There are so many students who are passionate about healthcare and many might hope to become doctors. However, students are often disheartened due to Medical school and its lengthy, complicated, challenging, and costly process. But there are many other career options within healthcare to consider, one of which I will focus on today- becoming a Physician Assistant (PA). PAs often work in hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing homes, and more. As a Physician Assistant, like the name suggests, you work under the supervision of a doctor and assist them (In whatever specialized area of medicine you might choose, for example- pediatrics), and can perform many of the same actions that a doctor would, such as:
►Obtaining patient histories
►Performing physical examinations
►Diagnosing and treating patients/writing prescriptions
►Ordering tests (lab, x-rays, etc)
►And more!
(Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science)
As a student, the first steps you should take are researching different PA programs online, finding ones you would be interested in applying for, and checking what pre- requisite courses they require so that you can begin taking those courses. You can also keep note of their application and supplemental deadlines, and your interview dates/times. It is also helpful to be a science major so that your required coursework may apply to PA school pre-reqs (but you might still have to take more outside classes to fulfill the pre-reqs, depending on the schools requirements) (Kmaloney, 2022).
Once you have finished your prerequisite coursework and obtained your bachelors degree, you can order your college transcript(s) and begin your healthcare experience hours which are required for many PA schools. As a future PA, you obviously need healthcare experience, and it is very helpful to start as early as possible! However, some people take a gap year after receiving their bachelors so that they can gain valuable healthcare and patient care experience (HCE, PCE)(PA-C et al., 2022). PA schools often require between 1,000-2,000 HCE or PCE hours (you can find exact hour requirements listed on PA schools websites). And here are some examples of typically acceptable HCE/PCE:
►Dental hygienist
►Emergency medical technician
►Nurse
►Nursing assistant
►Occupational therapist
►Paramedic
►Physical therapist
►Surgical technician
►And more! (PA schools websites will have an exact list of what experience they accept, and do not accept, but here you can find a more exhaustive list: https://www.thepalife.com/hce-paschool/)
►(PA-C et al., 2022)
After gaining health care experience, you are ready to apply to PA school! Prospective students often use the CAPSA (Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants) to apply to PA schools, and your transcripts will need to be sent to CASPA. Then, you need to obtain letters of recommendation from professors, supervisors, physicians, and PAs (Kmaloney, 2022).
The next very important step of your application is your personal statement where you write a 5,000 character essay submitted through CAPSA, where you share why you want to become a PA and why you should be accepted into the PA program(s) you are applying for. After you have submitted applications, you should prepare for potential admission interviews. (Tip: Practicing mock interviews helps a lot! You can complete mock interviews through the Fleishman Career Center).
You can also find out the PA school’s typical interview style to help you better prepare(Kmaloney, 2022).
With lots of interview practice, you should be ready for the interview and hopefully perform well enough to be enrolled in the school.
Once you finally get into the school, be sure to study, study, study!
Hopefully this was a helpful guide that basically sums up the PA school application process and hopefully some of you reading got inspired to become a PA!
Other helpful resources for information on becoming a PA can be found here:
https://paeaonline.org/resources/member-resources/caspa
https://www.physicianassistantforum.com/
