One of the items on your Future PA checklist likely involves collecting patient care experience (PCE).
Most schools require some amount of PCE. Even for those that don’t have a requirement, having patient care experience can make your application more competitive. Getting PCE may be another box on your list, but those requirements are there for a reason. Having experience in medicine prepares you for the adventure ahead.
But where to start?
First, pull up your spreadsheet for the schools that interest you and write down some information on each program’s requirements for patient care experience. Most schools require between 500 – 2000 hours, which equals anywhere from three months to a year of full-time work.
You can find tables online that give you a school-by-school breakdown of requirements – but remember, requirements change and these websites are not always completely correct. Use those sites as a guide, but always, always check the requirements page for each individual school.
Don’t just look at how many hours are required, but see if you can find information about how many hours, and what type of care, make you competitive.
Here are some questions and factors to have in mind while you’re gathering info
Patient care experience vs healthcare experience: Some schools only accept hands-on patient care, whereas others might count any hours worked in a healthcare setting, no matter your role.
Some duties may count differently depending on the school, such as medication administration, activities of daily living (ADLs), stocking supplies, patient transportation, or cleaning rooms.
Does the school require patient care experience be paid, or will volunteer hours count? Some schools only accept paid work. Some will accept volunteer hours if they involve hands-on care.
Will you need to somehow prove or verify the hours?
Does shadowing a provider count as patient care experience?
Does the program have a “tiered” approach to patient care? Some programs have a list of what they consider to be the strongest patient care, and a separate list of experiences that can only be used to make up a small portion of the required hours.
All patient care is not created equal
For many schools, a patient care experience may meet the criteria to count towards the mandatory hours, but that doesn’t mean it is the experience that will serve you best. Once you have figured out exactly what each school requires, think about what might offer the best balance between strong experience and those areas of medicine that interest you.
Is it well-rounded? Positions with a narrow focus frequently fall into that “it counts, but maybe it’s not enough by itself” category. This doesn’t mean you cannot become an ophthalmology tech or dental hygienist – but it would likely be worth your time to add some additional, better-rounded experience on top.
Scribe is a specific position that is an exception to some programs’ rules about “hands on.” Again, be sure to check individual program websites.
Considerations as you look for PCE
How much of the job is truly hands-on patient care? Can you divide the hours for positions that are only partially hands-on patient care? It’s generally assumed that all jobs have some amount of administrative work, but some will be have enough non patient care to need to account for in your hours. For instance, if you work in clinical research, how many of those hours are spent interacting with patients, and how many are behind the scenes in the lab or performing clerical work?
What sounds interesting? It is likely that at least some portion of your PA school application essays will be pulled from your patient care experience. It will be way easier to write a passionate and authentic essay if the passion is real. If you get patient care experience in a field you think you might like to be in after you graduate, you will also have a chance to see how you feel about it before you ever have to choose your clinical rotation electives.
How many hours do you already have? What does the rest of your application look like? As more schools move towards a holistic application process there is not one specific factor that makes or breaks many applications. Do you already have a lot of hours from previous experiences? Is the rest of your application stellar? You might have a little more leeway in what you choose for your next role.
There are school-specific considerations when you fill out your supplemental applications
You might hope that once you have chosen your patient care experience, you’re done with worrying about the conflicting requirements between schools. The truth is that you’ll need to pay attention to the supplemental applications, as well.
What you put on your CASPA may not match up exactly with what you put on your supplemental for each program.
Putting patient care in the wrong spot can mean shorting yourself hundreds or even thousands of hours. Conversely, if a school doesn’t count one experience and you list it in the PCE section, you can come across as trying to artificially inflate your hours.
How does each school want you to divide jobs that are spilt between clinical and admin or other non-patient facing roles?
Where should you put volunteer experience that counts as patient care experience?
If your position is called one thing but your experience encompassed more, make sure you make note of that. The title is not as important as the actual duties.
The most important takeaway regarding patient care experience is this
If you have a question about certain experiences and whether they count, contact the school and ask.
The Duke Physician Assistant Program Admissions Blog presents information based on the experiences of Duke PA Program staff and faculty. While the information provided is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication, requirements can change. Please visit the Duke PA Program website for the most up-to-date information.