So You Think Job Security Exists? A Locums PA Says, "Hold My Severance." | Fedna Morency, PA-C - Shadow Me Next!

Episode Transcript
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Ashley (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast where
I take you into and behind thescenes of the medical world to
provide you with a deeperunderstanding of the human side
of medicine.
I'm Ashley, a physicianassistant, medical editor,
clinical preceptor, and thecreator of Shadow Me Next.
It is my pleasure to introduceyou to incredible members of the

(00:22):
healthcare field and uncovertheir unique stories, the joys
and challenges they face, andwhat drives them in their
careers.
It's access you want andstories you need.
Whether you're a pre-healthstudent or simply curious about
the healthcare field, I inviteyou to join me as we take a
conversational and personal lookinto the lives and minds of

(00:43):
leaders in medicine.
I don't want you to miss asingle one of these
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So make sure that you subscribeto this podcast, which will
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And follow us on Instagram andFacebook at Shadow Me Next,
where we will review highlightsfrom this conversation and where
I'll give you sneak previews ofour upcoming guests.

(01:03):
Some career paths are mappedout step by step, but not Fedna
Morensi's.
She started out in accountingand dreaming of dance, only to
find herself drawn to athletictraining, where long hours on
the sidelines gave her a frontrow seat to medicine and action.
That exposure opened the doorto the PA profession, and she's

(01:24):
never looked back.
Fedna takes us through herjourney from sports medicine to
orthopedic surgery andeventually into a career many
people don't know about.
Locum's travel work.
She shares what it means tosupport communities with limited
access to care, why financialliteracy is essential for
clinicians, and how she turnedcareer uncertainty into a

(01:48):
thriving business that gave herboth freedom and purpose.
Along the way, she reflects onlessons learned from contracts
that didn't pan out, theimportance of being your own
advocate, and how to design alife outside of medicine while
still doing the work you love.
Please keep in mind that thecontent of this podcast is
intended for informational andentertainment purposes only and

(02:11):
should not be considered asprofessional medical advice.
The views and opinionsexpressed in this podcast are
those of the host and guests anddo not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position ofany other agency, organization,
employer, or company.
This is Shadow Me Next withFedna Morensi.
Fedna, thank you so much fortaking the time to join us on

(02:33):
Shadow Me Next.
I am so excited to talk to youabout something in medicine that
not a lot of people are veryfamiliar with.

Fedna (02:41):
Yes, yes.
Until COVID happened.

Ashley (02:45):
So true.
So true.
COVID came with its very fairshare of challenges, but I think
um I think locum's work is oneof those things.
That and uh picking upgroceries from your car.
Those are two of the silverlinings of COVID for me for
sure.
Yeah.
So, Fennett, tell me a littlebit about your background.
Um, what what drew you tomedicine in the first place?

(03:06):
And did you always know thatyou wanted to be a PA?

Fedna (03:09):
Yeah, great question.
Um so I grew up in FortLauderdale, Florida, and I
always played sports.
I played sports when I was inhigh school.
I wanted to play basketball incollege, which I did try out for
a D1, my sophomore year, butthey only had one spot.
So I wasn't, you know, I wasn'ttoo thrilled about not getting

(03:32):
a scholarship or whatever.
So that was that.
Um, but uh my first injuryhappened when I was playing
basketball in high school.
I got introduced to theathletic trainer.
And when I went to school atUSF in Tampa, I decided to major
in accountant and dancingbecause I like numbers and I
like to dance.
So I remember I was taking likea um body and voice improv

(03:55):
class, and we had to like actand do dances.
It was the best class ever.
And then um, and there wasanother intro to dance class I
was taking, and I met a girl whowas majoring in sports
medicine, and while I was doingmy dancing class, I couldn't see

(04:17):
a future where I would be ableto provide for myself, myself,
and help my family.
And I'm like, you know, I thinkI gotta like not do that one
thing I'm crazy about or I thinkI'm crazy about, and do
something else that I like, Ienjoy, and that makes sense.
Also, I tried out for likethese dance teams on campus, and

