Interested in Nursing/Physicians Assistant career and need advice on how to start.

shelly304 · Jan 28, 2009

RN and PA are two totally different professions. You wouldn't become a nurse to get experience to become a PA.There are some other forums on the net for PA. Or do a search here for nursing vs PA. There are great threads to view. Good luck!

whipping girl in 07, RN · Jan 28, 2009

Actually, some of the best PAs I've worked with were nurses or respiratory therapists before they became PAs. Depending on what state you live in though, you might be able to do more as a nurse practitioner. The more you do with actual hands-on patient care the better prepared you will be to be a PA (IMHO).

GilaRRT · Jan 28, 2009

However, taking three to four years out of your life to obtain a nursing degree, then some additional credits to meet the science requirements for most PA programs, then PA school seems like a rather round about way to arrive at a goal? Especially, since the person asking the question has a degree with a pre-med emphasis. He most likely has the pre-requisite courses required by most PA programs.

Times are tough and school is expensive. You want PA, start looking at programs and start working on an application. You can always take an EMT class and gather clinical time if the PA programs requires patient contact hours. However, taking time, money, and resources to obtain an RN degree prior to PA school really does not seem like the prudent route IMHO.

just_cause, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2009

If you don't have a degree at this time.... then BSN is a great route towards becoming a PA. That being said it is probably only good if you want to work as an RN for a period of time. If you feel that your RN time is what you want prior to PA - it's a great route..especially for those wanting to be a PA in primary care.

If your goal is simply to become a PA... then you could look at other routes.. such as getting a BA or BS in (anything) in Bio or Biochem or Chem or anything that also knocks out your PA school of interest pre-reqs.. while at the same time work in some capacity to gain health care exp.. as an EMT or CNA or.... (see what your school of interest requires for job and # of hours) by the time you graduate you could directly apply to a PA program.

If you are wanting to do the RN route.. make sure you look at your RN and PA school pre-reqs and knock them out in a smart fashion... as previous poster stated they are not always (usually not...) the same. There is a wide range or BSN pre-reqs as well as PA pre-reqs.. depending on where you are looking at it might lend well and it might just require more work.

v/r

core0 · Jan 28, 2009

Hi, my name is Nick and I am a new member here. I don't know if this is the right place to post this question, sorry if it's not. I have a BS/pre-med emphasis and I am interested in becoming a physicians assistant. I want to gain experience in the medical field before I apply to a PA program and I am interested in nursing. The problem is I don't know much about the process of getting into a nursing school or a PA program. Which type of nursing degree should I get, how does it all work? I would greatly appreciate some advice.

You have some choices where you are at. I will say that my advice at least has changed as nursing schools have become more competitive. I used to advise prospective students get an ADN and then complete their pre-reqs while working. Time have changed however. ADN programs in particular are very competitive or have very long waiting lists. Also with the nursing shortage, I can hardly recommend someone take a slot that does not intend to work as a nurse.

With a pre-med BS you probably have most of the requirements for PA school. There are several options here. You can apply as is. Roughly 1/3 of the programs require no health care experience (HCE). Roughly 1/3 of programs encourage HCE, and the other 1/3 require HCE. Within the required section the hours range widely (up to 4000) and the type of experience also ranges from volunteer to paid hands on.

Without HCE you are limited to roughly 40% of the PA seats. PA school is already very competitive with less than 1/2 of the students in the last CASPA cycle getting into any PA school. You dramatically decrease your chances of getting into PA school without HCE. Your best bet as has been stated here is probably getting HCE through something that you can do relatively quickly. EMT can be done in as few as 6 weeks. CNA can also be done quickly. You will probably need a few courses specific to individual PA programs. Working for a year while getting the coursework done will help. You will probably also need the GRE with a halfway decent score depending on the program.

