Hey everyone, so if I have both volunteering and shadowing experiences, do I necessarily have to work, for example, as a medical assistant? I understand that having a job in medicine is very helpful in exposing yourself more to the medicine field, but I was wondering if having volunteering and shadowing would be sufficient enough.
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Having Volunteering and Shadowing Experiences
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It is sufficient for MD admission. Paradoxically, Physician Assistant programs expect the equivalent of a year of full-time employment from what I've heard.
As long as you are volunteering where you can interact with current patients, that ideally gives you a breadth of exposure to various types of conditions, you don't also need to work in a clinical environment, in addition. Physician shadowing and non-medical community service expectations would be in addition to that.
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I think this might pertain to practical differences between PAs and physicians, with PAs maybe having more roles with regards to direct contact and communication with patients (relative specifically to the physicians they work under)??
Or maybe it may be that way in order to differentiate those who truly want to become PA vs. those who are applying to PA school because they could not make the cut for medical school?
I have no idea why... I just know from having talked to a counterpart in PA admissions that this is the expectation.
I know of a PA program that requires > 1000 hrs of paid clinical experience
Well, that's only 6 months of f/t work.
