Patient Care and Healthcare Experience for PA School
'GPA and performance in the prerequisites are undeniably very important but a meaningful HCE is a near second!' - Duke Physician Assistant ProgramClick To TweetToday we are going to tackle step 2 of my 5 steps to PA school series by taking a very detailed look at healthcare experience requirements for PA school.
- Complete the necessary prerequisite coursework
- Obtain the required medical and hands-on patient care experience ← you are here
- Successfully prepare for and take the GRE (or avoid it)
- Obtain at least 3 high-quality letters of recommendation
- Complete the CASPA application essay and all supplemental materials on time
Finished step 1 already? The prerequisite planner will tell you in about ten minutes exactly which courses you still owe each of your programs — and whether any of them will expire before you matriculate.
Included, in this discussion is a side-by-side comparison of healthcare experience requirements of all PA programs in the United States.
PA is different from most other health professions in that to be competitive as an applicant it often requires a very large number of hours of paid healthcare experience.
But the question remains: How many hours of healthcare-related experience do you need to give yourself a competitive advantage along with a broad range of application options in the shortest amount of time?
What do you think?
Healthcare Experience Requirements for PA School
Below is a table comparing the hours of healthcare experience required and type of healthcare experience requested by the majority of Physician Assistant Programs in the United States.
Here are some of the fields that are typically accepted by most programs:
- Military Corpsman
- EMT or paramedic
- Combat Medic
- Registered Nurse (RN), BSN, LPN
- EEG or EKG technician
- Emergency room technician
- Physical therapy aide
- Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)
- Medical Assistant (MA)
- Respiratory Therapist
- Dietician
- Phlebotomist
- International healthcare based mission trips
- Hospice
- Medical Technologist
- Licensed Practical Nurse
- Dental Hygienist OR Technologist
- X-Ray Technologist
- Physical/Occupational Therapist
- Medical Social Worker Mental
- Health Care Counselor
- Aide in Dialysis Unit
- Optometry Assistant
- Chiropractic Assistant
We have had many military medics as students in our program. This experience is a great foundation for the profession. - Elissa Love, BCM PA Program in Houston
Here are some activities that are typically not accepted by most programs:
- Taking care of a family member is not really clinical experience. You can mention it and talk about the clinical care you provided, but it's not really what PA schools are looking for. (Although you should take care of your family)
- Observation of any kind (i.e., shadowing a physician or PA)
- Conducting research
- Helping in the health center at a summer camp
- Medical records personnel or clerical worker in a medical office or hospital
- Pharmacy technician/clerk
- Training without employment (such as EMT/MICT, etc.)
- Healthcare experience which is part of a healthcare training program (i.e., clinical rotations, fieldwork, or internships)
- Providing first aid as a coach, scout leader, etc
See more detailed list at the end of this post
Here are some activities that are highly variable:
- Medical Scribe is one of those very gray areas in that it provides exposure but is not always hands-on. Many schools accept it and many don't.
- Working as a medical interpreter
- Volunteering
- Athletic trainer
"We strongly believe that HCE is a predictor of success because it readies the student for the clinical environment, introduces them to pathophysiology, and prepares them for the rigor of our program and the demands and high standard of our didactic and clinical years." - Case Western Reserve University
Healthcare Experience vs. Patient Care Experience. What's the difference?
In the CASPA experience section, you will be asked to enter both patient care and healthcare experience hours.
They sound like the same thing, but It's important that you understand the difference as you can only enter each experience once and schools may prefer one over the other.
Patient Care Experience (PCE): Experiences in which you are directly responsible for a patient's care. For example, prescribing medication, performing procedures, directing a course of treatment, designing a treatment regimen, actively working on patients as a nurse, paramedic, EMT, CNA, phlebotomist, physical therapist, dental hygienist, etc.
Healthcare Experience (HCE): 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; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patients and/or their rooms, administering food or medication, taking vitals or other record-keeping information, working as a scribe, CNA (depending on the job description), medical assistant, etc.
To make it simple, think of patient care experience as hands-on patient care hours. Everything else is healthcare experience. It's also important not to "double-dip." You can enter your experience only once, but you can divide your experience hours from one job into both PCE and HCE.
