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Patient Care Hours: what they are and why they matter

in pre-pa, Uncategorized on 08/28/18

Patient care experience can be a prickly topic because the term is often used in different ways. There’s not always a clear definition from one school to the next, and this leads to confusion. What is clear is that it’s important that PA school candidates have patient care experience (PCE) and in order to be competitive, the more PCE, the better.

There’s also just “healthcare experience” and sometimes “direct patient care” gets thrown in there for fun. Let’s see what these terms mean.

What is PCE?

Injection

According to the almighty CASPA (Central Application Service for Physician Assistants), here’s the definition of PCE:

Experiences in which you are directly responsible for a patient’s care.

This is also sometimes called Direct Patient Care (DPC) at different programs. Even CASPA uses this term almost interchangeably with PCE.

So we’ve got PCE and DPC. Sounds simple enough, right? You’d think so but read on.

So what’s Healthcare Experience?

The definition of PCE would be easy enough if there wasn’t an overlap with another category: healthcare experience.

Again, according to CASPA, here’s the definition of healthcare experience:

Both paid and unpaid work in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient’s care, but may still have patient interaction.

Let’s do a little compare and contrast for argument’s sake.

Bring in the contestants

Think of two positions who might have exposure to patients in some way.

Let’s take a patient transport position for one example.

A patient transport position has a lot of exposure to many different patients, and yes, you’d be responsible for that person’s care in getting them where they need to go in a hospital; however, apart from being around a medical setting, you would not have responsibility for that person’s healthcare. Care yes, since we’d want the patient to arrive safely at their destination. Healthcare, no.

Contrast that position with a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). As a CNA, many times your responsibilities are directly involved with handling the patient’s healthcare needs. The All Nursing Schools website describes some of the responsibilities of a CNA:

  • Bathe and dress patients
  • Serve meals and help patients eat
  • Take vital signs
  • Turn or reposition patients who are bedridden
  • Collect information about conditions and treatment plans from caregivers, nurses and doctors
  • Examine patients for bruises, blood in urine or other injuries/wounds
  • Clean and sanitize patient areas

As you can see, there’s some elements in this role that are very directly involved in the physical care of a patient. You must be careful about this position, though, because not all CNAs have the same responsibilities. If your role is more about handling paperwork or administering food, CASPA says this would fall in the health care experience category and not the patient care category. Do your research in advance and ask very specific questions about the job you’re taking.

What are schools looking for?

We did some research into a few different PA programs, just to see what’s out there.

Because we’re based in the Midwest (specifically in Minnesota (uff-da)), we chose to start with Augsburg College in Saint Paul.

Augsburg’s website has some recommendations for patient care. They say that highly competitive applicants to the Augsburg PA Program will have:

  • Direct patient care experience. This is the best type of experience to obtain in order to strengthen an application. We recommend at least 2000 hours of paid, direct, hands-on clinical patient care to be competitive in this category.
  • Additional science courses such as anatomy, genetics, immunology, other biology courses, and organic chemistry
  • Demonstration of motivation for the PA profession by formally shadowing a PA or other health care provider.
  • Demonstration of a commitment to, and involvement with, underserved communities

Augsburg is looking for people with a 3.0 minimum GPA overall and in science, and they have 33 students per cycle.

From there we widened our ring a little bit but stayed in the Midwest. Mayo Clinic is so renowned we wanted to see what their standards would say.

Things got a little hard to trace, because they have a quad-partnership with three other organizations / institutions. You’d go to University of Wisconsin – Lacrosse for your coursework, and then do your rotations through Mayo related clinics and hospitals. This program only has 19 seats each year.

They use the term “direct patient healthcare experience” which muddies the waters somewhat because it melds different terms. When you dig a little deeper, their website says that while the program “expects that applicants will have healthcare experience, in particular experience involving direct patient contact” which clarifies the phrase. They say historically their applicants have years worth of experience, and they call out nursing assistant, phlebotomist, and EMT positions as jobs that do not require years of training in advance as a way of gaining this healthcare experience. [Information cited comes from the UW-Lacrosse website.]

In contrast, Red Rocks Community College in Colorado expects its applicants to have 2000 paid hours of healthcare-relevant experience. That’s a lot of hours but the term is pretty broad. They have only 32 seats each year.

On the other side of the country in Virginia, East Virginia Medical School technically doesn’t require it’s applicants to have any health care experience.

Technically.

