Most PAs don’t wake up one day hating medicine.

Instead, they wake up tired. Numb. Disconnected. Still competent. Still caring. Still showing up — but quietly wondering where the spark went.

In this episode of The PA Is In, Tracy speaks directly to the clinician who didn’t fall out of love with medicine, but feels weighed down by how it’s practiced today. She reframes burnout as information — not failure — and explains why self-care, PTO, and vacations can help temporarily, but won’t fix a career that’s structurally misaligned with your life.

Tracy walks through the invisible work that drains clinicians, how values drift over time, and why so many PAs internalize system-level problems as personal shortcomings. She then offers a grounded, realistic four-step process to help you begin redesigning your career without blowing up your life, quitting tomorrow, or burning bridges.

This episode is a reminder that you’re not broken — and that you’re allowed to evolve. You can love medicine and love your life. And you can practice in a way that feels like you again.

Mentioned in this episode:Find Your Why by Simon Sinek

SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SERMO https://app.sermo.com:443/?sermoref=39d97a2c-f699-4f8b-b2f9-1eb131e18c75&utm_campaign=tell-a-friend

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Keywords: PA burnout recovery, physician associate burnout, loving medicine but burned out, healthcare burnout not personal failure, PA career redesign, values drift in medicine, portfolio career for clinicians, reigniting passion in medicine, sustainable PA careers, clinician burnout coaching

What if the problem isn’t medicine — but the way your career is structured right now?

In this episode, Tracy sits down with Annie Wildermuth, PA, leadership consultant, and ICF-certified coach, for a thoughtful, grounded conversation about career pivots, burnout, and how clinicians can make intentional changes without blowing up their lives.

Annie shares her own non-linear career journey — from emergency medicine to academia, medical education, leadership development, and coaching — and explains why so many clinicians feel stuck when the “traditional” career path no longer fits. Together, Tracy and Annie unpack why waiting until you’re in crisis to think about career strategy is so common — and how much easier it is to make aligned decisions when you plan ahead.

They explore one of the biggest myths in medicine: that non-clinical work is automatically the solution to burnout. Annie offers a refreshingly honest take on whether the grass is really greener, what she misses about patient care, and why values — not job titles — should drive career decisions.

You’ll also hear practical guidance on how to: • Identify whether your burnout is about workload, values misalignment, or lack of purpose • Decide if leadership opportunities are worth building where you are — or if it’s time to move on • Make smaller, sustainable changes inside your current role before pursuing a big pivot • Navigate the fear of learning something new (yes, even an entirely new specialty) • Take career transitions one manageable step at a time — without paralysis or perfectionism

Annie introduces a powerful framework from Drive — autonomy, mastery, and purpose — and explains how even small shifts in these areas can dramatically improve fulfillment at work. Tracy adds real-world examples from her own coaching clients and personal experience, including why “working less” alone rarely cures burnout.

The episode closes with a reminder clinicians need to hear: you don’t need to have everything figured out. Careers evolve. Values change. And choosing a new direction doesn’t mean your previous path was wrong — just that you’ve grown.

If you’ve been wondering whether it’s time for a change, this conversation will help you slow down, get clear, and move forward with intention — instead of panic.

🎧 Listen in for reassurance, strategy, and permission to design a career that actually fits your life.

Keywords: career pivot for clinicians, PA career change, clinical vs nonclinical jobs, burnout recovery for healthcare workers, physician assistant career strategy, leadership development in healthcare, values based career decisions, career coaching for clinicians, non clinical careers for PAs, healthcare burnout solutions, clinician leadership pathways, medical career transitions, feeling stuck in medicine, autonomy mastery purpose healthcare, career planning for healthcare professionalsSPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

CM&F INSURANCE

www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn

January 1st can feel loud.

Your social media feed fills up with highlight reels, perfect vacations, big announcements, ambitious income goals, and declarations about how this is the year everything changes. Even when it’s well-intentioned, that constant stream can quietly send the message that you need to be different — more disciplined, more productive, more transformed — to be worthy of the year ahead.

In this New Year’s Day episode of The PA Is In, Tracy offers something kinder and steadier.

This conversation is a reminder that a new year doesn’t require a new version of you. You can be both a masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time — and that truth is especially important for clinicians who are already giving so much of themselves at work and at home.

Tracy walks listeners through a simple reflection exercise designed to help you slow down, take stock, and give yourself credit for what you showed up for over the past year. Instead of focusing on what needs fixing, this episode invites you to recognize your strengths, acknowledge the progress you’ve already made, and notice the growth that may have happened quietly and imperfectly.

From there, the focus shifts gently forward. Rather than setting massive resolutions or trying to overhaul your entire life, you’ll be encouraged to choose just one to three areas you want to work on in the coming year — without timelines, pressure, or all-or-nothing thinking. This is about intention, not urgency, and progress that’s sustainable rather than performative.

This episode is a soft place to land if January feels overwhelming, competitive, or emotionally noisy. It’s a reminder that real change rarely happens on January 1st. It happens on random Tuesdays, after honest conversations, through small and often unglamorous decisions, and by offering yourself the same compassion you give to your patients and colleagues.