For example, say you work at an interventional pain medicine clinic where you spend half your time at the front desk answering calls and the other half of your time as a patient care technician assisting in the surgery center. If you had 2000 hours of experience split equally, you would enter 1000 hours as HCE and the other 1000 hours as PCE. Problem solved!
"If one school accepts your experience as patient care experience, list it under patient care in CASPA. And the schools that don't count it as patient care let them make the decision to consider those healthcare hours so you don't jeopardize your chances at a program that does see them as direct patient care." - James Kim PA-S
There are two numbers here, and mixing them up is the most expensive mistake in this entire post.
What programs REQUIRE. Across the programs that publish an hours minimum, the median is about 500 hours — and a couple of dozen programs require none at all. Those are floors. The live table below counts them for you and updates itself.
What people who GET IN actually have. PAEA’s national student data tells a very different story: the median matriculating student had worked roughly 100 weeks of direct patient contact at about 36 hours a week — call it two solid years, on the order of 3,500 hours. At the 75th percentile it is 156 weeks. Three years. (PAEA By the Numbers, Student Report 6, published January 2025, 2022 matriculating class, Table 53.)
Clearing a 500-hour minimum makes you eligible. It does not make you competitive. For the full picture of accepted students, see who gets into PA school.
PA School Applicant Quick Tip:
Here is my healthcare experience prior to PA school
- Two years working hands-on as an outpatient and inpatient phlebotomist and lab technician at the University of Washington Hospital as an undergraduate and one year part-time in the outpatient clinic.
- Two years working for the Puget Sound Blood Center as a Senior Mobile Phlebotomist after graduation
- Three months working with special needs youth through Seattle Parks and Recreation
- One year working in medical records and shadowing with the PAs and doctors as a freshman at the UW (this is how I got my start in the hospital)
- Many hours volunteering in patient transport and at Seattle Children's Hospital
- Certification as an EMT (although I never worked as one so I guess this doesn't count, but it sounds good 🙂 )
Total hours: Upwards of 5,000 hands-on patient care hours + many as a volunteer
Take a minute (or thirty) to browse through the table and I will meet you again at the bottom for a heated discussion! (and the answer to the survey question above: 4% — only 17 programs set their minimum at 2,000 hours or more)
PA school patient care experience requirements: every program, always current
This spot used to hold a table of 204 programs that I typed and re-typed by hand. It aged badly — programs quietly change their hour minimums between cycles, and no hand-maintained table survives that. So I tore it out.
What follows is built live from the PA School Finder directory, verified against each program’s own admissions pages, CASPA and the ARC-PA, and it rebuilds itself every time this page loads. It covers every accredited program, not 204 of them.
How to read it: sort by Hours required to find the programs you already qualify for. Then read the very next column — whether that program counts broader healthcare experience or only hands-on patient care. That one column decides whether your scribe year, your pharmacy tech year or your lab job counts at all, and it is the single most overlooked thing on this page.
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What the table actually tells you
Three things jump out once you sort it, and all three matter more than the raw hour count.
1. The floors are lower than the internet thinks. The median published minimum sits around 500 hours, and a meaningful number of programs require none at all. If you have been told you cannot apply until you hit 2,000 hours, that is folklore, not policy. Sort the table by Hours required and you will find programs you already qualify for today.
2. A blank is not a zero. A large block of programs publish no hours minimum whatsoever. That is not the same as "no hours needed" — it usually means the program keeps its bar unwritten and holistic, and its admitted class still shows up with thousands of hours. The table lists these separately, on purpose, instead of quietly counting them as zero. Never treat silence as permission.
3. The kind of hours can matter more than the number. Only a minority of programs state plainly whether non-patient-facing healthcare work counts toward the requirement — and a chunk of those explicitly decline to say. This is where applicants lose whole years. A scribe job, a pharmacy tech job, a lab position: at some programs every hour counts, at others not one of them does. Ask the program in writing before you bank a year on it. The "Does other healthcare experience count?" column tells you which programs have actually answered.
Not so fast — the requirement is not the target
Here is the trap. A program requiring 1,000 hours means you could work part-time for a year and technically be eligible. But eligible and competitive are different words.
Nationally, the median student who matriculated had roughly two years of full-time direct patient contact behind them, and the top quartile had three. So when you clear a 500-hour minimum, you have not caught up to the field — you have earned the right to be compared to it.
