koppelcutt Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Hi there, Im new to this forum and was wondering if there are people out there right now looking for PA programs in the northern CA/Northern NV area. Im def looking into Stanford for many reasons (1 being financially) but havent really looked elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treejay Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 google "list of pa programs" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Only 1 PA program in Nevada (Henderson) Listed in geographical order: Northern CA: Touro Mares Island Samuel Merritt UC Davis Stanford / Foothill College Central CA: San Juoquin Valley College Southern CA: USC Marshall B Ketchem Western University Riverside Community College Loma Linda University Nevada: Touro Univeristy Nevada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koppelcutt Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Thank you Timon. Are you currently in school in Touro University of Nevada? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 No problem. =o) I am a current PA student at Touro Nevada. Do you have any questions I can help you with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koppelcutt Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Yes, a couple...1) do you like this school 2) what prior patient care experience did you have and 3) how the heck are you paying for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 1) do you like this school Yes! I absolutely love it! I was hesitant moving out of state away from my wife and daughter being from So Cal but I'm glad everything worked out the way it did. The faculty here are amazing! We have our lots of resources at our disposal and the program definitely treats you like an investment. They want you to succeed and will give you the help that you need. We have a remediation policy that is pretty fair and lots of tutors if you need it. The program also selects a very diverse group of people so not everyone is going to have the same background. In hindsight it was a blessing being here versus near my family because I'm not distracted when I study and they aren't frustrated that I'm physically around but not available. When I go back home I never get any studying done, nor does anyone else in my class. Your friends and family want to do things with you and you feel obligated to be around for them. So in the end I get to make it a point that when I go home to see them I spend quality time with them and when I'm here in Nevada I spend quality time just focusing on school. This way I don't feel guilty about wanting to study when I'm there and I don't feel guilty about not seeing them when I'm here. It's worked out for me half way through the didactic portion so far. 2) what prior patient care experience did you have I was a career changer. I worked in business consulting / management for 12 years. I have a BA in communications and an MBA. In the process of changing careers I got a whole bunch of healthcare certs that were fast and cheap to get (EMT / EKG Tech / Phlebotomy) while I was taking my prerequisites for PA school. On my spare time while I worked in business I used to be a Scuba instructor (still am) which requires you to also be a CPR instructor (still am) and so I also had that experience dealing with marine and aquatic life injuries along with barotrauma. I also spent a lot of time shadowing (ER-Fast Track & Trauma / Family Practice) so I was able to network my way into an ER Tech position once I completed my prereqs and certifications. I worked in the ER for about 6 months when I was accepted and then worked for another 6 months full time until school started. 3) how the heck are you paying for it? Well... mostly loans to be honest. My wife works and she and my daughter are living with her parents while I'm here in NV. I sold my house as well to help pay for the schooling along with reducing my overhead. I'm also in the student work program at school and get $15 a day as the IT Rep where I basically get paid to come to class and replace batteries when they die and in addition to this I'm also a tutor and get paid $15 an hour + 1 hour prep for each student I tutor. It's also pretty cheap here in NV... I can say I pay 1/3rd the cost of living I had in So Cal and gas is $0.40 cheap a gal. I also have a roommate to split costs with and you also just budget to live frugally to lower your loan costs. You can also make payments of $70-$150 a month while you're in school to get rid of the interest you're going to accrue for the duration of the program. Lastly I never quit my job as an ER Tech and I'm per diem. I don't recommend it and I hardly even pick up shifts because the program is so rigorous. However Touro is a Jewish institution so you get all the Jewish holidays off, the big US holidays off, and you get 2 weeks off between sessions. So its during those times that I'll pick up a shift in the ER when my wife is at work and daughter is at school. Works out great because I get to apply what I learned in school and get paid for it. I did consider doing the National Health