Hemoglobin Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I am researching this career as I might be potentially interested in pursueing it. I noticed that there is a Physician Assistant Bachelors program. Can you legally practice as a Physician Assistant with soley a Bachelors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Nevermind. I browsed these forums and answered my own questions. There appears to be only 2-3 states that REQUIRE a graduate degree in Physician Assistant I don't know if this will change in the future though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtonsApple Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Short answer is yes, all programs are required in the next few years to be all graduate level. States will eventually follow FLA and like requiring a graduate level degree to practice. There is good and bad to the move, but it is the current path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Short answer is yes, all programs are required in the next few years to be all graduate level. States will eventually follow FLA and like requiring a graduate level degree to practice. There is good and bad to the move, but it is the current path. Too bad I didn't find this website 10 years ago. Of course, I was in middle school then:xD:. It's probably a good idea as diagnosing patients isn't exactly something someone with a 4 year degree is probably capable of doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Too bad I didn't find this website 10 years ago. Of course, I was in middle school then:xD:. It's probably a good idea as diagnosing patients isn't exactly something someone with a 4 year degree is probably capable of doing? One more thing. I am considering going to college for medical technologist. Is this a bad idea? From browsing the internet, it appears this field is under appreciated/underpaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtonsApple Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 It's probably a good idea as diagnosing patients isn't exactly something someone with a 4 year degree is probably capable of doing? Being able to practice medicine as a PA is quality over quantity. Don't equate competence with degree. Not sure what you are asking about as far as the medical technologist, if it what you want to do than it is a good idea. If you are talking about gaining HCE, many of the lower entry healthcare positions are under appreciated and under paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Being able to practice medicine as a PA is quality over quantity. Don't equate competence with degree. Not sure what you are asking about as far as the medical technologist, if it what you want to do than it is a good idea. If you are talking about gaining HCE, many of the lower entry healthcare positions are under appreciated and under paid. I think a lot of mid level jobs are under appreciated/underpaid I just researched that medical technologist is a difficult degree and they make less relative to nurses. It's a good stepping stone for something like PA school though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andersenpa Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Too bad I didn't find this website 10 years ago. Of course, I was in middle school then:xD:. It's probably a good idea as diagnosing patients isn't exactly something someone with a 4 year degree is probably capable of doing? There are many many years worth of PAs with certificate and associate degrees who have been diagnosing and treating without any problems. The degree creep in PA education is a political move in many ways (but not all). Clinical education is mostly the same. Also I need to check but I believe the move for the near future will be that all programs must offer the masters but not mandate it (anyone????) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradtPA Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 The 2009 recommendations from the PAEA recommend the masters as the entry and terminal degree for PAs. http://www.paeaonline.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/68575/pid/68575. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marilynpac Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I still hope there are some bachelor programs left for people who want to do a work/study(DLP), but I think this will fade into the sunset... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 There are many many years worth of PAs with certificate and associate degrees who have been diagnosing and treating without any problems. The degree creep in PA education is a political move in many ways (but not all). Clinical education is mostly the same. Also I need to check but I believe the move for the near future will be that all programs must offer the masters but not mandate it (anyone????) The only issue is, I see this happening a bit more than two years. Look what happened with with phasing out LPNs and supposedly Nurse Practitioner will be a Doctorate Program in the future It might be worth it to get a 4 year degree in Physician Assistant from like the Pennsylvania college of technology and go from there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andersenpa Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 If by 4 yr degree you mean a BS, that is most likely what the average PA student will be earning. The DNP is a certainty. Your recent post suggested a difference in clinical ability for someone w/ less than a bachelors, which is not the case. Get whichever degree matches your personal needs; right now there are few state requirements for the masters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 im currently a med tech and i enjoy it. its not necessarily an entry level degree because to become a full fledged tech usually means you have gone to school at least 4 years. i make almost as much as a nurse in my region, and have a lot of stability. ive found that there are some benefits and pitfalls to using it as a springboard to becoming a PA... so i will tell you what my take is: the good: i went to a university med tech program after i did an undergraduate degree, and it helped to have another year of biological science coursework to pad my gpa. i did not have a hard time finding a job after i graduated, even in the middle of the recession. ive since had plenty of opportunities to change jobs if i wanted, but im very content where im at, and the pay is good. i didnt get into school last cycle, but its fine because im not scraping by. i work in a small facility where i get a lot of patient contact, and we draw a lot of blood and arterials. you pick up a ton of knowlege. the potentially bad: it isnt the fastest way to become a PA. it takes a while to become a functional technologist, and you wont have much to talk about if you plan on applying to PA school the moment you become a tech. its more useful if you've done it for several years and know the lay of the land, so to speak. as a new technologist, your head will be spinning, and you will have your hands full learning how to do your job. that could get in the way of all the things you need to do to get ready for applying to pa school. you also need to pick your employers so that you arent stuck in a basement of a 600 bed facility....you wont get any contact with a patient at that kind of place. PA programs that care about health care experience are going to care about what kind of exposure you have to other areas of medicine. if you are working in an assembly line urban laboratory, it wont mean nearly as much as if you are a night tech at a tiny hospital in the sticks. so thats the scoop from me. i know quite a few technologists that made the jump, and they seem to do well. like i say, its not the fastest way to roll to PA school. best thing to do is just get excellent grades, good extracurriculars, and do some work as an emt or something. the grades will be your ticket. the bachelors degree PA programs will want you to have way more health care hours than many masters programs out there, who will tend to focus a lot more on your grades. your bachelors programs will have tons of applicants with awesome health care experience... combat medics, seasoned ems first responders. you should expect to be competing for a seat against guys and gals who treated people in tough spots. im just putting that out there because a lot of people who are starting out thier research think of bachelors and associates programs as being places where they will stand out because they already have a degree. the truth is that a lot of the time, they are harder to get into because they have expectations regarding what kind of background the applicants have. I should probably PM you on this. From browsing websites, it appears there isn't much career mobility for medical technologist. So, your a technologist 15 years down the road doing the same stuff unless you choose to advance to management..