That is not meant to discourage you. It is meant to stop you from applying a year too early with hours that were never going to compete, and losing a cycle you did not need to lose. Read Who Gets Into PA School for the full accepted-student profile, and if hours are genuinely your weak spot, look hard at the programs that don't require healthcare experience before you write off this cycle.
And if you are not sure which programs to aim at, the PA Program Match AI scores every accredited program against your actual hours, GPA, coursework and location — and tells you how many more hours would open how many more programs. That is a far more useful question than "am I behind?"
What constitutes healthcare experience (HCE)
As you can see from the table above, the acceptable experiential preparation requirements varies from school to school.
Most schools report accepting:
- Paid experience with hands-on patient care
- Volunteer experience with hands-on patient care
- Shadowing a physician or physician assistant as acceptable HCE.
Many schools don't accept shadowing or volunteer hours as acceptable HCE so, as always, you must check the school website and contact the PA program directly if you have any questions whatsoever.
In the PAEA graphs and tables above you may have noticed that HCE was broken down into 6 general categories. This is because CASPA (Central Application Service for Physician Assistants) has 6 experience categories for reporting work and volunteer activities and the PAEA report is based on CASPA applicants.
Again, some PA programs will not accept HCE outside of the patient care experience category, although many do.
CASPA Reporting Work and Volunteer Experiences Categories
For a wonderfully detailed look at how to report work and/or volunteer experience in each of these categories I recommend you check out Paul Gonzales' amazingly thorough explanation on his blog "Trust me, I'm a PA Student".
The six CASPA reporting categories are as follows:
1. Patient Care ExperienceThis is the most important section. List experiences in which you are directly responsible for a patient’s care; for example: prescribing medication, performing procedures, directing a course of treatment, working on patients as an active EMT, etc.
2. Other Health Care Experience
You are working in the health or a health-related field but are not directly responsible for a patient’s care; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patient rooms, working as a “Candy Striper” or hospital volunteer, etc.
3. Health Care Shadowing
Time spent officially following and observing a health care professional at work.
4. Research
Research projects done in addition to classroom work; research should NOT appear as credit on a school transcript.
5. Community Service
Volunteer work done outside of the healthcare field; for example, working for Habitat for Humanity, tutoring children, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or blood drive, etc.
6. Other Work Experience
Paid work done outside of the healthcare field; for example a retail or restaurant job.
Let's look at what some of the PA schools themselves are recommending for HCE:
Upstate Medical University’s Definition
Documentation of 1000 hours will be required prior to matriculation.
Preferred experiences: Military corpsmen or medic, nursing (ex. certified nurse assistant, nurses aide, RN, home health care aide), EMT’s employed full time (active hours only for EMT volunteers), paramedic, medical technologist, massage therapist, radiation therapist, respiratory therapist, phlebotomist, X-Ray technologist, medical imaging, clinical counselor, medical assistant, chiropractor, PT or PT aide, athletic trainer, New Visions, volunteer experience with direct patient care.
Acceptable: Shadowing a health care professional (200 hours maximum), Pharmaceutical Sales with patient contact, health-related research (will be reviewed on an individual basis), pharmacy technician (100 hours maximum).
Yale Physician Assistant Program Definition
Competitive applicants are recommended (but not required) to have a minimum of six months full-time healthcare employment, or 1,000 total hours of hands-on patient care experience and/or community service in a healthcare setting. Preference is given to applicants having experience that requires a period of training and results in direct (hands-on) patient care.
- Examples include: EMT, Paramedic, Registered Nurse, Medical Assistant, CNA, ER Tech, Physical Therapy Aide
- Hours associated with the completion of academic degrees, certifications, or training will not count
Evidence of community service (i.e., healthcare for underserved populations, medical mission trips) is highly valued.
Northeastern Physician Assistant Program Definition
Evidence of significant direct hands-on patient care experience is required in order for applicants to have a basic understanding of and comfort with patient care as well as a minimum level of clinical maturity. Strongest preference will be given to applicants who have approximately 2000 hours of hands-on patient care experience prior to applying to the program. Applicants with less than 2000 hours may also be given consideration depending upon the strength of their entire application.
