PA2017m

Thanks for replying! I didn't know about the 18 months work experience requirement. The fellowship I'm preferring is only a 12 month long program, but they did make the statement that all fellows who complete the program were eligible for the CAQ at the end. the NCCPA website stated that the specific term of experience required of physician assistants seeking Certificates of Added Qualifications in emergency medicine is a minimum of 3,000 hours (the equivalent of 18 months of full-time practice). So the 18 months may not be a hard number? Feel free to correct me on this! Thanks for your input! I did read something about the AAPAP certification process being discontinued, so I will add that to the list! Do you mind sharing a bit on some of your experiences with the "your patient-your procedure" policy? How do you go about protecting your procedure time while still maintaining a good relationship with the residents or interns? Oh wow I will definitely add that! Yeah I definitely don't have much interest in doing research haha. The fellowship I'm preferring includes a monthly journal club with the medical residents and has the option of pursuing more research opportunities if interested... which I'm gonna say hard pass on that haha

I'm a current 2nd year PA student about to graduate this upcoming fall and I've been applying to different ER fellowships. I've been accepted to 2 different fellowships, which I'm so excited about! I thought it would be helpful to create a list of helpful things to look for in a residency / fellowship & red flags to stay away from. This may be geared more towards ER fellowships since that's mainly what I've been applying for. Would appreciate all of your input on this as well, since much of this is coming from what I've read on this forum and online - as well as my personal experience from comparing the different fellowships I've applied to. Let me know what you think!! What to look for: Specific clinical rotations through the fellowship Dedicated lecture time on a routine basis Dedicated / required list of procedures to complete - means that they won't just train you in the procedure but also make sure that you have enough experience under your belt before leaving the rotation. Ability to sit for the specialty CAQ exam afterwards (minimum 3000 hrs, equivalent of 18 mo full time practice) (more info: https://prodcmsstoragesa.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/files/CAQGoverningPolicies.pdf) Connected to a university / training hospital +/- medical residents - means that they're dedicated to training you as a priority, not just move the meat (not always the case, but it gives you a little more peace of mind). I guess there's some cases where medical residents are more competitive. "Your Patient - Your Procedure" policy with medical residents / interns that may want to steal a procedure from you. Reasonable salary >$50k - $60k, with CME allowance, paid vacation time (~2 weeks?), full benefits with insurance AAPAP / other Credentialing: not required, but helpful knowing that the fellowship has been scrutinized & under a specific review process. AAPAP has discontinued the accreditation process though, so may not have a lot of weight now. Red Flags: Claiming to primarily teach you through "exposure", for example, throwing you into the ER without any dedicated rotations or lectures, with maybe lower expectations on how many patients you'll see. You're basically working with lower expectations, and much much lower pay. Through a PA contracting company & not a university/training hospital. Possible that they're only interested in having low-paying PAs while claiming to give you extra training Excessive amount of research requirements. Ex: At least 10 hours per week on research, writing articles/case studies, poster presentations, clinical trials, QI studies, etc. Salary <$50k. One of the fellowships I was accepted to is in one of the most expensive cities in the US and paid about $40k, which was alarming - but this might be normal? I've read that some people have salaries anywhere from 40k - 80k, so I wasn't sure what a reasonable salary amount would be. Not eligible for the CAQ exam afterwards Anything else?

I moved from #12 to #8

Any updates from anyone who was wait listed??

yeah i got an email in november stating that i would be reevaluated in january... i haven't heard anything yet though? Probably not good news then?? :\

Just curious if anyone who was waitlisted has been accepted/gotten any updates at this point yet?

Does anyone know how many interviews Samuel Merritt has??

I definitely recommend going the EMT route, or even CNA route. From what I've seen it's much more competitive to have hands on direct patient care experience. When I've interviewed alongside people who only had scribe experience, the interviewees who had direct patient care had much stronger interviews and schools showed more preference towards them. Not to look down on scribe experience, it will definitely add to your education but it seems a little weak if it's the only experience you have. Personally, I'm working as a MA and a scribe on the side, and both experiences have definitely helped prepare me. This is just my two cents though!

I definitely recommend looking into privately owned clinics over hospitals as sometimes they tend to be a little more lenient with taking in your other credentials and training you on the job. I got certified as a CNA (which took about 2 months) but I have gotten three MA jobs that I was trained on the job for and got wonderful experience at a family medicine clinic, OBGYN clinic, and now nephrology clinic. Don't give up!

Just wondering if anyone knew what the format of the interview will be like??

Got an interview for January!! Looking forward to meeting everyone in Group C :)

I called CASPA about this and they said that you can always update your application and HCE hours by adding new submissions to HCE and put under the description "CNA - Update" as the title. Afterwards you can email/call the school to let them know that you have updated your HCE. I definitely recommend working as long as you can up through interviews since many schools will directly ask you what you're currently doing during interviews. After you get accepted, it's probably in your best interest to take a break of some length before school starts but that's a personal decision :)

Just got a call for interview for January 23rd! I'm a little late to the game but I look forward to meeting some of you there!

Waitlisted at my third school... so I'm doing well enough not to get rejected but not enough to be accepted. Ugh. I hate this waiting game.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I've never actually dyed my hair a different color before, and I actually don't have tattoos or piercings, I asked those questions more for other people's benefit. I'm still on the fence whether I want to dye my hair myself but you've all given me a lot to think about so thank you!