However, having that experience is going to make you a much more competitive candidate. Their website goes on to define which kinds of jobs or volunteer opportunities count towards health care experience. According to their website:

  • Examples of acceptable types of direct patient care include:
    • Registered nurse
    • Certified nursing assistant
    • Emergency medical technician
    • Paramedic
    • Emergency room technician
    • Certified medical assistant
  • Examples of peri-clinical patient care experience include:
    • Scribe
    • Pharmacy technician
    • Unit secretary

University of Florida offers a useful graph for what they consider Direct Patient Care vs. general health care experience. Their program states they also don’t require DPC but it is recommended. They suggest working one year or 2000 hours will give you that recommended baseline of experience.

You can see there’s some pretty high standards for what schools look for, and even those who officially say they don’t require it? Well, in order to be competitive with the potential 1000+ people who are applying for those approx. 30 seats, you’d be naive to think you’d have the upper hand because of your charm and wit in an interview. You’d be lucky to get that far.

Get all the experience you can

What’s the moral of this story? Get all the experience you can.

Most schools say they don’t require direct patient care experience but then they go on to explain what they’d accept as direct patient care experience.

We take this to mean that in order to really be competitive for almost any program, applicants need to have at least a year’s worth of work in order to stay in the race. Sometimes it takes getting another certification in order to get access to those jobs.

Whatever route you decide to take, remember that as you are gaining experience for PA school, you are also learning medicine. These are valuable skills that you will take with you to the next phase of your career!

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I would like to share some excited news with you. I recently was accepted to 2 PA schools and still have another interview coming.

I was accepted to Marshall B. Ketchum in Fullerton, CA, and Touro University- California.  and another interview at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Ca.

I wanted to thank you for giving me the best coach ever. He is super supportive and always check if I was ok during the process. I am so happy and proud of myself that I even got in the first year. I know how competitive PA schools are, so I am just so thankful that I found you all.

Betty, accepted at Marshall B. Ketchum and Touro University, California Coaching Package

I took your advice and went into my interview with confidence. I just want to thank you so much for all your help!!! I am truly grateful for what you’ve done for me. 🙂 

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Robin Coaching Package

I don’t even know how to thank you for all your help!! I was accepted to my first choice program at the Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate Program Class of 2019! Not only that, but I was one of those they called right after the interview. I am absolutely excited (and scared)!

Thank you again for all your through assistance! I don’t think I could have done this without you!

Angela, accepted at Yale School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program Coaching Package

I just got their acceptance email. Beyond excited and grateful. Thank you so much for everything. I would not have come this far without your help!

 

Aleena, accepted at UTGRV Mock Interview/Personal Statement Critique

My experience with PA Trek Coaching was great. The team really provided me with the guidance I was looking for, plus tons of extra information that really came in handy. Initially, I was struggling with my personal statement but my PA Trek coach encouraged me to look inside myself and dig deep. Without their help, I’m not sure if I would have been able to articulate my story in such a professional way. Additionally, the mock interview with my coach gave me a new perspective and insight on the entire process. I know the mock interview helped me gain confidence with my interviewing skills, which really paid off. Thank you, PA Trek Coaching! 

Liza Chapman, accepted at Emory University Coaching Package

I used personal statement review and interview bootcamp. These resources were INVALUABLE to me. I felt my confidence grow, and when it was time for my last interview at my top choice school, I killed it!

Lindsay Hickman, accepted at St. Catherine University, MPAS Personal Statment Critique/ Interview Bootcamp Personal Statement Critique and Interview Bootcamp

I just wanted to share that after my ONLY interview this cycle (aaand my first cycle applying), I was just accepted to Carroll University’s PA Program and will be starting this coming May!!!!!
I will be forever glad that I took advantage of  PA Trek! My coach gave me great advice and suggestions which I definitely took to heart and worked on the week following our mock, and knowing what I needed to work on gave me the confidence that I needed. I felt I truly rocked that interview and clearly I did something right. 🙂

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Mary, accepted at Carroll University Mock Interview

We took an hour for a mock interview at the end of September and I just wanted to give you an update on my interviews! So far, I have gone to four. I was accepted at South University (Savannah, GA) and Western Michigan University! Your mock interview helped me so much. At WMU, I had an impromptu essay about the state of health care in America / pros and cons of the current health system and I felt completely prepared – I wouldn’t have had too much to say if you hadn’t recommended I look into it further! Just wanted to let you know! Thanks so much for your time. It was well worth it.

Laura, accepted at South University and Western Michigan University Used our Mock Interview

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