(04:38):
I wasn't making the dance team,so I don't know if dancing was
in my future.
I'm like, yeah, this is notworking out.
So I'm kind of glad I like ShivGear.
So um I got introduced tosports medicine and I pursued
it.
I did athletic training.
Extremely, extremely hard,which I will say really got me
prepared for PA school becausethey kind of had the similar

(04:59):
standards of like they onlyaccept so many people every
year.
You had a standard of likemaintaining a certain GPA, you
took quizzes, you took tests,you you had all the applied
sciences, you took care of realathletes, you traveled with
them.
Like you had like a group ofpeople you had to take uh care
of.
When I did football, the widereceivers were my guys.

(05:22):
I had to take care of them andfollow them around.
When I did volleyball, youknow, I took care of the girls,
I traveled with them.
As a student, it was so muchfun.
I loved it because I'm a veryactive person.
And my last semester of sportsmedicine athletic training,
that's when I was introduced tothe paid profession.
When Larry Collins, who's wellknown in Florida, um, a popular

(05:44):
PA in Florida, he taught aportrait of the course last
semester, crazy.
And I'm like, oh, what is this?
This is cool.
So I took like a year off afterI graduated, I did my sports
med thing, athletic trainingthing, and I continued to look
into the PA profession umbecause prior to that I was on a

(06:07):
DPT route.
But the PTs I work with as anathletic trainer, they were um
they were advising me to lookinto something else, which I
did.
So one of my mentors, heactually he was a PT, he was a
DPT.
He would mentor me and heactually ended up going back to

(06:32):
school and became an orthopediconcologist.
And he was my mentor.
Oh my gosh.
I know crazy.
It's just so crazy.
Everybody I was under kind ofit made sense, it all made
sense.
So when I decided to pursue thedegree, like it was just
getting better and better, andthe profession was just grown at
the time.
I went in at a really goodtime.
Um, and I went to Rutgers, Iwas in Florida, and I kind of

(06:55):
had like the idea of let's kindof do something similar to
undergrad.
You got to get away from home,get away from distractions, but
not too far away from everybody,or go somewhere where you have
somebody close or a familymember.
If something happened to you,you have somebody to go to.
So I ended up going to Jerseyfrom Florida.
Um, I was 28 at the time, andit was like the best decision

(07:18):
ever.
It was a different culture.
You know, I got to see the fourseasons.
Um, the hustle was different,the mindset was different.
And but that's how I ended upbeing a physician assistant.
Um, I knew being in sportsmedicine, I like to work with
people.
Um, it made me feel good tolike kind of give back and play
a part in people's well-being.

(07:38):
So it made sense to me.
Um, nothing else made sense.
I was like, okay, well, I don'twant to go to med school.
I I never really looked intomed school enough like I was a
pre-med student.
No, I just got introduced to PAand I just went full throttle.
Like when I was taking myorganic chemistry class, people
were like, why don't you just goto med school?

(07:59):
You only got one more class totake it.
I'm like, I want to go to medschool.
Like, why do you guys have aproblem with me choosing this
route and be okay with it?
Um, so that's how I ended up inPA school.
It was it was great, it washard for sure.
Um, Rutgers have differentprograms.
They have the three plus three,where you actually get um

(08:22):
accepted your your your yoursenior year in high school.
So you so you get yourbachelor's and your master's six
years.
Um, they also have a part-timeprogram, and then they have the
full-time.
So they have a lot of options,which is great.
It's an excellent program.
Um, graduated from Rutgers,decided to stay in Jersey.

(08:43):
I liked that it worked out.
Um, I did orthopedic surgery.
That's what I always wanted todo, but I also fell in love with
cardiology.
I promise you, the only twothings that make sense to me is
cardiology and orthopedicsurgery.
Don't ask me about endocrine.
I've never really liked it.
So um I love cardiology.

