The PA Is In | Tracy Bingaman

How do I find work-life balance as a primary care PA? How can I get out of my 2-year contract before the time is up? How do I get a job in Dermatology without experience? 

How can I break into the Aesthetics Industry as a PA? How can I compare two offers and choose which is best for my career? How can I leverage a competing offer to earn more money?

Answering recent and common questions about all things PA life, work-life balance, boundaries, charting efficiency, and how to land the job of your dreams.

This ONE skill will help you to earn more money, work less hours, and have more compliant patients?! It sounds too good to be true, right? But I’ve seen (and used) this skill for myself.

Negotiation is NOT something that we learn in clinical or didactic learning in PA school. In fact, it’s often skipped over completely in our PA education!

Basically, the skills you need to be able to increase your paycheck are the same skills that your patients are waiting for you to learn in order to get them to take their meds and go see that specialist. 

On The PA Is In today we are learning how and when to use negotiation as a part of your career, how to use negotiating to make strategic moves so that you can spend your energy making those moves. 

It is seriously a crucial skill to add to your toolbox and I cannot wait to share it with you. 

Feeling trapped in a negative mindset? Trying to overcome a mistake you’ve made in the past as a provider? 

For your life and your career, finding tools to help you shake out of that negative mindset spiral and see things objectively promises to increase resilience, flexibility and the opportunity to grow out of hard situations. Plus, you start to fill your toolbox with tools you can use again and again during your career in healthcare. 

In today’s episode, I’m sharing the realities of dealing with your humanity and making mistakes as a PA. Building resilience is necessary to survive and learn to thrive in healthcare. 

Someday someone is going to ask you to prove your value as a clinician. Knowing your objective value as a healthcare provider will help you to negotiate, pitch a new workflow, increase the care your patients are receiving and help your administrators to understand just what you do. 

Tracking your numbers is information that is incredibly valuable. Knowing your revenue helps you to strategically apply yourself and take the opportunity to share that value with others.

When I burned out “rest” simply wasn’t a part of my vocabulary. As a busy clinician, an inpatient provider, working in a high acuity specialty, I wasn’t resting at all.

Sometimes we teach the things we need to learn the most. Rest is one of those things. Press play to learn everything I needed to know about rest in the depths of my burnout. 

You’ve probably heard by now that you NEED to know your value as a provider, right? If you ask me, it should be right at the top of your priority list as a clinician. 

Have you ever wondered why the administrators and practice managers care so much about those end-of-the month RVU spreadsheets? What’s the big deal with the data? 

How could truly having a handle on your numbers, your revenue, and your productivity and value as a provider change your understanding of your objective value? 

Recently I was speaking to PA students when one of them asked if shift work or office hours would be better for a first job. She wanted to know which was most likely to cause burnout and which schedule would work well. 

Like many PAs, this decision is one that I’ve grappled with at different turning points in my career practicing clinical medicine. It sparked a great conversation as a part of that lecture for the students, their PA program director, and myself. 

We’re going to chat about the pros and cons of each - shift work or clinic with office hours - and review how to determine which is best for you during this season of life. 

Click play to decide on your next position, best move, and ideal schedule for you! 

Are you a Physician Assistant (PA) or Physician Associate seeking to enhance your professional journey and overcome challenges like burnout, career transitions, or job changes? Look no further! In this enlightening episode, we delve into the transformative power of life and career coaching tailored specifically for PAs.

Join us as we explore how life coaching and career coaching can revitalize your personal and professional development, helping you thrive in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape. Effective coaching can boost communication skills, cultivate resilience, and empower you to achieve your fullest potential as a PA.

Whether you're a seasoned veteran in your field or a freshly minted graduate, this episode is packed with invaluable advice for all PAs seeking to take charge of their futures. Don't miss this opportunity to gain the guidance and support you need to navigate the complexities of your career with confidence and purpose.

You’ve graduated from PA school & passed your PANCE, what’s next? How do you determine the best specialty for you as a new PA-C? 

Are there jobs that can help you to achieve work-life balance? How do you find a job that will work for your lifestyle?

I’m sharing my top ten tips for new graduate PAs. It’s the advice I wish I’d been given as a new graduate joining the ranks of healthcare workers. 

I figured out what we are missing in healthcare. Culturally we’ve gotten it wrong in recent years. 

