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Nurse to PA


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Like I said before, do as you like. What people do will have no affect on me. But the wording is unambiguous. Someone in training is not directly responsible. If the schools are fine with it, okay, cool. Caspa doesn't enforce, whatever, I have CoD to play. But it says what it says. I was originally trying to be helpful, but if you say they don't care, then by all means.

Schools determine prereqs (including acceptable HCE), not CASPA. It's only as ambiguous as the person filling out the form. Are PAs also not "responsible" because they're overseen by doctors? Direct care is direct care. A nurse mid training might have more HCE than a CNA or EMT B. That's why the wording is so important.

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Schools determine prereqs (including acceptable HCE), not CASPA. It's only as ambiguous as the person filling out the form. Are PAs also not "responsible" because they're overseen by doctors? Direct care is direct care. A nurse mid training has more training than a CNA or EMT B. That's why the wording is so important.

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Schools determine prereqs (including acceptable HCE), not CASPA. It's only as ambiguous as the person filling out the form. Are PAs also not "responsible" because they're overseen by doctors? Direct care is direct care. A nurse mid training might have more HCE than a CNA or EMT B. That's why the wording is so important.

 

     I agree with you that schools determine what is acceptable health care experience. That is one are they REALLY broke down in my interview. I worked 3 HCE jobs, A CNA at a nursing home, A CNA on a hospital telemetry floor, and a CNA for hospice. They talked about my duties on each and what I learned from each. I have seen people interview with what they thought was direct patient care experience and when they had to talk about patient interaction they were unable to relate. Not sure what all schools are looking for, just giving you my 2 cents from my own journey. :) 

     Personally, I don't see nurse to PA as any different than nurse to nurse practitioner as far as using either as a stepping stone. While some NP's continue to work as a nurse, many I know are working on their own in family practice.

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I feel both of you are squirreling your way out of this.  Whether you think it is "smart" or non-ideal or whatever isn't really the point.  Denying that adcoms are complicit in topfeeding strikes me as very disingenuous.  It's better to own it and strike peace with it.  That includes backing down as militantly against PAs furthering their MS.

 

It's just such a backasswards way to get an MD/DO, if that is one's original intent.

 

They go back to school, relearn a lot of the same stuff (and yes, new stuff too) and pay twice the price while doing it. Seems like the time and cost of that applicant going through all of PA school with the intent of using it to go to medical school, could have been better served taking a few more courses and dropping a few thousand on an intense MCAT boot camp. It would have saved them about two years and $50k+.

 

I have no problem with PAs furthering their MS. And I think that some people do get into it with the purest intent of practicing lifelong as a PA, but then get frustrated by the system and BS placed upon them. Five, ten years later; they go back to med school, that's fine. However; the PA in the recent KevinMD article that went to med school (she had to have been applying practically upon graduation from PA school) after a year of practice as a new PA... I think her true intentions speak louder than the explanations she gave. But I guess she doesn't mind the debt or had the money...

 

Nothing wrong with the Global Health, Disaster Medicine, Biology, etc. doctorates either. I like PAs going for those over a dedicated "DPAM" or whatever. Broaden your horizons. Heck, if I go back to school after this master's, I'm going for a PhD in Asian Studies. I just don't think I could pay (mentally) for the MD/DO bump.

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I feel both of you are squirreling your way out of this.  Whether you think it is "smart" or non-ideal or whatever isn't really the point.  Denying that adcoms are complicit in topfeeding strikes me as very disingenuous.  It's better to own it and strike peace with it.  That includes backing down as militantly against PAs furthering their MS.

 

If i'm reading your post correctly, I think you missed our point.  The two post you quote are referring to the undergrad who PLANS to solely utilize PA as a stepping stone to become a physician.   No one is against a PA going back to medical school...ever.  The plan, however, to use PA solely as a stepping stone to gain admission to medical school is, in my opinion, a terrible idea.  Nobody is against a PA furthering their education but there are much better ways for a pre-pa to go to medical school.  

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I hear both of you.  It is not ideal.  But it also isn't as ridiculous as either of you make it sound.  People do it.  And odds are people have done it both accidentally and intentionally.  My beef is, dumb or not, it is a bit ironic that PA adcoms will frown at people who even "sound" like they may not be lifelong PAs, at the same time topfeeding from other careers which also perform admirable, desperately needed duties.

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