(09:05):
I would do anything in cardio.
That was my next baby.
But I ended up doing orthopedicsurgery because that's what I
wanted to do.
And within orthopedic surgery,I actually specialized in many
subspecialties.
Um, multi-specialty was likethe first thing I got exposed
to.
The first group I worked withhad everybody.

(09:26):
They had hand, they had um, youknow, um non-surgical sports
medicine, spine.
Um, what else they had?
Joint, trauma, everything.
So podiatry with an anklespecialist.
The only thing they did nothave is orthopedic oncology,

(09:46):
which I got to experience when Itravel um in San Francisco to
work in orthopedic oncology forabout six months, which in
itself was an amazing experienceas well.
So, yeah, I worked um threeyears into my job.
Um, because that was my secondjob.

(10:06):
My I left my first job withinthe first year and a half.
I left it because um somethings were not adding up.
But let me tell you why I don'tregret it.
Unfortunately, everybody, ifyou want to do well, it takes a
lot of repetition.
So it's it's good to set a goaland know that there's a light

(10:28):
at the end of the tunnel.
You will not be in darknessforever.
But you gotta get those repsin, you gotta get your skills
and you gotta get it up so thatyou leverage those skills later.
Okay, so when I look back, Ididn't know any better.
I'm like, it was everythingthat I got exposed to that
actually prepared me for whereI'm at now.

(10:48):
Now, the circumstances weren'talways great.
Matter of fact, most of thetime they weren't great because
of the way that they structuredthe job.
Prior to COVID, things werejust different.
The system had leverage, theyhad power.
You didn't really have a voice.
I think post-COVID, people feltlike they had a voice.
So the soft skills were peoplewere um valuing that more.

(11:12):
Where prior to that, voice, no,time off.
No, you know, but we found ourvoice after COVID because we
realized there's there's more tothere's more to life than work.
There's more to life than justbeing a PA.
PA is part of who you are, notwho you are.
Right.
So you have to know thedifference, um, you know, about
your profession, which you like,your career, and your actual

(11:36):
life.

Ashley (11:37):
Fedness Point brings up an excellent quality question.
A question you might hear oninterview for your own
healthcare program.
Tell me about a time when yourealized your career or studies
were just one part of youridentity.
How did you protect space foryourself outside of that role?
For interviews, this is gold.

(11:57):
It shows balance, perspective,and emotional resilience.
Keep in mind that there's moreinterview prep, such as mock
interviews and personalstatement review, over on
shadowmext.com.
There you'll find amazingresources to help you as you
prepare to answer your ownquality questions.

Fedna (12:14):
So those were the lessons that happen um pre-COVID.
That my second job after I leftthe first one.
Um, I was there for, I actuallylike that job because when we
didn't have any cases, or if thecases were canceled, I went
home.
I went home and I appreciatedthe flexibility.

(12:36):
Um and then they somehow try toadd, like, well, we don't want
you to go home.
Let's try to add something,which never came to fruition.
Thank God.
Um before that can even happen,they actually folded.
It was a small group.
They folded, they gaveeverybody a 60-day notice, um,

(12:57):
which I which I talk about onLinkedIn, by the way.
That's how I started traveling.
They gave everybody a 60-daynotice, and um, we got a
severance pay for 90 days orsomething, which was like a nice
little break, but I was hardlythree years in.
I'm losing my mind.
I support myself.
I'm the breadwinner.
So it's like, oh my gosh, wheredo you go from there?

(13:19):
So when it came time, once theonce the company folded, I
remember that um the nurse toldme that PAs and physicians
travel.
So, as you know, as a PA, youdo not get a job overnight, not
even in one month.
There's credentialing, there islicenses, um, there's a lot of

(13:42):
things that you have to do toactually secure a position that
you appreciate.
And the paperwork can be trickysometimes.
So you really want to take yourtime to read things and even
have a lawyer look at it or anexperienced PA because a lot of
times we don't know what wedon't know until we cross that
bridge.
And that's how a lot of peoplelearn lessons, right?

