If you are planning to enroll in PA school, you’re off to a very challenging, but at the same time, rewarding experience. But before you can set foot on campus and start learning about medical concepts and the PA profession, you have to jump over one more big hurdle — PA school application.
The application process is nearly half the battle, considering that PA school admissions are highly competitive. Preparation is key when putting your application through so that you can manage your time wisely and complete all the requirements before the application period ends.
Aside from your GPA and other course prerequisites, a meaningful patient care experience is one of the most important things that PA school admissions offices will consider. While some programs do not require it, applicants with patient care experience obtain a competitive advantage — not to mention leverage to excel in PA school and the PA career.
Patient Care Experience Requirements for PA School
Most PA programs will require a certain degree of healthcare-related experience. To them, it’s an important predictor of how applicants will perform in the rigorous PA program and also prepares them for the clinical environment where they will be placed down the line.
204 of the physician assistant programs in the United States have healthcare experience as a prerequisite to admissions, with most going even further and requiring direct patient care experience. On the other hand, 84 programs do not require healthcare experience, but strongly recommend and give priority to students who have accomplished it.
In addition, PA programs usually require patient care experience to be paid, which means that the applicant should have received monetary compensation for their healthcare service.
As of writing, there are only three schools that don’t require any form of healthcare experience upon application, including:
Butler University, Indiana (one of the best PA schools in IN)
Mary Baldwin College, Virginia
Western University of Health Sciences, California
How Many Hours of Patient Care Experience Do You Need to Apply to PA School?
Of the schools that require patient care or healthcare-related experience as a prerequisite to admissions, 22% require at least 500 hours, 11% set the minimum at 1,000 hours, and only 2.7% require 2,000 hours of healthcare experience.
The 2019 to 2020 report of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) revealed the average number of health-care related experience hours among applicants accepted into PA school. The average student had:
2,664 hours of direct patient contact
756 hours of other healthcare experience
338 hours of community service
2,155 hours of other work experience
94 hours of PA shadowing
The number of hours you need to complete would depend on the requirements of your PA program of choice. However, if you want to maximize the experience for learning and gain leverage for your PA school application, at least 2,000 hours or one year of full-time patient care experience is recommended.
Patient Care Experience vs. Healthcare Experience
The form of healthcare-related experience required by PA programs will also vary. Some schools accept any experience in the hospital environment, while others require their applicants to be directly involved in patient care.
The Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) application form also differentiates between healthcare experience and patient care experience. So it’s important to know the difference.
Direct Patient Care Experience
Patient care experience involves completing tasks that directly respond to patient care. As opposed to supporting doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, direct patient care experience requires the applicant to be hands-on and responsible for providing care to patients.
The following tasks constitute direct patient care:
Designing a treatment plan
Performing procedures
Prescribing medication and course of treatment
Working as a CNA, dental hygienist, EMT, nurse, paramedic, phlebotomist, physical therapist, etc.
Healthcare Experience
On the other hand, healthcare experience does not require you to be directly responsible for patient care, but have some sort of patient interaction or support the primary physician or medical practitioner. The tasks that are considered healthcare experience need not be in the medical setting as well, as long as it is related to the field.
Some examples of healthcare experience include:
Administering medication
Cleaning hospital rooms
Delivering or administering food to patients
Filing prescriptions
Taking vitals
What Qualifies as Direct Patient Care Experience for PA School?
If the PA programs on your radar are requiring direct patient care experience, you need to know what types of tasks and positions qualify as direct patient care. Most schools recognize and accept the following direct patient care positions:
Army Medic
Athletic Trainer
Certified Nursing Assistant
Chiropractor
Clinical Psychologist
Corpsman
Dental Hygienist
Dietitian
EMT
ER Tech
Exercise Physiologist
Medical Assistant
Nurse
Nutritionist
Occupational Therapist
Paramedic
Patient Care Assistant
Physician
Respiratory Therapist
Scribe
It’s worth noting, however, that some PA programs may not consider a previous Medical Scribe position to be direct patient care experience. Some Scribes get only exposure but are not as hands-on with patient care.
More often than not, PA schools will have a list of direct patient care experience positions they accept, so make sure to do your own research or speak to the admissions office of your school of choice.
What Does Not Qualify as Patient Care Experience for PA School?
There are some activities that can pass as direct patient care experience but may be gray areas that PA programs cannot consider. The following activities typically do not qualify as patient care experience for PA school:
Conducting medical research
Healthcare experience part of training programs, such as internships or fieldwork
Medical training without employment
Observations, such as PA shadowing
Providing first-aid not in the capacity of a medical professional, i.e. teacher, coach, scout leader, etc.
Record-keeping or clerical work
Taking care of a sick family member
Volunteering at a temporary health center
Filling Out Patient Care Experience in CASPA Application Forms
The experience section in the CASPA application form will ask you to list both your healthcare and direct patient care experience. You’ll need to include information such as:
Job title and role
Name of institution where the experience was obtained
Name and title of the direct supervisor
Detailed responsibilities or tasks performed
Number of hours worked per week
Number of weeks worked
If you have jobs that combine both direct patient care and healthcare experience, you should break them down and list them under both sections in your CASPA application form.
Aside from patient care experience and healthcare experience, you will also need to report other categories, if any, including:
Research projects
Community service
Other work experience
Patient Care/ Healthcare Experience Requirements by PA Program
Below are some PA programs and their respective requirements for healthcare and patient care experience.
Albany Medical College, New York - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Bethel University, Minnesota (which is considered one of the best PA schools in MN) - 250 hours of any healthcare-related experience
Concordia University, Wisconsin - 124 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Emory University, Georgia - 2,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
George Washing University, District of Columbia - 1,000 hours of any healthcare-related experience
Heritage University, Washington - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Indiana University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Indiana - 500 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
James Madison University, Virginia - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
King’s College, Pennsylvania - 500 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Loma Linda University, California - 2,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Mercer University, Georgia - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Northern Arizona University, Arizona - 500 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon - 2,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Penn State University, Pennsylvania - 500 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Rocky Mountain College, Montana (which is considered one of the best PA schools in MT) - 250 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Stanford University, California (which is considered one of the best PA schools in CA)- 3,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Tufts University, Massachusetts - 1,000 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
University of Dayton, Ohio - 250 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
Wingate University, North Carolina - 500 hours of paid hands-on patient care experience
It’s worth taking a second look at the application requirements of your PA program of choice and see how many hours of health care or patient care experience they require. Some schools may also have shadowing and community service prerequisites.
Gain Experience and Get Into PA School
Although not required by all PA programs, patient care experience is crucial before you get into PA school. Immersing yourself in the field and getting hands-on insights on the job can help you prepare for both clinical work and academic lectures when you begin your PA school journey. Further, it allows you to get a better understanding of a medical career and reinforces your desire to pursue a PA profession.
So regardless of whether patient care experience is required by PA programs on your radar or not, it’s well worth it to try it out to gain an advantage in your PA school admissions and pick up valuable insights that will help you thrive in your chosen career path.
