I originally wanted to become a Medical Doctor and was set on it for years prior to college, but reality has set in. As much as I do desire to go to med school, the money just isn’t available in my family unfortunately. Therefore, I’ve decided to pursue becoming a PA. In the end it will be a lot easier on the wallet and won’t take as long. My issue you is I have no idea how to go about it. I’m only in my first year of undergrad, but I like to know my stuff. So if anyone can explain to me the steps I would take for being at a 4 Year institution? I’m kind of just confused about the whole process because I’ve read that you need some experience, which is kinda hard because I’m not a nurse or lab tech or anything, so how am I supposed to get experience? Or is different for a student trying to get their bachelors? Help anyone!?
probably going to find more info at https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/forums/clinicians-rn-np-pa.113/
PA is a Master’s degree program. The vast majority of programs require a BA/BS degree or RN for entry.
Pre-reqs are not quite as uniform as they are for medical school, but generally include:
general chemistry (1 year)
biology (1 year)
anatomy (1 semester)
physiology (1 semester)
microbiology (1 semester)
Specific schools will have additional other specific requirements.
Additionally all PA program require a certain amount of paid hands-on experience as a healthcare provider:
emergency medical technician (EMT)
certified nursing assistant (CNA)
ER technician
surgical technician
medical assistant(MA)
phlebotomist/lab technician
medic or medical corpsman
paramedic
healthcare related Peace Corp volunteer
licensed practical nurse (LPN)
Once you have completed the required coursework and achieved the necessary hours of patient care experience, you need to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE).
You can find a list of accredited PA programs with their requirements here: http://directory.paeaonline.org
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so how am I supposed to get experience?
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Most PA hopefuls work part-time during the school year and during the summers to get their paid experience hours done. Or they do a planned gap year or two after graduation to fulfill the experience requirement.
You don't need to be nurse or a lab tech.
You can find phlebotomy, EMT-B, medical assistant and CNA classes at your local community college. The training is typically one course that lasts 1 semester/1trimester or 1 summer intensive session.
ER tech & surgical tech training can also be found at your community college, but generally it's requires more coursework and a longer training period (up to 2 years). Paramedic is a 2 year program.
If you get a part-time entry level job at nursing home (like a dietary aide), the nursing home will usually pay for your CNA training after 6 months of reliable employment.I am sure you have found a list of pa schools on the net, such as:
http://mdjourney.com/index-of-all-physician-assistant-pa-programs-in-the-united-states-of-america-organized-by-state
They are not all Masters programs.
While getting into PA school’s Master Programs courses prerequisites are more or less the same, each school has its own EC requirements, some are more rigid than the other. You should go through the ones of your interest and find out the details from their web site.
The PAs I know did 4 year undergrad with usually a science major like biology then applied to a two year PA program. In order to apply, some PA schools want to see an interest so students shadow PAs before their undergraduate studies are over. Good luck!