- Hands-on patient care involves working one-on-one with patients and doing procedures that require touching patients yourself including, but not limited to:
- taking vital signs
- drawing blood
- doing EKGs
- changing bandages and dressings
- casting and splinting
- removing sutures and staples
- bathing and toileting
- A partial list of hands-on patient care positions includes, but is not limited to:
- certified nursing assistant
- medical/clinical assistant
- ER tech
- EMT doing more than patient transfer
- physical therapy assistant
- paramedic
- nurse
- physical therapist
- respiratory therapist
- medical corpsman
Full-time paid employment done after completing your bachelor’s degree is always most competitive!
Health Care Experience that is NOT ACCEPTABLE for PA School
Just as it is important to know what to report as HCE, it is equally important to know what not to report.
Below is an example from the Duke University. The following types of experience are NOT accepted toward the 1,000 hours of patient care experience as required by Duke.
- PA or physician observer or shadow
- non-clinical research assistant positions
- student clinical experience (student nurse, student EMT, student athletic trainer, or other health care student)
- student "intern" experiences, candy striper or junior volunteer positions
- CPR or ACLS instructor
- wilderness medicine instructor
- patient transporter
- pharmaceutical representative
- ski patroller
- lifeguard
- aerobics instructor
- unit clerk, insurance clerk
- medical secretary or other clerical positions.
Here is a list from South Carolina School of Medicine PA Program
Unacceptable forms of clinical experience include:
- Veterinarian Assistant
- Receptionist for Physician's Office
- Administrator or Business Manager for Physician’s Office
- Massage Therapist
- Chiropractic
- Acupuncture
- Aesthetician
- Dental Hygienist/Assisting
- Inpatient Patient Transport/Orderly
- Health Fitness Specialist
Does PA Shadowing Count Towards Healthcare Experience?
Applicants are encouraged to "shadow" a PA to become knowledgeable of the role of the physician assistant; More often than not this experience does not count as patient care experience, so as I always say, make sure to contact your PA program prior to submitting your application.
Two thousand hours: where the rule of thumb comes from
You have probably heard the 10,000-hour rule — Malcolm Gladwell's claim in Outliers that expertise takes about ten thousand hours of practice. (It gets misattributed to Blink constantly, and the researcher whose work Gladwell drew on, Anders Ericsson, spent years pushing back on how neatly it got packaged. Deliberate practice matters more than raw clock time.)
You do not need to be a healthcare expert on application day. But the underlying idea holds: hours change you, and admissions committees can tell.
So here is my rule of thumb, and the honest reasoning behind it. Aim for 2,000 hours — one year of full-time, hands-on patient care — before you submit. Not because most programs demand it (sort the live table above; very few set their minimum that high), but because:
- It clears essentially every published minimum in the country. You stop filtering yourself out of programs and start choosing between them.
- It gives you something to write about. A year in is when you stop describing tasks and start describing patients. That is the difference between a personal statement that lists a job and one that earns an interview.
- It gives you something to say out loud. Interview answers about hard patients, dying patients, and the day you got it wrong come from time on the floor. They cannot be manufactured the month before.
- It is still below the national median. Remember: matriculating students typically had closer to two years of full-time direct patient contact. 2,000 hours makes you a real candidate — it does not make you an outlier.
And a word for anyone reading this at 300 hours feeling behind: you are not behind, you are early. Every hour you work between now and your application is an hour that counts. Keep going.
My Healthcare Experience
When I applied to PA school back in 2004 I had roughly 5,000 hours of direct patient contact experience as well as quite a bit of work and volunteer experience both inside and outside the realm of healthcare. I accumulated this through work as a phlebotomist both as a student in the campus health clinic and then later after graduation while working in an outpatient mobile health setting.
Many schools at the time (specifically MEDEX and OHSU where I was hoping for acceptance) considered even this to be insufficient. I could have been patient and accrued more patient care experience and let more time pass but instead, I chose to throw a larger net and apply to schools that did not require so many hours. At the time many of these school were on the East Coast.
People write me all the time frustrated that their schools of choice won't give them the time of day. It is important to keep your options open, the wider the net you cast the greater your chances of catching a fish.
There are many ways to garner the patient care experience you need and the sooner you start the easier it will be to fulfill these requirements in a timely matter.