(14:03):
Like the hard way, notintentionally.
It just happens because peopleare not talking about it.
So um I remembered about thetraveling PA, and I'm like, all
right, let's let's go ahead andapply.
Because even three years out,as I was interviewing, nothing
changed.
Matter of fact, the salaryoffers were less than what it

(14:25):
was when I was out of school orabout the same.
I was kind of shocked too.
I'm like, you know what?
No, I'm just gonna try this andgo there.
And um, I remember I had a PAfriend, she would talk to me
about 1099 and W2, and shedecided to go from full-time
salary W2 to 1099, and she'llhave the same job.

(14:47):
She'll do um, she did 1099 toICU in the E in the ER, and same
job, but more pay.
And I want people to understandthat when I talk about travel
P, I talk about money.
The reason why I talk about themoney is because I get to do
what I love regardless, but Iget to do it with less stress

(15:07):
and I get I get a I get a betterpay.
And these two loans are notcheap, guys.
Okay, so we need that.
We need the pay, we need to becompensated fairly, we need to
ask for what we want.
Um, and you're also valued alittle bit more because you're
going somewhere where um, youknow, there's no access or

(15:28):
people have to drive three hoursto get somewhere.
So the community really kind ofappreciates you just having
somebody there to just serve thecommunity.
Like you you feel like you'redoing, you know, your good deed.
You feel like, okay, I'm reallyproviding the service to the
patients, I'm serving them andthey actually appreciate it.

(15:52):
The patients always appreciateit, but the practice and the
people who work there actuallyappreciate you too.
So um, yeah, the the the jobfolded in 2017.
I started traveling in 2018 andI never look back.
And I know I talk about 1099and W-2.
Everybody, if you're listening,the W-2 is essentially it's

(16:16):
your regular job that everybodyhas, where half of your um half
of your Medicare, Medicaid arepaid into you, right?
Um, your your work pays forthat portion.
There's also umemployer-sponsored retirement
plan, like 401k, and they match.
This is what your W-2.

(16:37):
These are some of the benefits.
Um, 1099 is just straight pay.
That means that you areresponsible for everything,
including having your own umself-employed retirement plan,
which there are a lot ofoptions.
It's just that it's notsomething that we talk about.
We don't know the options thatwe have, but you can go straight
out of school and even, hey, doyou do 1099?

(17:00):
Can you do that?
And just form your ownstructure.
And there's pros and cons toall of it, but we'll save that
for another day.
But as a travel PA, I did havethe option of doing both.
Interestingly enough, I learneda lot about the business of
medicine because what I knew wasW-2, and that's what I went
into.
And then I started to hearabout the 1099.

(17:20):
I looked more into it, andthat's how I was able to form my
business.
And I am an employee of mybusiness.
My business is the S-corp.
And that part is because I makea certain amount.
Most accounting would saybetween 60 to 75K, that you can
form your S Corp so that you canget all the benefits that come

(17:42):
with 1099's business that getthe 10 benefits.
And you basically you hireyourself.
Um, and you know, learning thebusiness of medicine has helped
me tremendously.
Um, I still get the things Iwould get as a regular employee.
I have liability insurance, Ihave healthcare insurance, I

(18:02):
have everything that a regularjob would give you, except my
company offers me that, right?
So it's been amazing becauseagain, I get to do what I love
and I don't have to work as muchto um, you know, to get
compensated to enjoy my lifeoutside of work.
So I decided, you know, I don'thave to work full-time.

(18:23):
I work like six to nine monthsout of the year.
So yeah, and here I am, and I'mnot looking back.
I was a good um steward, I'mgonna say, of my money.
I save, I've been, I investbecause it's easy to be like, oh
my gosh, I make so much money,let's spend it.
But that's not the goal.
The goal is to make your moneywork hard for you because you

(18:46):
already work hard for it, andthen design the life that you
want to so that you don't haveto work for the rest of your
life.
And then you buy your freedomwith your money.
That's why you want to make it.

