I am 45 and have been a State Trooper for 20 years. I have 5 years to go and plan on retiring when elligible. I don’t feel challenged by this career and feel like I could have done more. I am considering PA school but also Med school. Frankly the amount of time in residency is a factor. I will have to finish my Bachelors. Will probably take pre med here at Oregon as it is only about a mile from my house. Have others started this late. I will not be ready for grad until I retire at age 50. My concern there is having to go out of state for Med or PA school. I also have information that if you join the Army Medical Corp they will pay for your post bac training. I have an appointment with an advisor in the Health department At UO next week.
Hey, Blaine. Congrats on the pending retirement! And on getting to continue into medicine. There are some who have gotten into medicine that late into life. I’m not entirely sure of specific ages, but check out Linda’s diary in the diary section of OPM.
With respect to the Army Medical Corp, check out age requirements they have. Again, don’t know specifics but there may be limits (although the may have some variances available as well.)
Thanks for your civil service work! Good luck.
Well, I am doing it, Blaine. Started post-bacc at 51. I also think you might be past the age limit for Army Medical - that’s the info that I got. Trying to get NHSC scholarship, but no luck this year.
Kate
Thanks so much for your reply. I recently learned that the two PA schools here in Oregon require prior experience in the medical field. Pacific(1,000 hrs.) and Oregon Health Sciences University(2,000 hrs). Which means that it is Med School or nothing.
The last info I had from a recruiter within the Medical Corps was that there was not an age limit. But I am double and triple checking that.
Thanks again
Congrats. Well done. It is a scary move isn’t it. My wife is supportive. Surprising because for the last few years it has been understood that when I retire I will find another career and she could retire. This would mean she would have to work 4 years longer.
I think with the Army you need to keep asking up the chain because they all like to think they know the answer but they may not. A coworker direct commissioned into the medical corps and she had a physician who was 60 years of age in her class with no prior experience they brought in as a Lt. Colonel.
- Blaine45 Said:
The last info I had from a recruiter within the Medical Corps was that there was not an age limit. But I am double and triple checking that.
Thanks again
Part of my philosophy on this site is help students understand their options and often help them remove self-limiting attitudes.
Blaine, were you certified as a EMT while working as a state trooper for 20 years? how much experience do you have as first responder and patient care at car accidents, crime scenes, other situations that come up daily in your life as a state trooper. Have you dealt with injured victims at length in the field, interviewing them while in the ER? I would venture to guess that you have can make the case in an application to PA school that you sufficient clinical experience. You also have 5 years until retirement to bolster that with volunteer work in a clinical setting. Lastly. 2000 hours is a year of full time work. Even if you had to work for a year or two as a hospital attendant after retirement it would still likely less time to do that and complete PA school then to do medical school.
My point here is NOT to convince you that PA is better over MD/DO. It is however to show you that I think you shouldn't decide to close the door on PA option without even bothering to knock.
That’s good advice. I have a friend that is an anesthesiologist who said much the same thing. He stated that with my age and experience as a state trooper that I wouldn’t have a problem with the experience requirement. For the last ten years I have been on our fatal crash team so I have quite a bit of experience with ER’s. I also worked in eastern oregon where most of the EMS services are volunteer and rarely beat you to the medical call.
Thanks for your reply.
- Blaine45 Said:
Thanks for your reply.
Your welcome. a few follow up points
1) I hope you will keep on the site and lets us know your progress, particularly if you are taking prep courses while working atypical and rotating hours
2) I recall reading sometime ago about that one of the largest group of "career changers" who enter nursing are retiring law enforcement officers.
3) And don't let FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about your clinical experience creep back into your decision making process. You have plenty.
BTW, one of my favorite backpack trips was attempting to go from The Three Sisters near Bend, OR, to Mount Hood. Unfortunately we got snowed out at 7,000 feet in August and abandoned the trek by McKenzie Pass. It was like Christmas in August amongst the tall tree
I will absolutely keep the group posted. I have a meeting with the pre health advisor at UO next week. I am going on a job shadow. And will let the group know what I find out about the Army Med Corps age requirements.