The missing ingredient: humanity. We’ve forgotten that it’s supposed to be people taking care of people. We have lost touch with compassion, kindness and vulnerability. 

Here are three ways to restore humanity to healthcare.

How do I set boundaries with work? I believe that boundary setting should be a clinical skill. We need to be able to set boundaries to have sustainable careers in healthcare. Why don’t we learn how to set a heathy boundary in PA school? 

Boundaries are necessary for living a life that feels good, aligns with our values, and setting boundaries is crucial for finding a way to thrive while practicing medicine clinically. 

Boundaries are limits, policies, and guidelines of how we run our lives. They dictate what we say yes to and where we reply with no. Boundaries are so important for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being.

Press play to learn the anatomy of a healthy boundary and the key to learning how to have a long-lasting career in medicine. 

There are many ways, including but not limited to, clinical leadership as a Physician Assistant (PA), to create a fulfilling and sustainable career in healthcare. The idea of a leadership ladder, that is linear, one step at a time, is not the only path to success in medicine. 

Today we are going to redefine that corporate ladder as the jungle gym that it is. No longer are careers in healthcare something where you start at the “bottom” and work your way up into leadership clinically and then eventually into administration. There is a way to create a career that compensates you generously where you are working clinically. Press play to find out how. 

In this episode, we shine a light on the five essential questions that every Unicorn PA – Physician Assistant (PA) should ask themselves and their PA colleagues. By reflecting on these thought-provoking questions, you'll gain invaluable insights to deepen your connection with yourself and those around you, ultimately enhancing the human experience within healthcare.

We dive into the significance of reconnecting with our inner knowing, rediscovering our purpose, and understanding the transformative influence of authentic connections. By engaging with these questions, you'll embark on a journey of self-discovery and self-awareness, leading to personal growth and professional fulfillment.

Thea Nolan is an Interventional Radiology PA who used her voice to instigate an FDA medical device recall when she identified faulty ports. Despite initially feeling like she wasn’t being heard and no one else at her facility seemingly concerned about the faulty devices, Thea persisted in listening to her inner voice. 

Have you ever been afraid to speak up, whether you’re worried about retaliation from your institution or being ostracized by your colleagues? Listen to today’s episode for the encouragement to know that your voice matters. Your voice can create positive change. Don’t be afraid to use it. 

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What my recent class on flexibility and stretching taught me about assessing and integrating new evidence-based strategies into my clinical practice of medicine and the way that I live my life...

COACHING

How do I get it all done? It never seems like there are enough hours in the day, or, more-specifically, time outside of work. 

Here’s how to create more space between the hospital and clinic ad your home life. Work-life balance is hard to nail down, but more margin in your life is a great step in the right direction.

If you’re feeling like you’re constantly rushing from one thing to another, from home to work with a drive by at school or daycare, rushing to practice, dinner, bath, bedtime and collapsing on the couch to watch Netflix or worse, crack open your laptop to finish your charts, this episode is for you.

Becoming a PA is an all-consuming quest. But it can cause us to wrap up our identity in our career and forget about who we are as human beings. How do you define yourself? Do you have an identity outside of your job?

Press play on this episode to hear from my dear friend, Brie Marks, on how it can be easy to lose yourself in your career. And when life happens and jobs change, how do you define yourself? Brie discusses how she has navigated her decade-long PA career, including bouncing back after she left what she thought would be her dream job. 

As PAs, we have been called to medicine and caring for patients. But our worth is not solely defined by our careers. We are whole people outside of medicine that deserve fulfillment.

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We delve into the world of Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences, specifically tailored to benefit Physician Associates. Whether you're a seasoned attendee or new to the CME scene, this episode will equip you with valuable strategies to extract the most education and networking opportunities from these conferences. Join us as we uncover the secrets to unlocking the ultimate potential at CME events for Physician Associates.

Join us for this illuminating episode as we unravel the secrets to get the most out of Continuing Medical Education (CME) conferences, empowering Physician Assistants to thrive in their careers. Tune in now to supercharge your CME conference experiences and take your professional development to new heights!

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Alex Cristofori shares his Unicorn PA job on today’s episode. He is a hematology PA caring for sickle cell patients at Johns Hopkins. Alex shares how his patients’ resilience, optimism and energy are contagious and inspire him to be a better PA. 