Ashley (18:58):
You are incredible.
And guys, I swear I didn't sendher any of these questions
before, and she literally justanswered every single thing that
we were gonna talk about.
I am going to circle back to acouple of the things that you
said, which I think are justhugely important.
And ironically, the things thatas clinicians, SPAs, as MDs,

(19:18):
even as DPTs, doctors ofphysical therapy, we're all
thinking about these things.
Um, and these play really bigum roles in our careers, but we
don't often talk about them withpre-health students or with
shadows because it seems rathermundane, but it is really it's
it underlines everything that wedo and why we're working.

(19:39):
So one of the things that youmentioned is picking your
school.
And I thought that this was socool.
Um, and even before when you'reworking in athletic training,
it all kind of led to youworking as a travel clinician,
right?
I mean, you traveled aroundwith the football teams and the
volleyball teams, and then umyou traveled around a bit for
school, and now here you areagain traveling.
So it's so nice to know thatfor those who do enjoy a new

(20:02):
adventure and a new location,um, you can have that in
medicine too, and still have athriving social life and
personal life and family life aswell.
So thank you for sharing that.
That was incredible.
Another thing that I wanted tomention that we talked about a
lot, and this is the second tolast thing I'll bring up, are
the benefits of Locum's work, ofbeing a travel PA.

(20:23):
Um, less stress, better pay.
You're solving a healthcarediscrepancy.
I mean, you are you are goingto a place where care is really
needed, where where yourexpertise is really needed.
So all of those things areabsolutely incredible.
And maybe we can circle back ina few minutes and you can tell
us if there are any challengeswith travel, with travel locum's
work as well.
Um, but then the last thing Iwanted to mention, and this is

(20:45):
so important, is the business ofmedicine.
And I think we've talked aboutthis before on the podcast, but
the business of medicineoftentimes has such a negative
connotation to it, right?
Um, but at the end of the day,the business of medicine is what
allows medicine to keep going,at least right now in our
country.
And for us as clinicians, wehave to be good stewards of our

(21:06):
finances.
You know, this is one of thethings that gives us the ability
not to burn out because we caninvest in ourselves.
We can invest in our hobbiesand our activities and our rest
is so important.
Um, so I'm so glad you saidthat.
And at the end of this, we'lltalk a little bit about where
people can find you and um andand perhaps um learn a little

(21:27):
bit more from you about the1099s and the W-2s and the
contract reviews, which youmentioned, which is so
important.
So all of that was just sochalk full of gold.
And I'm so grateful for yousaying all of those things.
But first, let's circle back totravel work.
You know, we talked about thebenefits.
Is are there any challenges?
Is there anything that you'vethat you've said, you know, this

(21:47):
is something I'm gonna have toovercome?
And and how did you do that?

Fedna (21:51):
Yeah, um, the challenges would be I'm a city girl.
I like to be in the city, soI've gone to remote places and
I'm like, yeah, it's not for me.
Though I didn't like it, Iappreciated it because I would
have never gone somewhere likethat.
And I look back and I'm like,you know what, it was kind of
nice not having distractions andjust being in Wyoming and

(22:15):
driving to um Yellowstone Park,you know, going to Montana.
So you can turn the what youcall negative.
I don't think it's a negative,but you could turn a unfavorable
situation into a favorablecircumstance.

Ashley (22:30):
Perspective is so important, and you get to see
that so much working in ruralareas and you know, more urban
or suburban areas.
The the medicine is the same,but the way you practice it
sometimes is a bit different.
I would imagine you've learnedsomething.

Fedna (22:43):
Oh my gosh.
I think that has to be thething that gave me so much
confidence.
We always wonder how are thingsdone, but I got to see it on
all the coasts.
How are things done and thepreference?
So I have like all these, youknow, all these little tricks in
my toolbox that I get to travelwith me, and that has to be one
of the coolest things ever.
And then you kind of get to seehow unfortunate others are.

