In this episode, Paul Stewart shares his personal journey through various careers, including lifeguarding, construction, the Navy, information technology, and ultimately medicine. He discusses the importance of knowing your motivations, the value of mentorship, and the lessons learned along the way. Paul emphasizes that it's never too late to change careers and the significance of education in achieving one's goals.
04:02 The Lee Bridge in Richmond is still named the Robert E. Lee memorial bridge as of 10 January 2025.
04:30 The move to forklift operator did not give me a raise, but the work was definitely less physically taxing.
08:20 In bootcamp I won the Navy Club of the United States award. In apprenticeship training (ATD) I won the Joseph Gregg award. In my first duty station I won Sailor of the Year my first year.
08:37 SIMA stands for Shore Intermediate Maintenance Area, repairs can be done, but it is less capable than a ship yard.
08:33 Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 2 is also called MDSU2 or "Mud Sue"
08:42 The USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN71 a nuclear (reactor powered) aircraft carrier backed down accidentally over Leyte Gulf CG55, a guided missile cruiser on October 14, 1996.
13:41 Mark Dunn was a great mentor. I actually sent him a note the day I graduated PA school thanking him for making me get the undergrad degree.
14:17 Part of this training plan actually included an agreement from the Federal Division's corporate sponsor. This really was important when about 2/3 done, the company decided it would no longer do educational reimbursements. However, with my documented training plan, I was able to get them to fully fund that degree.
I attended the University of Phoenix online and got my bachelor of science in computer information systems. https://www.phoenix.edu/
My MBA was from Western Governors University, also online.
https://www.wgu.edu
My PA training was an onsite Master of Medical Science with Nova Southeastern University at the Jacksonville, Florida campus. https://healthsciences.nova.edu/pa/jacksonville/
14:58 The ropes course is Upward Enterprises https://upwardenterprises.com/
15:34 The company in question is Network Appliance or Netapp, the best IT sales working environment I ever found. https://www.netapp.com/
15:57 See upcoming episode 2014: The Big Change
18:02 Scope of practice refers to what procedures you are capable of performing at a given level of training. On medical missions in Uganda, often your scope of practice is eleveated
18:40 What Amy meant here was I would be in my 60's when I could begin practicing. Medical school itself is 4 years long with a 3-5-year residency after than followed by a fellowship 1 - 2 years long.
19:45 Many rural primary care locations and some other groups do provide reimbursement of federal student loans. This can be attractive as PA school is expensive.
21:43 Credentialing is a in depth and lengthy process and usually takes 6 weeks to complete after all information is supplied. That is if the provider already has a medical license and a DEA license in that particular state. Every time, all information needs to be resubmitted, and it is very time consuming and error prone.