Service Program's scholarship but I'm not sure if I want to work in primary care or go into an ER residency since ER has the patient profile, types of cases / procedures, work schedule and the pace I desire for future employment. In the end, I'll try and lower my debt by living with family or getting a cheap apartment with my wife and daughter or even a cheap house to help offset costs while I aggressively payback my loans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koppelcutt Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 wowsa, thank you so much for the information. I look forward to hearing how you do throughout the process. Sounds like you had all your ducks in a row before starting and the support you have from your family is amazing. I understand that this endeavor wont be easy and I must focus all my attention for those two years, and I think Im ready for that. Im looking in both CA and NV because we live right on the border and have family in both places. Im mainly hoping for Stanford due to the price and location...as I would like to live back in the bay area one day and be gainfully employed there. I have been a medic for 8 years, an ER tech for 9, an ACLS instructor for 2, and have lots of schooling behind me (BA). I need to work on a second language- I was thinking sign language lol, and also some more volunteer work. How many people applied with you? Being in the ER gives you a huge advantage because you get apply all that you learned in an environment where you feel comfortable and are able to ask questions. Being an ER tech makes me a better paramedic for sure. So, whats your schedule like right now? By the way, my name is Ruth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z PA-C Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Here are new programs that are in the works in CA. I have no idea if/when they are accepting their first class but just so you have the info. P.S. Tuition at UC Davis is not much more than Stanford's California Baptist UniversityChapman UniversityCharles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science #Marshall B. Ketchum UniviversitySouthern California University of Health SciencesUniversity of the Pacific West Coast University http://www.arc-pa.org/provisional_acc/applicant_programs.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timon Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Pleasure to meet you Ruth, I will say the time I spent shadowing and working in the ER as a Tech has given me an advantage on the clinical portion of the PA program which is Session 2-4 for us. Session 1 was easier for people who had strong academic backgrounds (which I didn't as a career changer and it was very rough on me). All the PA programs follow a roadmap of course material. So basically you're going to get a lot of the same stuff regardless of which program you attend. I've verified this by speaking with friends I know who are attending other programs and started the same time as me. There is also a roadmap provided for all PA programs / students on the NCCPA website. For your language I would pick a language that's pretty prominent in your area. Being from So Cal learning Spanish is great! Its also pretty easy to learn IMO. We had about 1200-1500 people apply for 62 spots. Session 1 This is when we do all the basic science the DO's do in year 1 but we do it in 4 months. Same lecture materials, same powerpoints, same instructors, and condensed. The professors during session 1 would laugh as they would start their lecture saying "I normally teach this lecture to the DOs in 4 hours.. but today I'm given the task to give you the same lecture in 1 hour.." Basically you hold on for dear life and try to grasp everything that's coming at you. Luckily the school has every lecture recorded so I can go back and replay or even slow down the professor to hear what they are saying. The classes we took session 1 were: - Human Sciences (comprised of 4 classes) - Anatomy w/ Cadaver Lab (treated as 2 classes, lecture has 3 exams / lab has 2 practical exams and you're with the PT students in the PA lecture hall) - Biochem - Physiology - Neuroanatomy - Immunology (Professor writes for USMLE) - Medical Interviewing - Diagnostic Imaging - PA Roles - US Healthcare Systems - Medical Ethics That was it for session 1. We were typically in school from 8am/10am-3pm/5pm. Most the time it was 10am-3pm with a 1 hour lunch. We would also have online quizzes every Tuesday and Thursday for various classes. Each class typically had 3 exams and the session lasted from Jul 7 - Oct 18th. But within that some classes were only 2 months long where as other classes we took the entire duration so you can say I was excited to have been done with biochem after two months lol. We had practically all of September off because of the Jewish Holidays not to mention Labor Day. I didn't spend that time with family though because I really had a tough time with session 1. I had just quit smoking May 28th and along with that I had memory issues that resulted down the road into anxiety. Luckily I was able to conquer this by the end of the session and