PAs: Does Your Job Fulfill Your Expectations?
To measure how satisfied you are with your work, we surveyed more than 1,300 clinicians like you. Compare your experiences to those of your colleagues, starting with the key question: Would you do it again?
The majority of your peers gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to PA practice as a profession choice. Knowing what you know now, 86% of you agreed that you would follow the same career path today as when you entered practice, which is up 5% from last year.
Educational preparation came in for a ringing endorsement, increasing since last year’s survey results (a 3% increase), and practice setting remained virtually the same.
,Of PAs in practice between < 1 and 5 years, 94% felt their educational training was adequate; 53% felt their current responsibilities matched their expectations accurately; and 74% said their career expectations were met.
WOULD YOU TAKE A NEW JOB TODAY?
Continuing to probe about your level of satisfaction, we asked how you feel about changing your job. The answer choices were, “I would…”
- Change my job if I could get a better one (ie, better paid)
- Take any other job in which I could earn as much as I do now (ie, Yes, to leave the profession)
- Change both my job and my occupation (ie, I am burned out)
- Not make any changes (ie, No, not for any reason)
We also asked you how many times you’ve changed jobs since graduating from your PA program. The 4 answer choices ranged from “None” to “More than 3 times.” The final question asked which factors influence your decision about seeking/accepting a new position, allowing more than one choice from the list below.
- Salary/compensation
- Options for supplemental income
- Greater independence/more autonomy
- Opportunities for professional growth/development
- Formal career ladder for advancement
- Defined career path
- Recognition and appreciation
- Schedule flexibility
- Geographic location
- Access to and subsidy for more educational opportunities
- Employer reimbursement of school loans
- Specific state scope of practice and licensure law
- Work-life balance, including addressing burnout
- Working conditions
- Avoid toxic coworkers
- Top-of-the-line tools
- Telecommuting
- Cost of living
- Opportunity for outdoor activities/lifestyle
To see what your colleagues said, go to the next page
