Psych Major going into PA, advices?

[socalbaby]

I plan on transferring to a UC for psychology, since I am in junior college right now. Since, PA programs require 500-1000 hours of hands on patient care work, I will volunteer at a hospital nearby. That won't be enough. What jobs can I do will fulfill this requirement? What do you suggest on doing? I was thinking of working as a caregiver for a year or so. Also, is working with children with autism patient care experience? I will hopefully graduate after all this in 2021. When do I start applying for PA programs, so that I'll go immediately after graduating? I need some structure. Thank you :) 

[mmchick]

If you spend a little time looking around this forum, you'll see other threads exactly like this where people explain in depth the different kinds of PCE you can get (EMT/CNA/ER tech/MA/etc.)

[psych2PA]

On August 11, 2017 at 3:50 AM, socalbaby said:

I plan on transferring to a UC for psychology, since I am in junior college right now. Since, PA programs require 500-1000 hours of hands on patient care work, I will volunteer at a hospital nearby. That won't be enough. What jobs can I do will fulfill this requirement? What do you suggest on doing? I was thinking of working as a caregiver for a year or so. Also, is working with children with autism patient care experience? I will hopefully graduate after all this in 2021. When do I start applying for PA programs, so that I'll go immediately after graduating? I need some structure. Thank you :) 

Hey! I have my bachelors degree in psychology and then I decided after graduation to go the PA route. At that time I had over 1,000 hours working as a home care aide for children with special needs. Im not sure if it counts, but I'm hoping it does. Since then though I have gained over 1,000 more hours as a tech getting direct patient care experience in the hospital. I would imagine my hours working with children with special needs counts also but Im not entirely sure yet. But I would suggest also trying to get a job in a hospital, medical outpatient center , or becoming an EMT, to get even more direct patient experience which will ultimately strengthen your application more. But I definitely think working with the disabled community (depending on what your job entails)  should/will count as well and add a little diversity to your application, so definitely add that in your experiences portion on CASPA when you apply!