(23:08):
And I'm gonna say are because Iremember when I was at a travel
gig, people were driving liketwo to three hours just to see a
specialist.
And for them, it was nothing.
It was like the norm for them.
They did not like, okay, it'swhatever, it's what we do.
But you know, it kind of makeyou appreciate some some of the
things that you do have um basedon where you are, because there
are other places that they justdon't have access and they got

(23:31):
to go far.
And then sometimes thefacilities aren't as equipped as
you know, places where I waslike Yale and San Francisco,
ECSF, things like that.
So yeah, I it's I mean, thecultures were had to be um my
most favorite part.
The the people in the culture,that's always my favorite part,

(23:53):
I would say.
Another um con is just dealingwith with agencies and
recruiters, because if you'renot a people person, if you're
not business savvy or havesomebody who's like kind of
helping you and guiding you, youcan really get played and you
can really get um some of theconditions, like you may find
yourself stuck in a contractthat's hard to get out of, or

(24:15):
you know, stuck in a contract umwhere you cannot start another
one.
You can, but it takes a while,you know.
So you kind of have to stay onthe game.
It's like you work for yourselfessentially, which is not a bad
thing because as we learn,there's no such thing as job
security.
I learned that lesson prior toCOVID, but people were learning

(24:38):
it during COVID.
So um do not think there's jobsecurity with the systems.
However, your skill sets andyour and your degree, you can
create whatever you want to outof it, especially the way things
are nowadays, especially withtrying to modernize um our

(25:00):
profession and having moreauthority.
So I think the people wherethey are now and started in the
PA profession, they are in agood place, they're in a good
position to kind of help push itforward.
And also, too, they are seeingwhat we did and what we are
doing.
So I think they kind of havelike the blueprints, sort of,

(25:21):
and kind of take it from thereand just build upon it.

Ashley (25:24):
Absolutely.
And that's such a greatcautionary tale.
You know, it we at the end ofthe day, you do have to look out
for yourself.
And and it's not uh, you know,that's not meant to scare
anybody.
That's just meant to give you alittle bit of strength and
knowledge right there, which isactually a perfect segue, Fedna.
Tell us you have created somereally incredible resources

(25:44):
exactly for this to help peopledecide if travel work is correct
for them, or perhaps realizethat there are these issues with
contracts that perhaps peoplemight not be aware of.
Right where can we find moreout about this fabulous resource
that you're offering?

Fedna (26:01):
Yes, I have free resources on my website called
ww.thetravelinpa.com, and that'swith two L's.
Um, you can also find me onLinkedIn, just put Fedna Marin C
and I'm on Instagram.
There's not a lot of FedNas onInstagram.
If you type, I'll be there.
But it's um travelin paunderscore C is my IG handle.

(26:24):
I'm also starting a travel PAcommunity.
I had I actually I started itlast year and I am transitioning
it and calling it travel PAYour Way to Wealth.

Ashley (26:35):
Oh, I love that.
That's fabulous.

Fedna (26:37):
Starting next year, and it's basically everything travel
PA.
Um, and how I use the travel PAand how you can use the travel
PA to design the life that youwant while doing what you love
and create an impact.

Ashley (26:52):
Absolutely incredible.
Bedna, thank you so much forthat incredible amount of
information that you've sharedand for taking the time to spend
with us on Shadow Me Nexttoday.

Fedna (27:02):
Yes.
Well, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.

Ashley (27:05):
Thank you so very much for listening to this episode of
Shadow Me Next.
If you liked this episode or ifyou think it could be useful
for a friend, please subscribeand invite them to join us next
Monday.
As always, if you have anyquestions, let me know on
Facebook or Instagram.
Access you want, stories youneed, you're always invited to
Shadow Me Next.

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So You Think Job Security Exists? A Locums PA Says, "Hold My Severance." | Fedna Morency, PA-C

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}So You Think Job Security Exists? A Locums PA Says, "Hold My Severance." | Fedna Morency, PA-C