Ascending the ladder. PA?

[phoenix14232]

hello! i am starting lpn school at job corp in a couple weeks, and have recently decided that a career as a pa is something that would bring me a great amount of joy. i've been a cna for 7 years, and enjoy the work, but would like to get into diagnosis and actual treatment. i would love more responsibility, but still don't mind working with someone supervising me once in a while. my question is, what schools out there offer the pa program? what are the prerequisites? and can i become a pa if i only have my adn? or does it require a bsn? since job corp is free to me, and it only offers the lpn program, i'm going to take what i can get and use it as a stepping stone. would you recommend going for the bsn after the lpn, or going to adn, then bsn? i'm so confused!! help!

[elkpark]

Good. My advice would be not to upgrade to an RN after getting your LPN if PA school is your ultimate goal. You'll get there quicker if you don't take the extra time for Rn school. Just concentrate on just getting what ever you need for your PA program

ITA. You can work as an LPN while finishing whatever BS degree will be quickest and easiest to do and get you into PA school.

[phoenix14232]

idk...I think RN covers most if not all the the prerequisites I would need for PA school...and It always gives me something to fall back on. Hmm...i'm going to need a bachelor's in SOMETHING anyways...I don't know. lol

[aura_of_laura]

One step at a time Get yourself through LPN school first, you can wait til halfway through the program to apply for your next step.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

idk...I think RN covers most if not all the the prerequisites I would need for PA school...and It always gives me something to fall back on. Hmm...i'm going to need a bachelor's in SOMETHING anyways...I don't know. lol

That would be the thing to check into. In my area, the prereqs for PA school are very similar to those for medical school - two semesters of chemistry, two semesters of organic chem, two semesters of intro biology, two semesters of upper-level biology and two semesters of physics among them. Some nursing programs might include most of those classes, but it could involve a significant amount of "retreading" as well.