The Cascades are a remarkable mountain range. The Mckenzie Pass (Santiam Pass to us locals) is actually in my patrol area.
The army told me today you have to finish your service requirement before age 60. If you have time enough to complete your school and do that, you can qualify.
Kate
This is from a post earlier today, but gonnif asked that I post it to this thread-
I always try to approach things from a multi directional approach. I feel that while too many choices can be an obstacle, multiple options can be a boon. My goal as a doctor would be preventative medicine and primary care, possibly stemming from cardiology or endocrinology, as some of you know, my main issue being helping obese patients. Lately though, I’ve also considered becoming a PA.
The work appears patient centered with a bent toward preventative medicine, there seems to be a good amount of autonomy, all in all it includes most of the work (at least as far as I can see) that excites me about medicine. And the pay (at least the median pay in Chicago) is none too shabby. And two years of school is nice too. Considering that at my mere age of 32, given the pre-reqs I need to study, med school, residency and fellowship if I want to specialize, as a board certified specialist I would have about 6-8 years to practice before qualifying for my AARP card.
Not that this should be a deterrent, but it is a fact I need to consider along with the rest of my life factors. None of these considerations directly affect my immediate decisions. I still need to get the same pre-reqs more or less (I have a theatre degree, so not a whole lot of science bona-fides in my repertoire at the moment). But now I have decided that I will look into shadowing a PA as well as an MD.
All in all, MD/DO excites me, but PA does as well and with the same intensity. I was wondering if anyone else has considered or has been or IS a PA, and if they have any anecdotal experience they could share. Or as a Doctor or Nurse if you have worked with PAs and what you have observed.
[quote=Blaine45And will let the group know what I find out about the Army Med Corps age requirements…
Some folks from USUHS told me that for the medical core, the age limit had or would be extended. I never bothered to confirm this but my source (an Army Vet) seemed pretty credible.
[quote=Blaine45And will let the group know what I find out about the Army Med Corps age requirements…
Some folks from USUHS told me that for the medical core, the age limit had or would be extended. I never bothered to confirm this but my source (an Army Vet Doc) seemed pretty credible.
Someone in my class who is over 40 got the Navy to waive the age limit and accepted him into the Naval Scholarship program (or whatever the official name is)
He was a former Marine and kept in good shape. I am sure they will look very favorably on your service as a police officer.
The only catch I have heard is that you can’t be as picky about your residency. I have heard that you can get anything you want, but it goes on a seniority type of system. So if you want something very competitive (Ortho was used as an example), you have to ‘wait’ a while to get it. I was given the impression that the wait meant training in, or even completing other residencies first.
Good luck! Thank you for serving this country! And go for it!
- Yerivf Said:
Yerivf,
The "wait" actually means doing a GMO tour, not completing a different residency other than the one you wanted. GMO = General Military Officer. GMO's are unique to the military - they have a doctoral-level medical degree (MD/DO) and complete a post-graduate intern year (PGY-1), culminating in passing both parts of step 3 USMLE/COMLEX. They are then given a field assignment, acting as a de facto physician's assistant (PA) even though they are actually doctors. During the GMO tour, one can reapply for residency training resuming with PGY-2 upon completion of their GMO tour. You do get "extra credit" points in the military match for doing a GMO tour.
When you apply for residency training during medical school, you apply for both military & civilian programs and if you don't match through the military (December preceding graduation), then you still have 2-3 months to match in a civilian (deferred) program (February/March preceding graduation). This assumes that you are competing for training in a specialty that the military needs. If you don't match to either (or if the military doesn't allow you to defer), you can reapply for residency during your intern year and/or subsequent GMO tour. Supposedly, the Army has the best military match rate, while the Air Force has the best civilian match rate. The Navy, therefore, has the most # of GMO's of the 3 services.
AH ha! Thank you for clarifying… as I said, I only got the low down second hand, so it’s good to know what the real deal is!
Thanks again!