Physician Assistants Please ANSWER!

Started by impulse4life
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impulse4life

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I am a Paramedic (just licensed in September) and I want to further my education, I love being a Paramedic but I want to get into surgery. I just learned about the role of a PA and I like the fact the training is 2 years and I can move around in specialties.

I just have a few questions regarding the training and prerequisites. Would I be able to enter into a PA program with a EMT-P Diploma or do I need a 4 year degree? Also is the training really hands on like paramedicine? Or is it sitting in class getting lectured learning theory and going to the lab? Is the material really advanced? Now, I am okay at Chemistry but not great would that really affect my potential to do good? Is there any test that we have to take before hand like the MCAT for med students?

Are PAs respected by docs and more importantly other allied health professionals and patients?? I know as a EMT-P we are treated good except Nurse Practitioners-they treat us like complete crap they are so arrogant. Do NP s treat PA s any better? Now I love the ER can I work in the ER as a PA?

Or anything else you think I should know or would like to share please do.

Thanks so much for you help guys!
 
paramedic is a great background for pa( see my signature....🙂.
pa school is 2 yrs long with 1 classroom yr and 1 clinical yr. there are a few 3 yr part time programs out there.
there are pa programs taught at several different academic levels. the training and certification are the same but the degree reflects your highest level of academic accomplishment-for example:
enter with an a.s. get a b.s.
enter with a b.s. get an m.s.( you need to take the gre to get into most m.s. level programs).
enter as a certificate only allied health professional(say paramedic) get an associates.
different programs offer different degree options so check out the links to all programs at www.aapa.org
you will probably need a few prereqs to enter any pa program beyond what you got in medic school so check with individual programs to see what they require. typical prereqs include anatomy, biology, chemistry, etc
pa's are treated as colleagues by physicians, nurses, and np's. in many settings pa's and np's have identical job descriptions as both are midlevel providers with 2 yrs of additional medical training.
emergency medicine is a great field to work in as a pa. see www.sempa.org the national em pa society.
see www.physicianassistant.net for a pa specific forum. pm me there if you have additional questions. I am the em forum moderator there.
see www.appap.org for info on optional postgraduate pa residencies.
don't let anyone here at sdn give you a hard time about considering a career as a pa. sdn is a fairly pa unfriendly environment.
 
impulse4life said:
I am a Paramedic (just licensed in September) and I want to further my education, I love being a Paramedic but I want to get into surgery. I just learned about the role of a PA and I like the fact the training is 2 years and I can move around in specialties.

I just have a few questions regarding the training and prerequisites. Would I be able to enter into a PA program with a EMT-P Diploma or do I need a 4 year degree? Also is the training really hands on like paramedicine? Or is it sitting in class getting lectured learning theory and going to the lab? Is the material really advanced? Now, I am okay at Chemistry but not great would that really affect my potential to do good? Is there any test that we have to take before hand like the MCAT for med students?

You can get into PA school without a four year degree but it will limit your options. The few schools that do not require them generally require a lot of experience (4 years plus). Having a BS or BA will enhance your options. There are 139 PA programs. 110 award a masters degree as their primary degree. Not having a bachelors will allow you to apply to 22% of the programs. Having a bachelors will allow you to apply to 100%. In addition if you do not have a Masters you may not practice in Missouri, Mississippi or Ohio (Bachelors or Masters needed for W. Virginia).

The training has some hands on components, but is primarily lecture (or PBL for those programs that use this). Mostly its gluing you butt to a chair for a year then trying to put it into practice in clinicals. Generally you need to take the GRE but some schools accept the MCAT. You don't have to be great at chemistry but most programs want you to have some O-chem or biochem. You really need this to understand pharm.

Are PAs respected by docs and more importantly other allied health professionals and patients?? I know as a EMT-P we are treated good except Nurse Practitioners-they treat us like complete crap they are so arrogant. Do NP s treat PA s any better? Now I love the ER can I work in the ER as a PA?

Or anything else you think I should know or would like to share please do.

Thanks so much for you help guys!
Click to expand...

As far as work environments. PAs are the predominant NPP in surgery and about 35% of PAs are working in surgery. EM is another big area and 10% or so are working in EM. Family practice with urgent care is also big. As far as the relationship with NPs that has been dealt with in other threads. There is a lot of debate in the EM community as to which particular brand of NP is appropriate for the ER.
Here is some general information on PAs:
http://www.aapa.org/glance.html
I would invite you over to the PAforum where most of these questions have been answered (hint search is your friend):
http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/

Also for specific information on PAs in EM:
http://www.sempa.org/

David Carpenter, PA-C
 
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