Brandon Swisher, PA-C
Becoming a physician assistant here at Sound Family Medicine in 2007 was the culmination of a long and somewhat convoluted career in medicine beginning in 1993. I grew up in Eastern Washington in the college town of Pullman (Go Cougs!!). I later moved to Spokane, Washington where I lived for the next 20 or so years.
My career in medicine started when I joined the Army as a field medic. I knew shortly after starting my military training that I wanted to continue in the medical field once I was back in the civilian world. I initially worked as a medical assistant at a walk-in urgent care clinic for the first five years out of the military. I then went back to college and became a surgical technologist. I practiced at Sacred Heart and Holy Family Hospitals in Spokane, Washington for the next ten years.
After ten years as a technician, I realized that there was never going to be any "upward mobility" in this focused career field, and I missed interacting with my patients (it's hard to talk to someone who is asleep on the operating table). I decided to once again go back to college and train to become a physician assistant.
I feel that as a physician assistant I am finally realizing the full patient care 'experience' that I was lacking in my previous medical career fields. Until recently, I practiced with an emergency medicine group in Vancouver, Washington. Practicing medicine in this capacity was a wonderful learning experience, but I am so happy to be in a family practice group where I feel that I can finally provide the most comprehensive care to my patients in this wonderful community.