After roughly 7-years of the fast-track in being an Emergency PA @ a Level I Trauma Center had finally gotten to me. This period in my career was preceded by starting out as a CVT Surgical PA x 2 years followed by 6.5 years of General Surgery. It was as if I had run into a concrete wall at full speed & force. The fun of it all when out the door in a hurry. The work-related pressures and/or responsibilities along with the political games had transformed me into a “clinical zombie” of sorts.
More importantly, I took my own health for granted. But in the flip side there was a silver lining, one that I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams. So I sought to remedy my burnt out feeling as fast as I could. Luckily, I was given the opportunity to become a presenter/lecturer to 2 local PA programs. Also and coincidentally I serendipitously became a medico-legal consultant an expert reviewer. This came about from the many depositions I was involved during my years as a practicing EMPA. Who would have thought this personally perceived career nuisance would lead a to a new “niche” and a new skill set. One to this day has served me well in saving my career and indirectly providing longevity as well.
As I reconnected with medicine during that period giving me a new career outlook, these impromptu new career-related opportunities led me to recharge my personal and survive that low period. In other words, to basically reconnect and get a “second wind” sort-of-speak. Looking back on these career-related experiences, now I can see how much it help me to remain afloat but to remain grounded and loyal to my early calling. From that point on, I moved and forged ahead into my niche-- a consulting expert.
Looking back, for a moment I almost became a career changer. After all is very natural to toy with the idea when things have stalled or not going as planned. My plan was to have worked for less than 3 employers through my career. You know, like some of our colleagues [PAs] that have been very fortunate in being employed with only 1 employer throughout their careers. As one of my classmates fortunately did.
I discovered that life and/or career my not always be a bed of roses, but among these twists and turns that we find ourselves thrown into, there's always hope and growth. And yes, even in some extreme cases of career spoilers, you can still have fun and move beyond the burnout point, but only if you recognize such feelings as negative attitudes that will delay or stunt your career growth and hinder your unconscious resolve to improve your immediate circumstances. Remain receptive to “second acts”…they can spur you to better and bigger things—trust me; I know a thing or two about this.
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