ValentineM2419 Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 What are everyone's thoughts on a core science based curricula verses jumping into the clinical classwork right away? I know some programs that tend to be longer have biochem, cell bio, genetic classes etc. in their first semester of didactic to give more of a foundation prior to starting anything clinically related. Has anyone completed a curriculum like this and did you find it helpful? Also, for those that jumped right into the foundational clinical medicine classes, do you wish that you had had more of a background in the processes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavlovacloud Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Didn't use much of those in PA school. It's nice to know but not necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adru373 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I went into a program that jumped right into clinical medicine and I'm glad. It's important to have an understanding of the sciences from undergrad, but you'll benefit the most from anatomy, physiology and clinical medicine in the work place. A detailed understanding of biochemistry etc is lower yield. I find myself now that I am comfortable with working as a PA going back to review the basic sciences at times, but I spend way more of my day applying general medicine concepts. Medical school spends more time on basic sciences and the students learn most of their clinical medicine on their rotations and people often think pa students are better prepared for rotations for that reason. Obviously both approaches are successful, so go with however you think you'll learn best. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACdan Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 A review of genetics, cell bio, etc. is useful, but shouldn't take more than a few intro lectures as refreshers in the didactic portion of PA school. Those classes are (or should be) requirements BEFORE PA school. While the foundations are useful for grasping certain concepts, the minutia is not helpful for the everyday practice of medicine. PA schools that require one or both organic chem classes are silly (same with med schools). A strong footing in biology (gen, micro, dev, and cell) are vastly more useful than chemical bond structures. If anything, one gen physics course should be a prereq. So no, not useful and PA schools should not waste clin med time on other stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger777 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I am in a PBL-based prog. and really like the clinical based approach. The classroom material regarding stuff like cancer bio is usually the weakest material. There is just no way the can teach stuff like that or genetics as well as can be done at a major research u. This is one reason I think it's good to have genetics as a prereq. This was a tough class at my undergrad, not topical at all but very good. My cancer bio class was 3 cr. But super hard and I knew the material as well as my PA patho prof. Imo this stuff is not a strength of most PA programs and should not be overemphasized. Just get students who've already done it. Much better use of resources to get retired providers as profs to teach with a clinical focus. also can make program shorter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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