You should aim to have enough hours to be competitive, look at the median of accepted applicants, this is a good goal to have.
And most importantly it should not be seen as a burden to entry, it should be seen as an opportunity to get your hands wet in a field you love in preparation for a life of fulfilling work practicing what you love as a PA
Note:
This post is part two of my continuing series: The 5 Steps of PA School. To receive immediate updates when new posts are published sign up for the blog email.
Sources for this post (last verified July 2026):
- Per-program hour requirements — the PA School Finder verified directory, checked against each program's own admissions pages, CASPA and the ARC-PA. The table above reads from it live.
- National matriculant experience — PAEA By the Numbers, Student Report 6 (January 2025, 2022 matriculating class), Table 53.
- Experience categories and reporting rules — the CASPA Applicant Help Center.
View all posts in this series
- How to Write the Perfect Physician Assistant School Application Essay
- PA School Prerequisites: What Programs Actually Require (and What Expires)
- Healthcare Experience Required for PA School: The Ultimate Guide
- Secrets of Successful PA School Letters of Recommendation
- The GRE and PA School: The Pre-PA Advisor Series
You may also like -
How to Find The Direct Patient Care Experience You Need to Become a Physician Assistant
Read on: But you may also be interested in my newest post Healthcare Experience Required for PA School: The Ultimate Guide
I could probably summarize this entire blog post with the following sentence:
"THE MORE HANDS-ON PATIENT […]- The Pre-PA Advisor Series: Patient Contact Hours and Healthcare Experience
The Pre-PA Advisor Series
Welcome to the PA Advisors Series - a special series of posts where PA school applicants like yourself ask the tough questions and admissions directors from top-ranking PA schools provide the […]
- No Experience Required! PA Schools That Don’t Require Healthcare ExperienceAre you looking to get into PA School fast?
Then skip the healthcare experience!
Below is a list of PA programs in the United States that do not require patient care experience for PA school admission.
I use "require" lightly because […]
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Hi Stephen,
I have just recently graduated with a BS in Biology and am I trying to decide between getting a certificate as a CNA or an EMT. I know both jobs are different but after reading a lot of comments on the web, it seems like it’s more likely for me to get a job as a CNA. However, some say that EMT allows better learning. I just wanted some clarification and maybe some advice on which certification to get. I may want to become an ER tech later on, so that also should go into consideration. Thanks in advance!
-Megan
Hi, I am currently attending Oakland University. I am planning to receive my Bachelors in Pre Professional Health Sciences. I have two years left to complete this, and have no experience. I am not sure how to go about it at all. What kind of jobs can I obtain with this degree? How do Io find places that are willing to let me job shadow.
Hi Chelsea,
Here is some great advice from other students on how to find shadowing experiences: http://paflix.com/shadowing
As far as work, I would start by speaking to someone (possibly a guidance counselor) at the university. I worked at my University’s student health center both as a volunteer and as a student worker in the lab. This opened so many doors. Often schools have special options for students looking for work in the health field while attending school. Oakland will have a lot of options as well for work as a medical assistant, scribe or as part of the office staff. Three of the 4 staff at my current clinic are all students as well as clinical staff. They had no experience (other than Starbucks) prior to working in our clinic. They are all now on either a PA, NP or Nursing track. So just start putting yourself out there. Start at your campus then broaden your search. There are a lot of opportunities, you just have to reach out and grab them.
I wish you the best of luck!!
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
I was wondering why is having HCE so crucial to applying to PA school compared to MD school?
MDs have a longer medical school experience including two more years of medical training along with residency. The learning curve is very steep for PAs and having a foundation to build on can really give you a leg up!
Stephen
Thank you so much Stephen, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.
– Mei
Hi Stephen,
I was planning on getting my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and volunteering at the local hospital to complete my hours. But after reading this article I am not sure that would be the proper route to take to become a PA. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Anahi
Hi Anahi,
You may need to find time to obtain paid clincal hours as well. Many schools require it but certainly not all of them. In order to be competitive it is good to have both. You can search my stie http://www.paschoolfinder.com (which I am in the process of updating) to search schools by health care experience requirements.
As far as your degree is concerned a Bachelor’s in Psychology is perfect! Just do some research as well and make sure you are able to cover all your prerequisite coursework along the way.