Tune in to hear how employers can create better onboarding processes for new employees, especially new grads, so that they can learn and grow quickly with the right amount of support. It is possible to provide autonomy as well as guidance. 

This Unicorn job includes supportive attendings, encouraging colleagues, appropriate compensation, and opportunities for PA-lead research. Be inspired to create your own Unicorn position!

Working in medicine and as a healthcare worker is but a small part of your life. The stress and complexities associated with this fast paced environment can lead to burnout and compassion fatigue. 

Learn where you fall on the stress continuum. Are you simply surviving, in crisis and in need of drastic changes? Are you thriving while working in medicine?

Press play to find out! 

Is bedtime a struggle in your house? Do your children resist going to sleep or always end up in your bed at some point in the night? Do you struggle as a parent not having restorative, unbroken sleep each night? Have you wished there was a way to create positive, peaceful routines around bedtime and sleep in your home?

Aurielle Martin is a Family Medicine PA and sleep consultant. She helps parents feel empowered to get their children through sleep struggles and give them the gift of independent sleep. She explains how there is no one right way to create healthy sleep habits, but there are many options that can fit each individual family and child.

Listen to today’s episode for tips on how to create a positive bedtime routine and instill healthy sleep habits in our children. It IS possible for your family to be well-rested and recharged each day. 

I just thought that it was unlimited refills for storage in your gmail inbox. Unfortunately this is not the case. In fact, there is a distinct limit on the amount of storage that Google gives you *for free* in your inbox. 

Here’s what I learned from Google telling me that I’d reached my limit storage wise. They set a boundary. I ignored it. Here’s how it went… 

COACHING

No one is perfect and I believe that PAs graduate with a huge hole in their knowledge base: negotiating. We don’t learn enough about the strategies, tactics and business of medicine because we are too busy learning the actual clinical medicine.

I’m sharing 10 of the top mistakes that I’ve made when negotiating for my PA salary and compensation package in the past. Yep, the expert makes mistakes, too. Press play to hear some of the things that have slipped me up in negotiations and job transitions in the past. 

As a PA in surgical subspecialties as well as a multi-sport athlete, Katie Aurand shares how she pursues her many passions. Katie is a trauma, acute care surgery, and surgical critical care PA. She’s also a Kona qualifier in the Ironman distance and a Boston Marathon qualifier. From coaching other athletes to raising her toddler, Katie is always on the go.

In this episode, Katie shares how she deals with burnout and stress. We also discuss the systemic changes needed in medicine and how PAs can be involved in creating a more supportive healthcare system. 

Press play for encouragement on setting crazy high goals and learning how to support our loved ones, coworkers and patients on their own journeys to reach their goals. 

Have you ever looked around and realized that you are waiting for everyone else to discover that you’ve been faking it this whole time? That your clinical confidence and competence were all a fluke and that you don’t truly belong in this job, profession, or specialty. 

Imposter syndrome, specifically clinical imposter syndrome, is alive and well in healthcare today. Press play for a vulnerable look at Tracy’s personal and professional journey with imposter syndrome and tactics to use to conquer your own imposter syndrome. 

Over 39 years as a Cardiothoracic surgery PA has given Stephanie Strazinsky a unique perspective. She has seen changes in the PA profession in clinical practice for nearly 4 decades! 

Graduating in 1982, she took a job in general surgery and quickly transitioned into Cardiothoracic surgery where she stayed the remainder of her career. Not only was she the first PA in the Operating Room at her hospital, she had to navigate limitations and resistance from nurses and residents. 

Nevertheless she persisted. She’s on the show today sharing all about how to trust your intuition, take chances and make intentional changes as a part of your career. 

The physician associate profession is on the cusp of a revolution. As a profession we are ready as PAs to grow up, regulate ourselves, and spread our wings to fulfill our full clinical potential.

These changes need advocacy and action at both a state and federal level. It’s time to put our money and ourselves where our mouths are and take action by advocating for legal change as a profession. 

I’m debriefing on my recent trip to the state capitol advocating on behalf of PAs in the state of Pennsylvania. 

Did you know that children can start to deposit cholesterol in your coronary arteries as young as age 3? Young children learning to love movement and understand the importance of heart health is crucial to growing up healthy and avoiding heart disease down the road. 

How can we promote healthy habits and how to tune into body cues in our children? Focus on how healthy choices make kids *feel* instead of focusing on how these habits make our bodies *look*. 

