notapagirl Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 can anyone tell me what to expect first year in pa program? how long the classes are? etc. what is covered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MedLib42 Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 This is going to depend somewhat on the school. Most schools should have their curriculums posted online, with a list of classes you take each semester (and some will provide class descriptions as well). What you take and in what sequence, how long the classes are, and exactly what is covered will vary from school to school. Generally, though, didactic year should cover some or all of the following: - Gross anatomy - Microbiology - Physiology - Internal Medicine / general medicine - Pathophysiology - Biochemistry - Pharmacology - Specialized medicine classes (emergency med, peds, obstetrics, psychiatry, geriatrics, etc) - EKG and radiology - Clinical skills classes (physical exams, surgical skills, blood draws, intubation, etc) - Research or evidence based medicine classes - Some sort of communication class that covers patient interviewing, charting, etc - Health care policy / legal issues As far as schedule, a lot of PA students will tell you they're in class eight hours a day, five days a week (I was in class twelve hours a day at one point, but more typically 8 hours/day five days a week, with some of those hours being extremely early in the A.M. and pretty late at night). Some students get called back to campus on nights and/or weekends for special lectures, mandatory events, or review sessions. Lectures can run several hours long (most of mine were 2-4 hours each), and it's common to have up to several major tests per week. If there are programs you're interested in (or if you got accepted to one) I'd look up those programs' curriculums to get a more specific idea of what's being taught and when. You can also go to your school's section on this forum and ask current students if they'll give you an idea of what their schedules are like. You might also want to follow this thread: http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/index.php?/topic/14693-what-is-the-typical-dailyweekly-schedule-during-first-semester-at-your-pa-program/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 can anyone tell me what to expect first year in pa program? how long the classes are? etc. what is covered? Go to any PA program website, and click "curriculum." They vary school-to-school, and that way you can read about it directly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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