For PA specific discussion (be warned its interview season so thats most of the current discussion):

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/

For information on PA programs and PA education:

http://www.aapa.org/geninfo1.html

http://www.aapa.org/pgmlist.php3

David Carpenter, PA-C

millsnd · Feb 2, 2009

Thanks for all your advice. core0, I am interested in any PA program I can get into in northern/central California. The top three that caught my eye were Samuel Merritt, UC Davis, and Stanford. I know Stanford requires HCE, but Davis and Sam. only recommend it. Do you have any advice on whether these two programs are good?

core0 · Feb 3, 2009

Thanks for all your advice. core0, I am interested in any PA program I can get into in northern/central California. The top three that caught my eye were Samuel Merritt, UC Davis, and Stanford. I know Stanford requires HCE, but Davis and Sam. only recommend it. Do you have any advice on whether these two programs are good?

I don't know much about Merritt but UC Davis and Stanford have good reputations. I think that to be competitive in any of these you need a fair amount of HCE. I would ask on the PA forum there is a program director there that may give you more information. The issue that I have with Davis and Stanford is that it is one of three programs that require you to find preceptors. The betting is that after the next ARC-PA review they will be forced to change their ways. Stanford if I remember correctly encourages but does not require you to find your own preceptor. The other issue is that if you only do the minimum at Stanford the program is on the short side. It will still allow you to sit for the PANCE but there is at least one state that will not license you.

David Carpenter, PA-C

millsnd · Feb 3, 2009

Thanks again core0, but what is a preceptor?

core0 · Feb 3, 2009

Thanks again core0, but what is a preceptor?

PA programs are usually divided into two phases. Didactic and Clinical. Didactic is full time (there are a few programs that allow you to do part time over two years) for one year 30-40 hours are week. Clinical is generally divided into different rotations. There are required rotations in EM, surgery, IM, OB/GYN, Peds, FP and psych. You also have to have inpatient and outpatient as well as geriatric and operative experience.

During your clinical rotations you have another provider assigned to supervise your work. The provider can be a PA, NP or a physician. This person is your preceptor. If you are assigned to a team your preceptor may rotate.

Davis and Stanford are an example of an older model of PA education known as MEDEX. In this model PA students were selected from the community. They did their didactic training at the program and then returned to work with a particular sponsoring physician preceptor during their clinical training. In the original model the students did all of their clinical training with one physician who was usually expected to hire them afteward (very similar to the apprencticeship model). The students were not admitted to the program unless they already had a sponsoring physician preceptor. For a variety of reasons this is considered bad form in the current PA educational models. While ARC-PA has not banned the practice the handwriting on the wall says they probably will soon.

David Carpenter, PA-C

millsnd · Feb 3, 2009

Wow core0 you are quick on the replies, thanks you have helped me a lot. So if I did the Davis or Stanford program I would have to find a physician that would let me do the clinical phase of my training at their place of work before I started the program?

core0 · Feb 3, 2009

Wow core0 you are quick on the replies, thanks you have helped me a lot. So if I did the Davis or Stanford program I would have to find a physician that would let me do the clinical phase of my training at their place of work before I started the program?

Answer uncertain. Neither site lists a preceptor as a requirement (which I believe is a change for Davis from last year). It may be one of those unwritten extras that gets people in or not. ARC-PA has made it increasingly difficult to use student selected preceptors in the last few years. Most of my information is second hand on this. The best answers will be from the information sessions. If I recall both programs have frequent information sessions throughout the year. Like I said there are a lot of forces moving against this model. At least judging by their admissions packets they have changed things significantly since last year.

The other issue is that unless you are constrained to a certain geographical area it may be worth your while to expand your horizons. The California programs are very competitive because of geography. I don't know their exact numbers, but I would not be suprised if there were more than 20 applicants per seat. I am helping with interviews for a new program and they received 900 applicants for 32 seats. Even when you get rid of those that don't make all the pre-reqs you are still left with something on the order of 15 applicants per seat. On the other hand many of these applicants would be very competitive for some of the programs in FL, PA or NY.

David Carpenter, PA-C