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Let me clarify that. Is there ANYTHING else you can do with a Medical technology degree other than work in a lab. Pharmaceutical sales rep? Yes, I understand it would be idiotic to for a degree if you don't intend to use it. However, I noticed like Nurses(who always seem to hate their jobs) can move into different specialties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guthriesm Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I LOVED working with labs - my degree was in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. It gives an amazing background in health experience. The only challenge for relating it to PA- there is not a lot of direct patient experience unless your lab requires phlebotomy. I found plenty of upward mobility. This degree, like any health degree, does require some time at the bottom of the ladder - that is life. However where and how long one stays directly relates to the individual. I received my first promotion in 20 months. Bench work is a staple, very few promotions leave that behind but I found a career with customer service, quality control, and regulatory compliance. I worked with a diverse group of people as well as inter-departments - I spent most of my last job working directly with surgery to maintain their cadaver tissue for pediatric surgeries. Please do not pick an undergrad exclusively as a stepping stone for PA school - what if you graduate burned out? What if you have a situation that requires you to postpone your plans? I loved the labs but would never recommend it to a person just looking to burn time. I will note, my lab background has been FUNDAMENTAL in the comprehension I have of my school work. I understand what a lab test does (or does not!) accomplish and due to my customer and quality background I have many of the people skills to navigate my new career choice. Best of luck! PS- One of my instructors did a bachelor's in PA. She is phenomenal. I do agree it would be harder on her if she moves states with some of the law changes but she is clearly an amazing provider as well as dedicated instructor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 I LOVED working with labs - my degree was in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. It gives an amazing background in health experience. The only challenge for relating it to PA- there is not a lot of direct patient experience unless your lab requires phlebotomy. I found plenty of upward mobility. This degree, like any health degree, does require some time at the bottom of the ladder - that is life. However where and how long one stays directly relates to the individual. I received my first promotion in 20 months. Bench work is a staple, very few promotions leave that behind but I found a career with customer service, quality control, and regulatory compliance. I worked with a diverse group of people as well as inter-departments - I spent most of my last job working directly with surgery to maintain their cadaver tissue for pediatric surgeries. Please do not pick an undergrad exclusively as a stepping stone for PA school - what if you graduate burned out? What if you have a situation that requires you to postpone your plans? I loved the labs but would never recommend it to a person just looking to burn time. I will note, my lab background has been FUNDAMENTAL in the comprehension I have of my school work. I understand what a lab test does (or does not!) accomplish and due to my customer and quality background I have many of the people skills to navigate my new career choice. Best of luck! PS- One of my instructors did a bachelor's in PA. She is phenomenal. I do agree it would be harder on her if she moves states with some of the law changes but she is clearly an amazing provider as well as dedicated instructor. I guess all my questions have been answered. Once again, it appears you can still get a Bachelors in Physicians Assistant and practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 you can have an associates, bachelors, or masters and practice as a PA... at least somewhere in the country. you can probably practice in most places. and what guthriesm says is right... pick a field you can stand to camp out in for a while until you get into a PA program. for some, thats nursing. for others it could be a lab. one of the reasons i went to the lab is that i basically only had to do a year of coursework above and beyond my undergrad, and then i was into a good paying job. it also provided a lot of biology coursework to improve my gpa. nursing would have been cool, but at the time i didnt know enough about it to really see it as something i could get into as quickly as the lab. it all depends on what you want to fall back on. Could you provide me with a list of Associate and Bachelor PA programs? I am not looking for a shortcut. I am just semi-curious now... I only found one. Define "Good paying job" Anywhere from 40k-50kish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 States will eventually follow FLA and like requiring a graduate level degree to practice. There is no proof of that, and if you talk with certain PA regulatory boards and health workforce policy commissions you might be surprised at the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Could you provide me with a list of Associate and Bachelor PA programs? I am not looking for a shortcut. I am just semi-curious now...I only found one. Look for these program in: Colorado (which I guess you did), California, New York, Ill., Fla., Maryland and Alaska. Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Why the fixation on bachelors programs? If you are wondering about getting hce just so you can get into one, a better bet might just be to finish your undergrad and then get into a masters program, rather than get a professional degree and then try to get into a bachelors program for PA. Those places are geared towards medical personel that have been around for a while, but don't have an undergrad bachelors in something. Very good points to consider. The AS and Cert programs are looking for the applicant with extensive HC experience. There are some AS programs that require a BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Final question. Although, I am guessing you all are tired of me and this thread at this point -What does a Medical Lab tech make -How much longer does it take to go from Medical Lab tech to medical technologist Thanks mates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemoglobin Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 i told you what they make several times. im not going to give you my exact number, and it wouldnt matter because each location and region pays different. look it up on the bls website. i started above 40k before i passed my registry (board test to become a med tech). once i passed my registry, my wage went up enough that i wish i had done it sooner. i dont know much about a lab tech vs a med tech as far as what it takes to become a lab tech. our facility only hires med techs or tranees finished with school that are about to pass thier registry to become a med tech. i told you what it took for me to become a med tech (undergrad biology degree took 3.5 years, the med tech degree took 1). i think a lab tech degree is an associates? and they dont make what a med tech does. anyway, do some research and visit some websites. google will be your friend. Let me clarify that. Say I wanted to get a 2 year degree in Medical Lab Tech....then use that and go another two years to become a Medical technologist. I do find it odd they make pay comparable to Nurses considering Nurses can get away with just having a 2 year degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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