If you’re craving a calmer, more grounded start to the year — one that honors who you already are while allowing space for growth — this episode is for you.

New year. Same you. And that’s exactly where real change begins.

SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

SERMO https://app.sermo.com:443/?sermoref=39d97a2c-f699-4f8b-b2f9-1eb131e18c75&utm_campaign=tell-a-friend

Keywords: New Year for clinicians, healthcare burnout recovery, PA career coaching, physician assistant podcast, clinician mindset, strengths-based reflection, healthcare boundaries, work life balance for clinicians, intentional goal setting, burnout prevention, career clarity for PAs, healthcare self compassion, sustainable medical careers, New Year reflection exercise, clinician growth mindset

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Breaking up is hard — and breaking up with your financial advisor after 10+ years? Still hard.

In this episode, Tracy shares a deeply personal (and wildly uncomfortable) story about ending a long-standing relationship with her financial advisor — why it stopped feeling right, how she navigated the guilt and fear, and what ultimately helped her reclaim agency over her money.

What started as a financial decision quickly revealed powerful parallels to clinical medicine, career decisions, and the ways clinicians stay too long in professional relationships that quietly stop serving them.

This episode is about trusting your gut, demanding transparency, and remembering that you get to decide who walks alongside you — in your finances, your career, and your life.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• What finally made Tracy realize her advisor relationship wasn’t working anymore
• Why “just trust me” is not education — in medicine or money
• How using ChatGPT helped remove the emotional labor of writing a hard email
• The striking parallels between financial advising and clinical burnout
• What good financial advisory support should actually look like
• Why understanding fiduciary responsibility matters more than most people realize
• How reclaiming agency in your finances mirrors reclaiming agency in your career

Key takeaways:

• You deserve to understand how your advisor is paid
• Transparency is non-negotiable
• Your advisor should be a teacher and partner
• Your intuition is data — listen to it
• You are allowed to outgrow long-standing relationships

Alignment matters more than familiarity
SPONSORS:

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING, LLC: advancedpracticeplanning.com/fi

CM&F INSURANCE
www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn

🎧 Listen now and ask yourself: Where am I staying out of comfort instead of alignment?

Keywords: financial advisor breakup, switching financial advisors, fiduciary financial advisor, how financial advisors get paid, fee only vs commission advisor, clinician finances, money for physician assistants, trusting your gut in finances, financial education for clinicians, reclaiming agency, burnout and finances, financial planning for PAs, advanced practice provider wealth building, transparency in investing, choosing a financial advisor

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉 tracybingaman.com/gig

Dave Mittman is back—and we’re talking about what’s next for the PA profession. After 50 years in advocacy and leadership (including serving as AAPA President), Dave breaks down why the “experiment worked,” why PA modernization is the real conversation (not “scope creep”), and what changes are already reshaping our day-to-day practice.

We dig into full practice and practice-level decision-making, title change momentum, why self-governance matters (hello, PA boards), and how interstate compacts could transform telemedicine and multi-state work. We also get practical: how you introduce yourself, how your clinic markets you, why your referrals should come back to you, and why the white coat conversation isn’t about vanity—it’s about clarity and credibility.

If you’ve ever felt like the profession is evolving faster than your workplace policies… this episode is your roadmap.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why PA “modernization” is bigger than one policy change—and why it’s happening now

• The shift from legislation-driven rules to practice-level determination of scope and competence

• Why “scope creep” is a distraction (and what PAs are actually asking for)

• How title change impacts public understanding—and why waiting for laws may be unnecessary

• What interstate compacts could unlock for telemedicine, specialty care, and access

• The professionalism pieces that matter: intros, signage, marketing, referrals, and perception

• Why advocacy can’t be “someone else’s job” anymoreSPONSORS:

CM&F INSURANCE

www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn Keywords: PA modernization, physician associate, physician assistant profession future, full practice authority PAs, PA title change, PA board of medicine, PA self-governance, practice-level scope of practice, interstate compact for PAs, PA licensure compact, PA telemedicine multi-state, scope creep AMA, administrative burden PAs, PA advocacy, professional identity in healthcare, PA white coat patient perception, DMSC for PAs, PA doctorate, PA specialty competency, CAQ, PA leadership

Work–life balance isn’t a destination — it’s a feeling.

And according to executive life coach Rebecca Olson, that feeling is available to you even in the chaos of practicing medicine and parenting young kids. In this powerful, paradigm-shifting conversation, we unpack why so many clinicians feel overwhelmed, what’s actually happening inside your nervous system, and how to reclaim presence in the moments that matter most.Rebecca works with ambitious working parents — especially women — who want to go all in on their careers without sacrificing the relationships and values that matter most. Her approach blends mindset, emotional regulation, intentional decision-making, and practical tools you can implement immediately.