Best of luck to you!!
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for your advice. I also had one more concern about my degree. Since I am attending San Diego State University, extended campus, which means that it does not have many courses to choose from. Just the classes that are required for the major. I would have to take my prerequisite coursework at the local community college. Would that jeopardize my chances of getting into a PA program? Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Anahi.
I have been working in the mental health field for 7 years now and want to switch job settings and was looking to go into the physician Assistant programs at the near by schools. I have taken most of the prerequisites required by the schools with the exception of some biology and chem which I have signed up to take this year. I also am trying to volunteer at the local hospital to get some volunteer hours going. How would you recommend I get my hours?
I am stressing out about the hours needed as I have been working in a different field for so long and don’t really know how I can be a competitive candidate without having that amount of experience.
Thank you again for your help in advance!
Hello Stephen,
Thanks for your commitment spending your precious time to help us. I am currently a sophomore student at community college, I took like 67 credit hours and with cumulative GPA of 3.77. So I was gonna do my bachelor’s degree in Respiratory Therapist to get my HCE hours. Would those HCE hours be counted if I worked as RT?? What should be my GPA range be till I got my bachelor’s degree to be competitive??
Hi Jossey,
Yes, your time working as an RT should apply towards HCE. Always make sure to cross check this with the schools you are interested in because, in my experience, when I make a blanket statement I am usually always wrong at some point. So just double check so you don’t get to the end and realize that there was a requirement that was missed.
As far a GPA is concerned, there is no “magical” number. Put your head to the grindstone, love your time in college, do the best you can – always, and this will be the GPA which will get you into PA school. Along the way work with your academic advisor to tailor your college coursework to suit your needs, and put yourself out there – gaining experience in school in any way you can. Volunteering at the children’s hospital, working a summer for a couple weeks in Guatemala, working in the local/University hospital as a scribe, lab tech, CNA, MA etc. etc. etc. Use this time wisely and you will do great!
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
So I am a little late in the game. I am looking to apply to several PA programs next and I will be graduating in June 2017 with a BA in Biology. This summer, I finally got offered to do volunteering at a local hospital( but this is not for clinical. It’s basically just spending time with patients and keeping them company and stuff like that.) and the other place I got offered to do volunteering at is a rehab facility . The volunteer coordinator told me that she could possibly make me keep track of medical records, along with doing general volunteering. I just really hope that the hours that I do accumulate this summer actually count towards “clinical experience.” A lot of the hospitals that I applied to volunteer at say they don’t offer ” clinical volunteer hours”. Honestly I’m just a little stressed out
Hi Sabrina,
Sometimes volunteer hours are enough, but some schools do require/prefer a combo of volunteer hours along with paid HCE. But you are making a great start by putting yourself out there. This is what I did, and that volunteer work transitioned into paid work and wonderful shadowing experiences which I continued to do for another year after obtaining my bachelors degree.
It is normal to “stress out” it is a sign that you care, which is a good thing. The key is to always keep that foreword momentum going (which you are) and make sure that your plan is in line with your goals. This means working with an academic advisor and making sure your current coursework is fulfilling the necessary requirements.
The best thing you can do is to continue to put yourself in as many challenging and uncomfortable situation you can. This is true both before, during and after PA school. We grow the most at these times, even when they are the most painful. This will lead to great shadowing experience, work and volunteer experiences, letters of recommendation and the grit needed to make it to the end game!
– Stephen
So I have a minimal shot at pa school, being that I have only 2000 hce hours and 300 shadowing hours, according to this post?
Hi Eni,
Not at all, if you look at the latest data HCE experience hours of applicants across the board has been steadily decreasing. Two thousand + hours of HCE along with 300 shadowing hours, that is very good!!
Stephen
This is by far the most helpful information site I have come across in my research in the PA field! Thank you for all your help!
Thank you Amber,
You can drop me a line anytime if you ever have questions along the way!
