ER Volunteering Advice

[Tarheels50]

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I am a Kinesiology major that just changed their mind about post bachelors plans. I originally was planning on PT but after some time in the PT setting I have decided that I like medicine more than rehabilitation and would evenutally want to become a PA. I just started volunteering at a busy Level 1 trauma center. I went through a whole bunch of **** to get certified to volunteer there and then was told to contact the head of the Emergency Dept. to get hours in the ER. So I talked to her on the phone and everything seemed good. When I came in for my first day I met with the head of the ER for like a second then she had a Med. tech show me around the dept. and I followed her around for awhile then she went on break. After that I was left on my own and this place is busy they have about 8 attending MDs, another 8 prolly in residency, 4-5 PAs, 15 RNs, and 6 Med Techs I felt lost and didnt know what to do. Any advice on how to get involved somewhat so I can at least assist in transporting labs/patients etc. I wanted to ask somebody there like what to do but everyone was really busy they had 2-3 patients flown in durring the time I was there and always had people waiting with the Paramedics to get in to the ER. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[deleted6669]

this will sound harsh but it's not meant to be.....
you need to focus on getting a JOB in healthcare, not racking up volunteer hrs....many programs don't even count volunteer hrs as anything more than community service.
take an emt-basic, cna, or medical asst. course(these can all be done in less than 6 mo part time) and WORK IN HEALTHCARE for a bit before even thinking about applying to pa school. most quality pa programs want a min of 1000 hrs and many want 2000-4000 hrs to meet the min criteria to get an interview. they want to know that you are familiar with the health care environment and have some idea what it entails. a few hundred hrs of pushing folks around in wheelchairs to xray or bringing them warm blankets in the er will not do that for you.
if you are really serious about pursuing pa check out www.physicianassistantforum.com and www.aapa.org to get more info on the profession

 

[Tarheels50]

Thank you, I understand everything that you said and over the past few days I have been stressing on what I should do right now. I have came down to two possible senarios. I could get my degree in Kinesiology and get certified as an EMT in the meantime. With my degree I can work with patients as a Cardiac Exercise Specialist or something like that. Or I can get a BS in nursing (meet all prerequsite already to get accepted into a program). However nursing does not interest me as much as my current major. I feel that a degree in Kinesiology could possibly be better for me down the long run because of the classes that I will be taking might help me in PA school especailly if was to specialize down the road. Also do you think while I am still in school I should add Organic Chemistry and Biochemisty because they are the only classes that arent required for my major?

 

[deleted6669]

depends...some pa programs require o-chem and biochem, some don't....depends where you want to go...

 

[foreverLaur]

If you finish your current degree, you could then get your BSN in 11-15 months. That is the option I chose. That is a really short training period for a huge increase in both pay and quality of experience. Then I figure if PA school doesn't work out (or at least not as soon as I hope), I have a great career out of nursing. I didn't really like the idea of living off of $11/hr 🙂

 

[RAMPA]

If you finish your current degree, you could then get your BSN in 11-15 months. That is the option I chose. That is a really short training period for a huge increase in both pay and quality of experience. Then I figure if PA school doesn't work out (or at least not as soon as I hope), I have a great career out of nursing. I didn't really like the idea of living off of $11/hr 🙂

true dat.

even if one doesn't get accepted to PA school the first time around one would have a back-up job paying $40-70K a year versus $20k. (Tarheels50 have you looked at tuition at many PA programs?)

 

[Tarheels50]

Yeah even before both of you both posted I was looking at nursing. At first it was a little hard for me to stomach "Male Nurse" but it seems like a smart choice. I have some female friends that are pre-nusing that like applauded for that. I was looking at all the the options and it seems crazy a kinesiology degree doesnt do you much I guess it makes sense there is not much money in rehabilitation. I was looking to just transfer to a nursing program but I missed the deadlines of most schools by like a month but to have a dual major with just another year is not bad at all. So my new plan is to hopefully take an EMT program over this summer if I can find one close by that does not conflict with my 8 week gross anatomy course that I have to take, finish my degree here, get accepted into a 12 month nursing program back home and then hopefully go from there. And I have looked at PA school tuition I know its a lot of money especially when you have to take into account the fact you will have to take out loans for living expenses etc.

 

[Tarheels50]

Yeah even before both of you both posted I was looking at nursing. At first it was a little hard for me to stomach "Male Nurse" but it seems like a smart choice. I have some female friends that are pre-nusing that like applauded for that. I was looking at all the the options and it seems crazy a kinesiology degree doesnt do you much I guess it makes sense there is not much money in rehabilitation. I was looking to just transfer to a nursing program but I missed the deadlines of most schools by like a month but to have a dual major with just another year is not bad at all. So my new plan is to hopefully take an EMT program over this summer if I can find one close by that does not conflict with my 8 week gross anatomy course that I have to take, finish my degree here, get accepted into a 12 month nursing program back home and then hopefully go from there. And I have looked at PA school tuition I know its a lot of money especially when you have to take into account the fact you will have to take out loans for living expenses etc.

 

[foreverLaur]

I am highly considering moving to Texas for a year and working to gain residency before applying to PA school. The Texas PA schools (of which there are 7) highly prefer instate residents (except Baylor since it is private) and the tuition there is very cheap for a masters.

For example, UT-Southwestern in Dallas is a 31 month program and the TOTAL tuition & fees for the entire 31 months is only $23,393 for in-state residents. I believe Texas Tech is similar, but the program is 27 months (around $25,000). Seems kinda hard to pass up!

Here is a listing of all the current Accelerated BSN programs (as of Fall 2007)
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/APLIST.PDF

 

[Tarheels50]

Yeah even before both of you both posted I was looking at nursing. At first it was a little hard for me to stomach "Male Nurse" but it seems like a smart choice. I have some female friends that are pre-nusing that like applauded for that. I was looking at all the the options and it seems crazy a kinesiology degree doesnt do you much I guess it makes sense there is not much money in rehabilitation. I was looking to just transfer to a nursing program but I missed the deadlines of most schools by like a month but to have a dual major with just another year is not bad at all. So my new plan is to hopefully take an EMT program over this summer if I can find one close by that does not conflict with my 8 week gross anatomy course that I have to take, finish my degree here, get accepted into a 12 month nursing program back home and then hopefully go from there. And I have looked at PA school tuition I know its a lot of money especially when you have to take into account the fact you will have to take out loans for living expenses etc.