My wife is an experienced surgical tech/surgical first assist (20+ years). She specializes in cardiac and harvests vein (both open and endoscopically), assists surgeon, wires sternum, and closes. The surgeon has expressed his interest in her obtaining PA training and increasing her clinical responsibilites. She is quite interested in pursuing this and has gone back to school (online) through Arizona State University (ASU) to earn her Bachelors degree. Unfortunately, that will take an estimated 2-3 years...then she will have to apply to PA school.
My question...is the Bachelors degree necessary? Could she apply directly to PA school now and save herself 2-3 years of time, effort, and money? Are there PA programs she can attend that will enable her to either earn a Bachelors in PA studies or possibly a certificate that could make her eligible to sit for her PA board exams? Any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
PA School Pre-Reqs
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Fureliseleader
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- Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:09 pm
Re: PA School Pre-Reqs
I have never seen a PA program that did not require a BS. She needs to make sure she is getting those prerequisites. You don't have to have a BS in biology, but honestly, those prerequisites are part of the BS Biology curriculum so she might as well get one.
I have never heard of a BS in PA studies, BUT I have heard of people getting a BSN and taking the PA prerequisites. Then she could work as a nurse or pursue Nurse practitioner. I think it would give her more options.
She really needs to look for PA programs in state and in adjacent states. Go to those websites and look at the requirements and look at class profiles.
She needs to make sure she has a good GPA!
Good Luck!
I have never heard of a BS in PA studies, BUT I have heard of people getting a BSN and taking the PA prerequisites. Then she could work as a nurse or pursue Nurse practitioner. I think it would give her more options.
She really needs to look for PA programs in state and in adjacent states. Go to those websites and look at the requirements and look at class profiles.
She needs to make sure she has a good GPA!
Good Luck!
Re: PA School Pre-Reqs
There are plenty of programs that don't require a Bachelors degree to get acceptance. Off the top of my head...Howard University, Red Rock CC, Medex, etc. It is recommended that you get a Bachelors. I don't know your moving situation because you will always be at the mercies of the programs in your area if you can't move.
I don't know why if someone wants to be a PA they would get a degree in nursing...those programs are most expensive then regular degrees and yeah if your a nurse if would make more sense just to go to a NP program.
I don't know why if someone wants to be a PA they would get a degree in nursing...those programs are most expensive then regular degrees and yeah if your a nurse if would make more sense just to go to a NP program.
Re: PA School Pre-Reqs
Howard was mentioned, though they are on probation with the PA Accreditation organization. I know I saw another but I didn't remember where because it was outside my geographic target area. PA prerequisites can vary a lot from GW, which just wants 2 Biology, 2 Chemistry, and 2 Psychology to Arcadia which wants 5 Biology and 3 Chemistry. I have been focused on Utah and thought that was the only place I could really apply to. But they are big on experience, less on particular coursework and no GRE, but I had a talk with my husband yesterday and he's open to the mid Atlantic. I'm finding most places want Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology and Organic Chemistry (which themselves have prereqs). So far, it looks like nursing Bio org will work for every place I've looked (except for Howard, oddly).
Anne Arundel community college is example of a program that is Master's optional, but you do need a bachelor's to be considered. It doesn't matter as much what the bachelor's is in as long as it is from an accredited university. My bachelor's is in Linguistics (which seemed like a swell idea in 1995) but I'm now taking prereqs at community college. I started out shooting for nursing school with NP as a goal but have met some awesome PAs and the more I look the more I like.
For your wife's experience in Thoracic surgery, I don't know that I'd recommend the NP route. My route to NP was shaping up to be an 9 year process, and that's if everything went right and my husband was questioning why I didn't go to medical school. Depending on the state you live in, NPs can be more autonomous than PAs. At a PA info session they said one difference is PAs follow the medical model of treating the disease, where NPs follow the nursing model of treating the patient. But there are a lot of job postings where they would take either.
The important thing is to look at where you might be willing to move and see if you can find 3 or 4 potential programs and look at their prerequisites.
Anne Arundel community college is example of a program that is Master's optional, but you do need a bachelor's to be considered. It doesn't matter as much what the bachelor's is in as long as it is from an accredited university. My bachelor's is in Linguistics (which seemed like a swell idea in 1995) but I'm now taking prereqs at community college. I started out shooting for nursing school with NP as a goal but have met some awesome PAs and the more I look the more I like.
For your wife's experience in Thoracic surgery, I don't know that I'd recommend the NP route. My route to NP was shaping up to be an 9 year process, and that's if everything went right and my husband was questioning why I didn't go to medical school. Depending on the state you live in, NPs can be more autonomous than PAs. At a PA info session they said one difference is PAs follow the medical model of treating the disease, where NPs follow the nursing model of treating the patient. But there are a lot of job postings where they would take either.
The important thing is to look at where you might be willing to move and see if you can find 3 or 4 potential programs and look at their prerequisites.