– Stephen
Hi Stephen,
I am looking to apply to PA schools next fall and the HCE has got me a little nervous. I have over 6 years working in a medical office as a receptionist or registrar. In the past I have worked in the an ER, registering patients, calling them into triage for the nurse and helping out when I could (my main job was registering and insurance). I also worked as a switchboard operator in the hospital, but was also responsible for communicating with the Clinical Supervising nurse to assign beds to admitted patients as well as filing death certificates and calling in the surgical team when needed. From there I went to a medical practice where I was a receptionist, but I also entered messages into patient charts, made appointments, took messages for triage nurse, placed refill requests, etc. Now I work in a sleep lab where I handle paperwork, but medical records (scanning in documents), importing results from sleep tests and getting orders ready for test. I also assist patients into rooms and beds. I explain the procedure of the sleep study and get the patient what they need. I also assist the tech with observation of the patient. I have spoken to a few PA pals and they say this would be great, but I’m still a little nervous. It is extremely hard to find any REAL HCE without a certificate or more money in my state. I’m not giving up though. Any advice? Thanks so much!
Hi Steven, I have worked as a home health aide for the past three years and I have close to 2000 hours. But my patient/client is my mom. She has had two major bug surgeries and she only felt comfortable with me taking care of her instead of a nurse ? Should I disclose this information in my personal statement and (later on in interviews) or should I leave it out? Please let me know.
HI Anne,
You should be 100 percent forthcoming about your healthcare experience. You have nothing to be ashamed of… Providing a safe, loving and caring environment for your mom is admirable. Your job now is to demonstrate to the admissions committee how this experience has shaped you into a compassionate human being and a capable future PA.
Warmly,
Stephen
For the programs that say Paid experience with hands-on patient care Volunteer experience with hands-on patient care,” is this an “either-or” situation or does this mean both are required?
Hi Ashley,
Usually it is either/or but, as always, this is just a guide and it is best to confirm with each of the program’s you are interested in applying to. Sometimes their program website can be vague so if there is still any doubt make sure to call a representative from the program personally.
Stephen
hi, i’m just starting my prereqs at a community college and after reading up on UC website and this site im trying to figure out how im going to make my application shine. im a stay at home mother of two, and im taking 15 credit hours a semester prereqs, then im going to concord university to get my Bachelor’s degree in pre-professional Biology, and then Master’s in PA. It says on UC website that they prefer work experience in Healthcare with a certificate, im a certified Phlebotomist and thought of working part-time again to add that to my experience for PA but idk if they’ll accept it or if it’ll look good enough for them, what if I go for EMT since I want to work in emergency care? but idk how im going to take care of two kids, take EMT classes and my prereqs all at the same time!!!!!!! please any advise
I’m in the same boat Danielle, I’m a single mom & work full time, I’m taking emt classes in the evening to get HCE, to work in Emergency care. I am taking courses in a Community Collge as well to get AA in Paramedic. They give me 6 credits towards the degree program for already having an emt license. I dont know if your CC offers that, but the clinicals and Hospital rotations that you do in paramedic studies gives you enough HCE hours, while giving you degree credits- Hopefully when I am done with the program next year, I’ll transfer to BS in HealthScience which have most of the prereq needed for PA. Also, some schools in NY require that the prereqs are taken within 5 years of matriculation, so check UCs policy on that, so that you dont have to retake those prereq again; and phlebotomy counts well towards HCE, good luck!
Great advice Gigi! Thanks so much for sharing….
Wow GIGI! I applaud you! What a great inspiration to your kids to do it by yourself! I’ll def do it then and look into my community college to see if it does
Thank you! Do it! A mom from another forum inspired me when i thought there was no way I could make time to do this or it may take too long or be too hard; i learned to have and set your 2-5 year plan. Then take it week by week from there. I had to learn how to say no & that what can wait, will have to wait. i.e My living room is a mess & so is my hair, something is growing in my fridge lol but my assignments, studying & rotations are done, kid is still alive, fed and happy. Happy Belated Mothers Day & Keep up your good work..
Hi Steven,
First, I’d like to say that this blog has given me so much insight on how to prepare for PA school and what to expect eventually. My question is this. I’m trying to figure out what the best way of getting HCE is for me. just like everyone else, I don’t have a lot of extra time or money to get a certificate. However, I am considering a job as a surgical assistant at my hospital. It involved shaving patients and prepping them for surgery and assisting the MD, RN, and surgery tech during the surgery. Do you think this would be good enough for HCE?
Thank you again!
