Hours for PA School

[isomer250]

Hi I'm sort of have been looking at PA school as a new option from my previous decision of medical school. I have worked as a hearing screener in a hospital, where I conduct hearing exams on newborn infants and educate the patients as well as chart results. Does this count as PCE? Also, sort of confused, is HCE mostly just volunteer experience at hospitals? I applied to ScribeAmerica and received a full time position but is this a good option to collect hours for PA school? I have no other certifications, and have already been out of school and would like to get a position without going through the certification. I also have the option of working as a Health Technician at a Chiropractic Center.

Thanks for any help!

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[MusicDOc124]

I have worked as a hearing screener in a hospital, where I conduct hearing exams on newborn infants and educate the patients as well as chart results. Does this count as PCE?

Yes

Also, sort of confused, is HCE mostly just volunteer experience at hospitals?

No. Many people apply to PA school with paid hours from nursing, CNA, EMT, paramedic, corpsman/military medic, scribing, etc. People have also gotten HCE hours from working or volunteering outside of the hospital such as the mentioned EMT/medic as well as medical mission trips, clinics, etc. Volunteering is one way to get hours though, but not the only way.

I applied to ScribeAmerica and received a full time position but is this a good option to collect hours for PA school?

Yes, as long as the scribe job you are getting involves direct patient contact. There are other ways to get better experience though. I usually recommend EMT as it doesn't take a long time to train, you see patients often yourself or as a small team and learn to take a history early on, and you can pretty easily use that experience to later get a job in the hospital as an ER tech or critical care tech. This is what I did quite a few years ago and it worked out well. Having an EMT cert/license or previous tech experience were required for the job I initially applied for, and I didnt have previous tech experience, but I did have some as an EMT with an active cert/license that got me in the door. Not all positions require that though, so you could look for tech positions even without the EMT, but they may be few and far between.

Good luck.