not have to remediate. Session 2 This is the session I'm in right now and I find this session way more enjoyable. Our schedule is pretty laid back and we usually are in school from 8am-3pm with 1 hour lunch. Classes began Nov 4th and they end Feb 17th. We had thanksgiving off along with a 2 week break for the holidays. We also had MLK off and a few other days here and there. We typically use those days to catch up on studying. This group of faculty is different than the first group as they are specific to our PA program. One of the professors also writes questions for the PANCE, another that writes for the USMLE and another one who just retired was apart of the 5th PA class to ever graduate (Medex). Also the director of our program is running for AAPA president so we are all pretty excited for that as well as going to IMPACT and the challenge bowl. This session is coming to an end and we are about to start our finals. Like with session 1, I'm really to get this session over with and turn the page. So burnt out from literally being indoors all day doing nothing but reading and staring at a computer screen preparing for exams. We basically have the same setup as session 1 where some classes are only 2 months long and some we are in throughout the entire session. So its good to have the variation and not have everything thrown at you all at once. We basically have an exam every week though which I prefer having that versus having them all grouped together. Our classes this session consist of: - Cardiology - Dermatology - EKG - Pulm - Endocrine - Diagnostic Modalities (basically CLS stuff and more on what tests to order like labs as well as imaging) - Microbiology - Pharmacology - Physical Diagnosis (basically do everything in the Bates book) - Medical Spanish - Management of the Medically Underserved Session 3 We're going to start this in the first week of March. From what the class of 2014 has told me, this should be a laid back session in comparison to session 1 and session 2. I see on the schedule that we have at least a 3 day or 1 week break in each month until the session ends in mid-June. Our classes this session include: - Biostats - Clinical correlations (working with paid actors to do physical exams) - ENT - Epidemiology - GI - Hematology - MHHS - Nutrition - OB/GYN - Oncology - Ophthalmology - Pharmacology - Urology/Nephrology Session 4 This session is supposed to be a lot like Session 2 in terms to the course load and schedule. The classes we have this session are: - ER - Epidemeiology - Genetics - Geriatrics - Jurispreducence - Neurology - Ortho - Peds - Pharm - Rheumatology - Surgery Clinical Rotations In November we'll begin clinical rotations. We basically get 2 elective rotations and then hit up all the major rotations. 2 months of IM and 2 months of Family Practice and then 1 month of OB/GYN, Surgery, ER, Peds, Psych, and then 1 rural rotation. The rural rotation they'll put you in the sticks somewhere like Caliente, NV so I hear you get a lot of cool cases during this rotation. We also have international elective rotations in Thailand and Guatemala. At the end of each rotation we have to come to campus and take an end of rotation exam. Misc We also have other projects that we are apart of. As a PA student we have to be involved in a community project. Our program has 3 to choose from which are the Yellow Dot Program, Boys & Girls club health talks, & the mobile health clinic. The yellow dot program is a program where people put their medical records for EMS responders either in the freezer or glove compartment of their car and they'll put a yellow dot outside their home and on their car to let them know. Boys and Girls club is basically you go give talks about how to be healthy to the children. And the mobile health unit is basically a group of us go in an RV that we converted into a mobile health clinic and help the homeless get care. We also have a program called the Autopsy experience where we get to go with the medical examiner while they are conducting autopsies at the morgue. We also have the Shade Tree clinic which is a free clinic for women and children that was started by the director of our PA program (who was given a PAragon award for this). We also have intramural sports / various clinics put on by clubs like suturing and intubation and there is also a big basketball game between Touro CA and Touro Nv. Well, time for me to go back studying for our pulm final on Wednesday. Send me a private message if you have further questions. Take care! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I have been a medic for 8 years, an ER tech for 9, an ACLS instructor for 2, and have lots of schooling behind me (BA). I need to work on a second language- I was thinking sign language lol, The schools in So Cal are pretty specific about wanting Spanish. I am fairly proficient in ASL (and don't think it's easier than any other language, just different), and have years of learning other languages, but they don't care about any of them, just Spanish :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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