Inside this episode, we dig into:

✨ What “balance” really is (and why it’s not a time-management problem)

✨ Why your nervous system is running the show (and how to calm it in 30–120 seconds)

✨ The transition that makes or breaks your evenings as a working parent

✨ How to build boundaries that actually hold (even when it feels uncomfortable)

✨ Redefining success after becoming a parent

REBECCA OLSON COACHING https://www.rebeccaolsoncoaching.com/

DAILY KICKSTART RESOURCE https://www.ambitiousandbalanced.com/daily-kickstart

SPONSORS:

CM&F INSURANCE

www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn

Keywords: work-life balance, clinician burnout, nervous system regulation, emotional regulation tools, boundaries for clinicians, working parent mindset, Rebecca Olson coaching, PA wellness, presence practices, redefining success

This week on The PA Is In, we’re going behind the scenes of my experience with the PANRE-LA, the NCCPA’s longitudinal recertification exam. After recertifying the “old-school” way eight years ago — one long test, one long day, one giant burst of stress — I decided to try something totally different this cycle.

In this episode, I’m sharing why I chose the PANRE-LA, how the experience compares to the traditional PANRE, and what it’s actually like to be four quarters into the eight-quarter process. If you’re approaching your own recertification window — or just curious about how the PANRE-LA works — this is your honest, unfiltered look at the inside of the process.

Inside this episode:

• The biggest differences between the PANRE and the PANRE-LA (and why the 10-year cycle matters)

• Why I originally said no way to the PANRE-LA

• What changed my mind as a practicing PA, parent of five, and business owner

• My real-time lessons learned after completing four quarters

• How to avoid unnecessary stress and set yourself up for success

• Why this exam format better reflects modern clinical practice

• Quarterly deadlines you need to know: March 10, June 10, Sept 10, Dec 10
  

I’m sharing exactly how I schedule my questions, how I use (and don’t overuse) reference materials, what I’ve learned from the questions I missed, and why pacing makes the biggest difference in this process.

Whether you’re a fan of the all-at-once testing experience or you want something more flexible, I hope this episode gives you clarity, peace, and a sense of what’s possible for your own recertification season.

If you’ve taken — or are considering — the PANRE-LA, come tell me about your experience on LinkedIn or Instagram. I’d genuinely love to hear.

SPONSORS

⁠CM&F INSURANCE ⁠

⁠www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn⁠

PANRE-LA review, PANRE-LA vs PANRE, PA recertification, NCCPA longitudinal exam, physician associate recertification, PA boards update, PANRE study tips, PANRE-LA experience, PA career sustainability, PA exam schedule, PANRE-LA deadlines, PA learning assessment, PA board requirements, how to prepare for PANRE-LA, PA continuing certification, NCCPA PANRE-LA tips, PA exam strategies, longitudinal assessment for PAs

This Thanksgiving, take a deep breath with me. 🍂 In this reflective episode of The PA Is In, I’m sharing a story about a quiet morning, a warm cup of apple cinnamon tea, and a moment of awe that stopped me in my tracks.

We’ll unpack what awe really is — how it helps us regulate stress, reduce inflammation, and reconnect to the world around us — and how awe naturally flows into gratitude.

You’ll hear about the A.W.E. Method (Attention, Wait, Exhale) from the book The Power of Awe, and learn how gratitude literally rewires your brain to recognize joy faster than fear.

If you’re feeling tired, busy, or stretched thin, this episode is your permission slip to pause. To notice something beautiful. To exhale. And to let awe lead you to gratitude this season.

In this episode:

• A real-life story about slowing down and creating space for awe

• The science behind awe and its effects on stress and inflammation

• How gratitude reshapes your brain for empathy and resilience

• Simple ways to cultivate awe and gratitude in everyday life
  

Resources Mentioned:

• The Power of Awe by Jake Eagle & Michael Amster https://amzn.to/47mUVe3

• UC Berkeley (2018) Study on Awe & Inflammation https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25603133/

• USC (2017) Study on Gratitude & the Brain https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00599/full
  

Listen now and take one small, sacred moment for awe this Thanksgiving.

SPONSORS

CM&F INSURANCE

www.cmfgroup.com/ThePAIsIn

ADVANCED PRACTICE PLANNING⁠ ⁠https://www.advancedpracticeplanning.com/⁠

CONNECT

⁠FREE 30-MINUTE COACHING CONSULT⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/gen-call⁠ ⁠⁠

⁠1-ON-1 NEGOTIATION CONSULT⁠ ⁠https://calendly.com/the-pa-is-in/negotiate⁠⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH TRACY 🤝

⁠LINKEDIN⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracybingaman/⁠⁠⁠

⁠INSTAGRAM⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/mrstracybingaman/⁠⁠⁠

WEBSITE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tracybingaman.com⁠⁠

🎁 Bonus Freebie: Grab your free guide with 48 healthcare-specific side hustle ideas at 👉⁠ ⁠⁠tracybingaman.com/gig⁠

Keywords: awe and gratitude, awe method, power of awe, thanksgiving reflection, pa podcast, healthcare burnout recovery, stress relief for clinicians, gratitude and neuroscience, mindfulness for PAs, PA career sustainability, the PA Is In podcast