One of the biggest draws of the PA career for those pursuing it is the ability to change specialties without additional training. But though regulations allow for this, some experienced PAs find making a desired switch more challenging than they had initially envisioned.
Because to make the leap from cardiology to primary care or surgery to dermatology, you not only have to want to make the change, but you have to find opportunities that might give you a chance to.
Though being a PA gives you the freedom to swap specialties, potential employers need to see you as a strong candidate for that to happen. And it might take some convincing if your practice background differs from your preferred future direction.
However, being a viable candidate — even a competitive one — is possible with any sort of PA experience, no matter how much of a stretch a future role might seem.
But to get there, you must move beyond being a living, breathing, licensed PA, hoping someone will see your potential and, instead, clearly show how your past work has prepared you for the role you're pursuing.
The first step to successfully landing a PA role in a new specialty is to find the parallels between an open position and previous or current ones.
Let's say you're currently working as an outpatient cardiology PA and looking to transition into an inpatient hospitalist role. When assessing similarities, consider what aspects of outpatient cardiology work would be valuable and familiar in the hospital setting.
These might include:
working on a multidisciplinary team with RNs, MAs, other APPs, and doctors
coordinating patient care with primary care and other specialty providers
ordering and interpreting EKGs, echocardiograms, stress tests
While you certainly would have other duties as a cardiology PA, these select responsibilities are super relevant to inpatient hospital work.
Next, consider what's missing in your professional background that would be an asset to this role. What experience do you lack that might give a potential employer pause?
Using our example and assuming it's the only PA role you've had, you'd be missing:
inpatient experience
general medicine experience
background in managing higher-acuity patients that require hospital-level care
Whatever you might be missing is totally fine. The important part is determining where the holes might be.
Because by recognizing what you might lack as a candidate, you'll identify areas where you can bridge gaps to help an employer see you're worth serious consideration.
Using our example, think about what aspects of the current cardiology role lie at the periphery of inpatient care and general medicine.
As an outpatient cardiology PA, you might:
coordinate planned admissions for patient procedures
perform pre-op clearance exams
follow patients post-discharge from the hospital and coordinate care in the transition home
provide ED provider-to-provider pass-off for patients referred for acute symptoms or conditions
Though these responsibilities don't include direct inpatient or general medicine care, they require knowledge and skills that are valuable to someone looking to transition into those spaces. And they can act to bridge the gap between your current work and the position you're seeking.
A resume or CV should include a factual, accurate account of your relevant work experience as a PA. But if your goal is to move into a new medical discipline, you need to do more than provide a basic job description when outlining the responsibilities of any current and past roles.
So once you have your list of similarities and possible bridges, you can begin preparing a resume tailored to your target specialty and position.
As part of a position listing, aim to describe a few key responsibilities. Then, save plenty of space for duties that can strategically connect current work to a future role.
Using our cardiology-to-hospital-medicine model, this kind of resume entry might look something like this:
City Cardiology Associates, 2/2022 - present
Physician Assistant
Assess and manage new and follow-up patients for conditions including CHF, CAD, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, post-MI, and post-stroke
Provide care to recently discharged patients in transitions clinic to reduce risk of re-hospitalization and coordinate outpatient care
Coordinate provider-to-provider pass-off for patients with acute symptoms and conditions referred to the ED for acute management
Perform pre-op clearance evaluations and coordinate planned admissions for procedures
Order and interpret appropriate diagnostic testing, including EKGs, echocardiograms, stress tests
Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of RNs, MAs, APPs, and physicians to deliver patient-centered care
This description might only capture some of your primary responsibilities or give weight space to things you do less frequently than others. But focusing on those most related to your desired role will help any resume reviewers more easily see you as a viable prospect.
When you craft a resume that feels relevant to an employer, you're showing them that you understand what they need from a provider, even one without experience in a specialty.
If you've had more than one PA role, formulate target descriptions for each past and present position. Be selective with what you choose to include and prioritize those most applicable.
Then modify as needed when applying for a new position.
What you choose to highlight can (and, usually, should) be adjusted to the role you're seeking. No two jobs are the same. So strive to align elements of your past experience with the position you're applying for.
Finally, after examing your experience and bridging gaps where you can, you can use your cover letter to align yourself and your work even more closely with a job opening.
In the body of your cover letter, you can draw attention to a highlight or two included in your resume for extra emphasis.
As a cardiology PA, I routinely collaborate with ED and inpatient providers to deliver the most appropriate level of care to our shared patients. I also work to reduce the risk of patient readmission through our post-discharge transitions clinic.
Additionally, you can further demonstrate that you understand the scope of a new position by mentioning probable aspects of the role.
I am interested in joining your team for the opportunity to care for higher-acuity patients, expand my practice scope, and share my cardiology knowledge and experience in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
See what we did there?
By framing the parts of the job that you haven't done before as aspects you're excited about, a reviewer can clearly comprehend: 1) why you're drawn to the position and 2) that you understand what that new position requires, even as an outsider.
Additionally, by integrating those aspirational parts with skills and experience youalreadyhave, the new stuff doesn't feel like a reach, just a natural progression along a path you've already been forging.
If you're serious about changing practice environments or specialties, you can accelerate the process, gather more interest, and retain more negotiating power when you take a strategic approach.
Regardless of your prior PA experience, points of connection and transferrable skills always exist and can be leveraged when marketing yourself for a new role.
When you tap into these points, you'll bridge any perceived gaps that might exist and help employers see your true potential and worth as a candidate — even as one who's new to that particular specialty.
