Non-Science Major

[SJLamb77]

I'm looking for some advice on what steps to take next. I went to college for accounting, was successful, got an internship with a small firm CPA, and realized I needed to get the heck out of that career. So I changed my major Junior year. Naturally, I had limited options, but I knew I loved theology, literature, and philosophy, so I switched to Humanities (most flexible degree so I could graduate not only on time, but a semester early). Now I'm graduating in December 2012 with a bachelor's in humanities, and I was planning on going to seminary, but I don't know that I want to be a professor and study theology for a career (and I certainly don't want to be a pastor). I want something really tangible. My goal is to serve people in a really practical way where I can be in a highly knowledgeable career, but maintain family time (really most important). I have a huge interest in science, but of course I didn't take much with my program (meteorology and this summer I'll take biology or A&P, whichever is available). But I do have a 3.9 GPA and tons of hours of volunteering with faith based organizations.

 

So I've been looking into options within the medical field because I think I'd be really happy in it and be well equipped to take it for short term missions. Obviously, I'm quite limited in my choices. At first I was looking into Speech Language Pathology, which is still an option, but I think I want something more technological/medical. So I started looking at my local medical university and saw that they have a master's to become a PA. Through my research it seems like a really fascinating and challenging career. I'm not looking for a job to make beaucoups of money, just something in which I can keep a family well-supported and still have plenty of family time.

 

I know I can take all the science prereqs at my local community college which has a pre-med program, but I don't think I'd be accepted even then because I don't have any HCE. The school doesn't require any hours of HCE, but I know for myself I need some before I even decide to do PA school. I'd like to shadow as we have several great hospitals in the area, but I've been turned down by all of them to shadow an SLP because I'm not in an SLP program. So how can I decide what career path to take if I can't shadow someone until I'm a student for that career path? It seems a very long way to get into a PA program to finish by BA in December, get a two year nursing education, work for a while, go back to college to get any prereqs I missed, and then try to apply for PA school. Really, I'm just very new to exploring the medical field and need some advice!

 

In summary, this is what I'd be looking for in a career:

Family time (40 hour weeks would be wonderful)

Adequate salary to be the primary provider

Mentally challenging and practical by helping people and being useful for medical missions

Fast paced without copious amounts of stress

A possibility without a pre-med degree

[mktalon]

Family time - there are 40 hour PA gigs

Adequate salary - yup, but depending on what kind of lifestyle you want to live

Mentally challenging... - yup

Fast paced w/o stress - nope, especially the first years of your career. maybe after 5 - 10 years you will have an experience base to draw off of that will help reduce your stress... but it will still be there

no pre-med - yup, but still a good handful of prereqs

 

It is good you are putting a lot of thought into different pathways to take if you want to go into the health industry. I know it is difficult to find shadowing opportunities, but they are out there so keep looking. If you know for sure that you want to be in health care then the first thing to do is to find an entry level job, or get certification to get into an entry level job and see how you like it. It sounds like you have a little history with not really knowing what you want to do, so its better for you to find out having invested as little as possible whether or not health care is for you. I know it is tempting to be all gun-ho about this (especially with the seemingly tangible way of expressing your spiritual commitments to helping people), but there are MANY ways to do that. CNA cert courses are relatively cheap and a great way to jump into the industry without a huge commitment. You can see if you like it, and then work your way up getting HCE accumulated for PA school. It IS a long path to go from graduating with a humanities degree to getting into PA school... but there is a path. Keep in mind though, I understand the whole family time commitment, but you are going to be hard pressed to find a job that pays enough money to live on a single primary income, without a major commitment of time, resources, and more time. If you already have a family, be prepared to make time sacrifices with them if you want to get into / get through PA school. Good luck.

[swooshie1]

I may be misunderstanding your post, but it sounds like you cold-called the local hospitals to try to shadow. You said that your local medical university has a PA program. Have you spoken to the admission folks there? They might be able to help you make those necessary connections if they know you are interested in their program. Just a thought and Good luck!

[cinntsp]

It seems a very long way to get into a PA program to finish by BA in December, get a two year nursing education, work for a while, go back to college to get any prereqs I missed, and then try to apply for PA school.

 

What you're describing is the traditional path to becoming a PA.