Passionate about pediatrics as a Pedis PA and working with kids, Kaitlin Pond PA-C didn’t want that passion for heart health and active lifestyle to be confined to the exam room. So, she decided to write a children’s book: The Art of Being a Heart - all about heart health explained in a way that kids can understand.

How do you create your dream job as a physician associate? These unicorn positions are created intentionally, carved out at the intersection of what the employer and practice needs and what you are passionate about and skilled in. 

Identifying your sweet spot: what you love, enjoy, and a position with a schedule and compensation package for you. Knowing your sweet spot and what the dream job will entail can help you to carve it out and discover a position adjacent to your current job that might just be your unicorn job. 

COACHING

When it comes to kids and cancer, those two things combine to create a pretty grim picture. But what happens to patients and families after cancer treatment when kids have gone through treatment and survived? 

From leukemia being the most common pediatric cancer to the necessary follow up and the psychosocial implications for patients and families, navigating life after a pediatric cancer diagnosis is a complicated process. 

Katie Reid is a PA-C who specializes in pediatric cancer survivorship and she’s sharing about this dream job and how surprisingly joyful her position is treating these children who have survived from and triumphed over cancer. 

EMAIL KATIE katiereid26@gmail.com

SPONSORS

The three step process to identify your healthcare burnout, diagnose the cause of burnout & create systems and boundaries to avoid burnout in the future. There is deep work involved in identifying your specific source of compassion fatigue and burnout, but the process is simple. Press play to discover the antidote for healthcare burnout and how to avoid becoming burned out again. 

Trigger warning: this episode contains discussions of a NICU stay, traumatic birth, postpartum depression and psychosis

Join PA educator & momma Breanne Blake, PA-C as she shares her journey with postpartum depression after her traumatic birth. New motherhood is incredibly challenging & caring for new moms presents specific challenges. 

Press play for a new perspective and a better understanding of how to make it through, identify postpartum depression and anxiety in your patients, and support new moms in your community. 

RESOURCES: Postpartum Support International Perinatal Consult Line: 1-877-499-4773 (no cost, for healthcare providers only) Postpartum Support International Helpline 1-800-944-4473 (toll-free, patients and/or family members) Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 988

You are not going to believe what my 4-year-old daughter told her friends that I do for work! Yep, the same daughter who called me STUPID for working too much is now telling her friends that I'm a... well, just press play to find out!

Hope and healthcare don’t typically belong in the same sentence. Press play to hear my hope for each and every healthcare hero who worked through the pandemic, put patients and the system first, and is wondering what’s next. 

If you’ve ever felt burned out, marginalized and disenfranchised by the system that is healthcare, press play. 

If you’re searching for resources to rediscover your passion and rekindle your fire for working healthcare, in this episode I’ve rounded up all the free resources that we’ve created just for you. 

COACHING

Do you ever feel like you want to be a team player, but also don’t want to get stuck doing “other people’s jobs”? This feeling is normal, but how does it manifest in how you are showing up at work? Is it productive or preventing you from making progress? It’s not uncommon to look left and right and, seeing work to be done, think “well, that’s not my job.” My friend, it’s time to change this. 

Ashlee McNiff, PA-C, entrepreneur, visionary and surgery PA extraordinaire shares how we should never say “that’s not my job.” After leaning into her role as a surgery PA Ashlee decided to strike out on her own in an LLC assisting in general and plastic surgery cases. 

How do you become a lynchpin at work? Can you be vital and still sustain healthy boundaries as a PA? If you’re struggling to sustain boundaries and become a key player at work, tune in to this episode NOW!

How do you know when it’s time to tough it out or to quit your job? Do you trust your logic or intuition to help you make career-changing decisions? 

Press play to unpack how to use logic, a step-wise process to evaluate the pros and cons of quitting vs. staying in your job or tune in to that whisper of intuition when you are considering making a job change. 

Sharon Girard is much more than a PA. She’s an advocate, a politician, and an inspiration to working moms. Throughout her career, spanning 4 decades and specialties from emergency medicine, urgent care, women’s health, family medicine, occupational medicine and even a stint working internationally as a PA in England, she has pursued her passion at every turn.

Full of great advice, tips on navigating career changes, taking chances and pursuing what matters most, you are not going to want to miss this episode. Leave mom guilt and second guessing your next job change in the dust.