<p>I am interested in a career as a physicians assistant, however there seems to be only a handful of colleges that offer a definite physician assistant program. Does anyone know if I can potentially major in pre-med or something similar that would prepare me for a graduate school? This way, I can have more college options.</p>
<p>there isnt a premed major. Major in whatever you want and include the PA prereqs.</p>
<p>Physician Assistant is a graduate degree program. There are some schools which offer a 5 year combined BS/MS for physician assistants.</p>
<p>Here’s a list of accredited programs:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.arc-pa.org/acc_programs/”>http://www.arc-pa.org/acc_programs/</a></p>
<p>There are a LOT of schools that offer 5 year programs for PA’s, and it is the most efficient way to get the degree. Competition for the graduate programs are extremely competitive (over 800 applicants for 20 positions at my daughter’s school - and that was a fluke year because they decided to greatly increase the number of graduate slots that year). </p>
I have a question about applying for a P.A program. I was just wondering, they say before you apply you must have at least 500 hours of Direct patient experience. My main question is how on earth am I going to produce 500+ hours? And how exactly can I obtain these hours? I have heard some people say Clinical Volunteering or have a job like EMT or nursing prior to applying. So do I have to work and put time out before I apply (Working as in getting a paid job and not just volunteering)? How should I approach this?
You are not required to hold a paying job to fulfill your patient contact hours, though you can if you want. Both types of activities (paid and volunteer) count toward fulfilling your patient contact requirement.
Many PA applicants are non-traditionals (they apply after having been out of school for several years), but it’s certainly possible to apply as a college junior so that you can go directly into a PA program after graduation. If you want to do this, you need to find a patient contact position probably no later than your the summer after freshman year of college.
You can also consider getting your certification as EMT-B or CNA or phlebotomist (or maybe even a PT-assistant) after high school and working at a full time job during the summers to help accumulate the required hours. (It also puts some money in your pocket which is always nice.)
For EMT, CNA and phlebotomist, you need to be at least 18 years old. Certification/licensing classes are offered at your local community college.
Volunteer sites to consider: hospital, rehab hospital, mental health facility, nursing home, group home for disabled adults or children, stand alone free clinic (like Healthcare for the Homeless). As a new volunteer, you probably won’t immediately be placed into a patient contact position since the volunteer supervisor will want to observe you, your work ethic/persistence and common sense level before moving you into one.
There are lots of ways to volunteer. D2 volunteered as therapy asst at a neuro-rehabilitation unit at a rehab hospital. She also volunteered as a therapeutic mentor to mentally ill teenagers thru a community based outpatient program.
If you are applying to one of the 5 year direct admit programs experience is typically not required. If you are applying as a graduate school the amount of experience and type is often school dependent. But, you are competing with many other graduate candidates and you want to have experience that is competitive or stands out. For more information you can check out http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/
I see that you are still in high school, so you have plenty of time and opportunities. You have to have the 300-500 hours before starting the graduate phase - so, before year four if you are accepted into a 3+2 college program.
You can volunteer in a clinic or nursing home (my daughter volunteered with the local blood bank, which also counted), and also spend time shadowing PA’s in a variety of clinical settings to get an idea of which specialties you might want as a career. Document all of those hours.
In the undergrad years of the pre-PA program there are ample opportunities provided by the program or publicized by the program to get more hours.
My daughter and her best friend spent their summers working as home care aides, which were counted as patient contact hours. My kid worked with children with medical needs (though she was only able to feed/clean/assist with mobility/etc; her friend worked with elderly clients.
“Contact” hours for students entering the program as college freshmen tend to be much less technical than for those entering at the graduate level - partly because the college kids have been getting medical training in undergrad, but mostly because the ones starting as grad students have been working in medical fields anyway.