How do you think your past HCE experience helped you get through PA school and after?

[starlitez7]

Hi,

I know how the people on this forum pay importance to past HCE. I was wondering how your past HCE has helped you in PA school. For example, how has you working as a CNA, MA, or EMT helped you do better? Try to be specific, if you can!

[Guest guthriesm]

I was an MT with phlebotomy as my patient experience.

 

I can actually talk to a patient. I am comfortable in hospital rooms and office rooms.

 

I also had a lot of HCE behind the scenes- so I understand lab tests, billing, most of the 'lingo', much of the science (took advanced chem, micro, etc for my undergrad degree), and am used to working in a relationship with multiple disciplines (pharmacy, doctors, nurses, etc).

 

My HCE has been PRICELESS. While it may not be the best for some of my classes (like physical diagnosis this semester) it means I am comfortable meeting a patient in the hospital and talking to my PA mentor.

[chiaroscuro27]

There was a thread about this recently if you'd like to do a search for it. My HCE has been invaluable. I'm sure I will understand even more how beneficial it has been for me when I start clinicals in three months.

[EMEDPA]

I was a medic before pa school.

when other students were learning how to start IV's I was learning central lines.

when other students were learning a basic trauma survey I was putting in chest tubes.

when other students were learning how to recognize a child in resp distress I was cardioverting other kids on my peds em rotation...

you can't do adv. procedures until you have the basics down and if you show up knowing the basics you are ready to step up to more interesting material.

[Joelseff]

Besides all the procedures and stuff, I had a pretty good grasp of outpatient Pharmacology esp those used in primary medicine. SOme of my classmates had trouble with this even the EMT's who had tons of years. I guess going over meds with pt's in IM and doing refill auths for all those years really taught me something. Being a corpsman also allowed me to ease back into PROVIDER mode vs MA or Nurse to provider. Sick call is a lot like PA school IM clinicals (at least in the beginning when your preceptor thinks you can only handle URI's and acutes) That's the specifics. The intangibles are the comfort level that someone else alluded to. I really had the sense that this WAS the next level in my growth in medicine that began almost 17 years before PA school. Some may argue that you dont really need HCE's these days but I'll tell you what, I am HELLA glad i have my foundation to stand on. (Oh BTW employers use my past experience before PA school to gauge my proficiency since I am a new grad and have gotten a lot of attention because of it-just another "Bonus" of having HCE in my case)

[EMEDPA]

I would not have gotten my first job in em without my prior experience as a medic.

I would not have my current solo night gig without my prior medic experience. all the guys who do mostly nights here are former military or civilian medics.

[acozadd]

Certain backgrounds will help with the occasional unit or rotation, but it isn't universal. Prior experience as a medic may give you a step up in EKG interpretation, the EM unit, and your EM rotation, but I'm not sure that carries over to all others. Ultimately, that advantage is hit or miss once you actually enter clinical practice depending on which field you enter. One of the faculty at my program was a flight nurse and had years of experience in EM, but went into women's health as a PA. She basically had the same experience as any new grad when it came to bimanual exams and women's health pathology despite her background.

 

Some transitions provide an obvious advantage ie. Medic--> em PA (probably a stud right out of school). But in other scenarios, not so much (medic--> women's health, endocrine, IR, nephrology, ortho, other surgical specialties, etc.) I was an assistant in radiology for several years prior to PA school and I have done extremely well in school (though I cant yet comment on clinicals and beyond).

 

This is usually my typical response to this question and my opinion really hasn't changed much through PA school.

[Doc Savage]

I was a infantry medic (with two deployments) for 4 years and worked in a civilian ICU as a CCT for 4 years. The experience is great and it makes it easier to do procedures and I am more comfortable with the material than some of the other people, but all the book and procedure knowledge can be picked up quickly along the way. It helps tremendously with patient encounters. I just feel very comfortable with patients regardless of the condition they are in, and the patients pick up on this fact too and they seem comfortable with me. That helps build rapport and that is your biggest tool in medicine. A number of other people have mentioned it...but I think its huge. Im sure glad that I had a background. I mean maybe there are some people that just fly to it like a duck to water... but that is not me.

[AlmostDone2011]

Ultimately I think the biggest difference is maturity. The more experienced people I think are the most focused and take rotations more seriously. There are people in my class with no experience and people with significant experience... Academically we are the same. Some of the people with significant experience are more comfortable talking to patients, the rooms, instruments, procedures... As for procedures... Your preceptors don't know your level of experience and even if you tell them they might not care. If you are comfortable right now drawing blood for example, don't do it for a year and a half and go back and do it and trust me its not like jumping back on bicycle. You have to do it to maintain your skills.

[Blessings!!]

How people coming from different background handle PA Clinical rotation? Like with no previous health care experience? How they learn how to draw blood or maintain IV line etc etc? Are they absolutely lost?

[EMEDPA]

with no previous health care experience? How they learn how to draw blood or maintain IV line etc etc? Are they absolutely lost?

yes, they are absolutely lost. I wouldn't recommend the no hce option to anyone, regardless of how bright you think you are.

[kyboynp]

I'm not a PA, I'm an NP. I knew I was going to NP school pretty much my 2nd semester of nursing school. I was in an ADN program, and immediately upon graduation, I went into an RN to BSN program and starting working full time in an emergency room. After about 4 years of practice, I went into the NP program. I'm now an NP at the same ER. What I'm getting at is that my experience as an ER nurse was extremely invaluable to my current practice as an ER NP (I'm certified as an FNP so I can treat all age groups). Because I knew that I was going to NP school, I always paid attention to what the providers were doing, I asked questions about treatment decisions, got tips on EKG interpretation, diagnoses, etc. Because the physicians, PAs, and NPs in the ER knew I was going to go back to school and come back to work there they tried to teach me as much as possible. It really did help, so now that I've switched roles from the nurse to the provider, I am familiar with the documentation, diagnostic tests, admission protocols, transfer protocols, trauma surverys, etc. Altogether I ended up with 5 years experience as an ER nurse and I cannot begin to describe how much that helped. For those that are going into PA school, I'm sure many of you aren't nurses, but maybe you can get experience as a paramedic, ER tech, CNA, med tech, etc. Any of those would be of immense help. I advise to just pay attention as much as possible to the way a variety of providers do things. They all do things differently, and you'll see things you like and don't like and there is much to learn from almost every physician, PA, or NP you get the chance to work with. I'm not sucking up because this is a PA forum and I'm an NP, but one of the most competent, exceptional providers that I had the pleasure of working with was a PA. I feel like his clinical judgement was superior to many of the MDs. As my physician friend once told me, just because she's a doctor doesn't mean that she's smarter than the PA or NP she is working with. It was just the route she chose in life. I chose to be a nurse then an NP, she chose to go to med school, and another friend of ours chose to go the PA route. We discuss all areas of medicine, and we learn from each other. Wow, I'm getting off topic alot tonight! lol. In the end though, I feel like any healthcare experience can be invaluable.