Hi Natalie,
This may be a good start and would allow you to get your feet in the door and begin accruing valuable patient care experience. Often, when you start working alongside a healthcare team doors open and opportunities present themselves. I would also recommend looking into a position as a medical scribe. I work with several scribes and our last two recently received acceptance letters to PA school. As a scribe you have the opportunity to learn medical decision making and obtain valuable skills working alongside a medical provider. Often this requires no additional certification!
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
I’m going into my third year of my undergraduate degree and am looking to find summer employment to get my HCEs. Like some of the people that commented above, I don’t really have the time or funds to pay for one of the lengthy certification courses for MA or CNA. Do you have any advice on this?
Hi Julia,
I find that the best replacement for time and money is hustle, so if I were you, I would start there.
– Stephen
Hi Stephen,
It’s so great that you made a resourceful website to help out aspiring PA’s! This past summer I applied to 1 out of the total 5 schools in my state. Unfortunately I did not get into the program. They said I would have to wait until the spring before they could tell me where my weakness was and I am still waiting to hear back from them.
I know I was probably not first choice anyway but here are my stats:
B.S. in Biology Cumulative: 2.96 Science: 2.69 GRE: 303 (V:155,Q:148,AW: 4.5)
I worked for 1 yr in a weight loss clinic doing admin assistant work and was trained to help give b12 shots to patients. I also worked in a dermatology clinic for about 8 months also doing admin work but shadowed the nurses part of the week to assist in MOH’s surgery. I currently work for my states health department yet again, doing admin work. I also volunteered at one of the top medical centers in the region in the emergency room for about 8 months and am just now starting to volunteer again.
I know I have to retake a few classes to raise my GPA but I think my problem is the healthcare experience to put me ahead. Compared to the nurses, phlebotomists, CNA’s, etc. I feel like I am at the bottom of the totem pole. If I try to get a certificate it will take all of my time and I am already in an accelerated MBA program for the possibility to own my own business much farther on down the road. I feel like I am already stretched thin on trying to squeeze a course that will take 6 months to a year to finish then get the experience on top of work (9-5 job) and school (nights and weekends). The program i’m currently in ends this december. Then I plan on retaking some more classes to try to apply for the following year. Maybe retake my GRE if I need to. I’m 24 years old and will probably be 26 before I apply.
I really need your advice on how I can improve myself without getting burnt out! I have reached out to the schools but haven’t heard back yet. Any help i greatly appreciated.
I work as an Applied Behavior Analysis therapist for children on the autism spectrum. What are the chances that this counts as direct patient care?
Hi Valerie,
It’s tough to say, I am sure this is wonderful experience but schools can be very particular about their requirements. In this case I would pick up the phone and call a couple of the schools you are interested in and ask them directly. This is really the only way to know for sure, and in this case you certainly want to know for sure 🙂
Let us know what they say!
Warmly,
Stephen Pasquini
I’m in college and was wondering what jobs are out there that I could work for the summer that would get me direct patient care hours? Every job seems to have a comparatively lengthy certification period or requires a degree. Unfortunately, shadowing won’t count as hours.
I am currently in my first semester of college. Is there any way I can start doing any HCE hours now? Or is it too early?
Hi Lizvette,
It is never too early to start gaining healthcare experience! Do you have a plan?
– Stephen
Will working as a CNA for a home health agency still count as clinical hours / direct patient care experience? I would be directly in the home with the patient instead of in a clinical setting. How do you think the admissions committee will view this experience when compared to a CNA job in a hospital or nursing home.
Hi Nicole,
This is certainly direct patient care experience. I always say – the best experience is that which allows one to suffer along with their patients. My wife was a home health nurse for some time and I think working in patient homes is wonderful preparation for a career as a physician assistant.. sometimes even better than that you would have in a hospital or a nursing home. Keep up the great work, and if you are ever unsure about how a school you may be applying to will view your HCE make sure to call them directly and ask, this will eliminate any doubt.
Warmly,
Stephen
I work as aneeded LPN, I know it will be easy to prove the amount of hours I worked at my job but how do I prove shadowing hours and other volunteering hours? Basically what constitutes as proof of hours for PA schools? Thanks.
Hi Bria, most schools use the honor code, they could always follow up on the shadowing you listed although I severely doubt the admissions faculty would do unless there was reason to believe you had misrepresented your hours on your application.
– Stephen