Why do requirements for Clinicians differ so widely?

Started by FireCloud9
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FireCloud9

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Does anyone know?

Most other professions have similar requirements, they may not be exactly the same, but it seems that in healthcare requirements for programs vary widely.

Some don't require any healthcare experience, others require some, and others require a lot.

The coursework varies, some require organic chem, others 1 or more years of chem, and others just 1 chem class. Similarly with other courses.

I can understand that an AA program may have different requirements than a PA or NP, but even among a single program there seem to be wide differences in requirements.

Is there any rhyme or reason?
 
I can answer with regards to pa programs. there are essentially 2 philosophies out there in pa education; high hce(prior health care experience) and minimal coursework vs low or no hce and high gpa/gre/prereq requirements.
the original (and best in my opinion) pa programs took( and still take) folks who were paramedics, nurses, resp. therapists, etc without a prior degree and required a few prereqs like bio/A+P, intro chem, microbio, some math, and some social studies ( say a total of 5-6 courses) and then built on that foundation.
many newer programs want to charge grad school tuition so they require a prior bs and essentially medschool prereqs(o-chem, biochem, etc) + the gre for admission plus very little hce. by requiring minimaL hce they essentially allow anyone with a bs in a science field to apply so they have created a much larger applicant pool.

when the criteria were a lot stricter and required the hce we had around 50 programs with around 40 students in each so 2000 new pa grads/yr. we now have 150 programs with the same avg 40/class so 6000 new pa grads/yr.
I would prefer for pa to have remained a smaller profession and retained it's stronger hce roots than what it has developed into today at many programs.
 
So schools expanded to build a bigger business.

I thought it may have something to do with the areas of medicine that PAs end up in with some areas requiring more extensive HCE than others which are not as critical.
 
Nevertheless, it is probably still good for the profession to have the numbers. That is one of AA's biggest problems. There are only like 1000 AA's nationwide. It's hard to play politics when you have 1000 voices vs 30,000 voices.

Assuming those extra 4,000 PA grads a year are competent providers, does it matter which of those two paths they went through? I can understand why you feel the way you do, but outcomes is what matters.

Now, if there's a paper showing that since that paradigm shift, claims against PA's have gone up substantially, then thats another story. Then I would argue that the health care experience was really essential in training good PA's.

emedpa said:
I can answer with regards to pa programs. there are essentially 2 philosophies out there in pa education; high hce(prior health care experience) and minimal coursework vs low or no hce and high gpa/gre/prereq requirements.
the original (and best in my opinion) pa programs took( and still take) folks who were paramedics, nurses, resp. therapists, etc without a prior degree and required a few prereqs like bio/A+P, intro chem, microbio, some math, and some social studies ( say a total of 5-6 courses) and then built on that foundation.
many newer programs want to charge grad school tuition so they require a prior bs and essentially medschool prereqs(o-chem, biochem, etc) + the gre for admission plus very little hce. by requiring minimaL hce they essentially allow anyone with a bs in a science field to apply so they have created a much larger applicant pool.

when the criteria were a lot stricter and required the hce we had around 50 programs with around 40 students in each so 2000 new pa grads/yr. we now have 150 programs with the same avg 40/class so 6000 new pa grads/yr.
I would prefer for pa to have remained a smaller profession and retained it's stronger hce roots than what it has developed into today at many programs.
Click to expand...
 
Are certain PA schools known for producing better graduates in certain specializations or is it largely just general PA education?
 
there are some focus programs out there in surgery and peds but pretty much any program should give you a general exposure to allow you to apply for any entry level job.
some programs prepare you better than others but that is another discussion.
 
Endee said:
Assuming those extra 4,000 PA grads a year are competent providers, does it matter which of those two paths they went through? I can understand why you feel the way you do, but outcomes is what matters.
.
Click to expand...

They are competent, but competent beginners, not folks who can hit the ground running day 1 like in the past. it wasn't uncommon for new grads 10-15 yrs ago to get hard core er/surgery/rural fp, etc jobs right out of school.
now all of these positions want folks with experience or a pa residency because the folks coming out today aren't as ready to practice with minimal supervision as the folks in years past. as a long time preceptor for pa students I can tell the difference between old school type applicants and the more typical direct entry type applicants today.
 
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