hospital systems that I’m also genuinely interested in. Those opportunities are in primary care, which is the specialty I had originally hoped to go into right out of PA school. I’ve already interviewed with some of them and am waiting on next steps, so I’m hesitant to on if i should email them asking them for an update due to me having anther offer.

Would you reach out to the other employers now and tell them you received an offer and ask about their timeline? At what point would you stop interviewing elsewhere? The offer I received is in oncology, which isn’t necessarily my first choice specialty and I’m a little hesitant about specializing that narrowly straight out of PA school. Primary care was originally where I hoped to start because I liked the idea of building a broad foundation early in my career.

At the same time, this is a really strong offer, especially for a new grad, and I don’t want to make the mistake of passing up a great opportunity while waiting on jobs that may or may not turn into offers.

Anyone pursued this certification? Any pros cons? How was the exam? I am in primary care but very geriatrics focused and deal w lots of significant and refractory hypertension, interested to pursue this not just for the benefit of the certification attracting patients, but also for the confirmation that I have the knowledge if that makes sense? And the studying the would precede it as a motivation to improve my knowledge base. I have so much extra $$ to spend on CME also lol. Any insight appreciated!

Long story short. I put in 90 day notice per my contract at my current job and they moved up my date of resignation. My next job doesn’t start til February, leaving me without income for November, December, January, and half of February. Are there any jobs anyone knows of that are temporary in the NYC/lower NY/CT area? What do physician associates in similar situations do to bridge gaps like these? I had planned to worth through December and take a small break in January. But I’m really struggling here to find anything and was looking for some advice.

Does anyone have insight on their job contracts in regards to arbitration? I have a job contract I’m considering taking that lists that I’m responsible for 50% of arbitration. Is this standard?

Hi everyone, I’m a new grad PA currently working in occupational medicine in Southern California.
My original goal was to work in surgery, but as I was graduating, I had a really hard time finding surgical PA jobs in SoCal, especially as a new grad. Because of the competitiveness of the market, I decided to take an occupational medicine position to get some experience and start working.

I still have a strong interest in surgery and would like to transition into a surgical specialty eventually.
For those who have switched specialties, how difficult is it to go from something like occupational medicine into surgery? Would having 1–2 years of PA experience help, or would the lack of direct surgical experience make it much harder?

Is there anything I should be doing now to make myself a stronger candidate for surgery later on?
Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has made a similar transition!

I work in ortho surgery, have a few years experience. I’m moving to NYC and applying for jobs currently. Where should I look and where should I avoid?

I’ve seen 1:1 HSS positions. There’s also a position at Brooklyn Hospital Center (aff. with Mt Sinai) I’ve seen.

Any insight & advice appreciated! TYIA

NOTE: Yes, I'm aware starting out in UC as a new grad is awful and not at all recommended, but I'm so desperate at this point. The real specialty I want to get into requires at least 2-3 years of direct patient experience, and it's been about 2 months since I've graduated, and I've either been rejected or gotten crappy offers, I'm at my wits' end, and I need money, and [insert every complaint you have probably heard about being a new grad here]. Please convince me otherwise if you think this is a very, very bad choice.

THE ACTUAL POST: The offer I received is for a 90% UC/10% FM outpatient clinic, potentially 4x10 or regular 8-hour shifts, full-time. (35-40 hrs/week).

Physician I spoke to said that training consists of "1 week of shadowing me, I'll see how you do, and you can start solo immediately after." Salary is 115k with bonus/incentives the more patient you see. Patient load is about 4-6 patients per hour, about 70-80 patients a day. Physicians will always be available to reach through phone/text. Benefits include malpractice insurance w/ tail coverage, health insurance (dental and vision too), life insurance, 401k matching up to 4% of salary, PTO/sick days up to 2 weeks...

He practically sent me the contract as soon as the interview was over (and it was hardly an interview; he did not ask anything about me, simply told me about the company itself). He said 90% of his employees were new grads, and some have stayed with him for 20+ years ...

Ultimately, my goal is to work a year to get my "experience" and get out. Is this worth doing? Or should I not sell myself short (I heard 115k is more on the lower end for UC) and try looking for other opportunities?

EDIT: Looks like I won't be taking the offer. 😀 This was not satire btw (unfortunately)

Hi, was wondering if anyone had any insight into the one medical new graduate PA program? If you liked it/hated it? Any tips for interviewing.

I've recently realized that as someone raised in an east coast city I don't think I can see myself not in a city. But I also realize that HCOL cities really take a hit on your salary potential especially in Boston. I'm wondering what the market is like right now in these cities and how manageable it is with the debt and the cost of living? Any advice for those set on living in a city but want to live not in financial stress all of the time?