[SJLamb77]

I agree I should try to find work in HC as soon as I can. I looked up CNA programs and found a couple here, and we also have several CCs offering EMT and paramedic training. Has anyone gone this route?

[EMEDPA]

I did the er tech/paramedic route:

emt senior yr in high school

worked as er tech 26 hrs/week through college and 60 hrs/week summers x 4 yrs

paramedic school(1 yr) right after my bs

5 yrs as a paramedic

pa (worked as a medic through pa school didactic and occ. during clinicals).

[Planteater]

Also, a good way to check out the medical field is to contact the volunteer coordinator at your local hospital. If you get in there to volunteer, you will have the opportunity to meet some PAs and ask them personally to let you shadow (just make sure you volunteer for positions that let you spend time with actual patients and providers). It is also easier for them to say yes if you are already a volunteer because you will have gone through HIPAA and hospital policy training for your volunteer position.

[SJLamb77]

Thanks for the advice! A position opened up at a local hospital for an ER Scribe. Has anyone done this? I've heard it's a huge learning opportunity, so would it be too narrow of a job, or would it be useful for me determining which field I wanna go into?

[winterallsummer]

Some schools count ER scribe as HCE and some do not. The reason some don't is most ER scribes don't interact with patients much. I had an opportunity to work as a scribe and turned it down because the pay was outright insulting and it was a haven for egotistical pre-meds. I think the experience itself, once I got past being treated like a child by my employer and being thoroughly annoyed by potential co-workers, would have been excellent. You would learn a lot. But you don't get the one on one interaction with patients (disclaimer: I have heard on this forum from ONE person there is a scribe job they took where they interacted with patients - this is not the norm).

 

I think it's an excellent place to start. You can think about getting your CNA or EMT in the mean time in case the schools you want to apply to don't count scribe. You will only be working in the ER but I think that will be fine.

 

Also going to nursing school is NOT the traditional route for PA these days. Back in the day sure. Now a more traditional role is to get your bachelor's with pre-reqs (in your case get your pre-reqs now) and to work as an EMT or CNA while getting pre-reqs. If I were in your shoes I'd go for the ER scribe and get my CNA in the meantime, then dump the scribe position after a couple months and work as a CNA.

[holycow]

I am not sure about you guys, but I am finding it quite difficult to get a job as a CNA in a hospital as most of them want a minimum of 1-2 years experience. So like winterallsummer said, I would take up the ER scribe position, and that way, you are already in the hospital system and you can switch to a CNA position. I have worked as a CNA for an Alzheimer's facility for about 9 months, and I have been applying to hospital positions without any success. Good luck!

[bigdude]

Do the EMT route for sure, avoid CNA at all costs. Better yet, your plan to do a 2-year ASN (nursing) is great because you will knock out some of your PA pre-reqs and get real good HCE for PA school at the same time. It is definitely a long road which ever route you decide but the pay off will be worth it. Good luck to you.

[sealer04tx]

A few good baby steps, as a few others have said, are to start this summer by taking a couple of basic science classes (required no matter which direction you go), shadow a few different career paths (PA, RN, PT, etc), and re-evaluate at the end of the summer. If you can get an EMT-B or CNA job during that, great. If not, make that part of your evaluation. PA is great and flexible, but some other careers are moreso. I know several PTs who work PRN (as needed) and get plenty of family time while making good money. If you want to work in health care, you will need to take some basic sciences like Biology and Chemistry. Get those done while you figure out which role fits you best. Good luck!

[WTA]

Another idea with the nursing school is to look into an Accelerated BSN. I'm very much in the same position you are, although I graduated in 2010 with a BS in Business Management. I've begun taking the remaining prerequisites, and now have just chemistry left to focus on. I went ahead and got my EMT-B certification and plan to start working next week. I have to say it was tough to find a job; some of the places I applied to offered very limited hours on only a volunteer status. I actually had an interview for an ER-tech job right out of my EMT class, but lost out to someone already in the hospital system. I have considered going to the ACE BSN program recently to have a more stable footing in healthcare. It requires many of the same basic prerequisites for PA programs, albiet ones that you were more likely to take while pursuing your undergraduate degree. It is designed for people who already have a degree, so this works in your favor as well. Essentially, you get your BSN in only a year. Like I said, I have only been researching that option, I just wanted to pass along what information I have learned.