PCE/HCE Hours

[TheBatman]

I will be applying to PA programs next cycle (submitting application spring 2019).

Here are my care hours by the time I submit:

4 years working with the NYS Dept of People with Developmental disabilities (2 disability individuals living with me in my home): administering meds, charting meds given, giving medication and behavioral report to nurse and physicians, ambulating, taking weights, setting up appointments with psychologists and discussing changes in behaviors, bathing, feeding (when necessary). I estimate I'll have about 3000-4000 hours here

7 months working as patient transportation: ambulating patients, transporting patients between hospital units and departments, assisting nurses with some beside care. This is definitely low quality. ~700 hours

Currently working as a Cardiovascular ICU Patient Care Tech: assisting nurses admit open heart surgery patients out of the OR, ambulating patients, doing EKGs, vitals, taking weights, stocking, bathing, feeding (when necessary), alerting nurses about changes in behavior of patients. ~1400 hours by the time I submit my CASPA application.

I was wondering if my application is considered strong by the time I apply

 

 

[MT2PA]

The best PCE you have is the ICU tech.

Patient transport doesn't count as PCE and is some very weak HCE (so probably negligible overall).

In home care is hit or miss because without direct supervision, there's no one to corroborate your skills and tasks completed.

I wouldn't consider your app a shoe-in from what you've told us here.  There are a lot of factors to applying (GPA, GRE, shadowing etc etc) so strong vs weak vs average can't be ascertained.  But a 'strong' app would have like 10,000 hrs of EMT or nursing PCE just for reference.

[TheBatman]

9 hours ago, MT2PA said:

The best PCE you have is the ICU tech.

Patient transport doesn't count as PCE and is some very weak HCE (so probably negligible overall).

In home care is hit or miss because without direct supervision, there's no one to corroborate your skills and tasks completed.

I wouldn't consider your app a shoe-in from what you've told us here.  There are a lot of factors to applying (GPA, GRE, shadowing etc etc) so strong vs weak vs average can't be ascertained.  But a 'strong' app would have like 10,000 hrs of EMT or nursing PCE just for reference.

Thanks for the reply. I’ll definitely be shadowing and doing volunteer work before applying 

[roundabout]

This may be a stupid question. But what exactly is the difference between PCE and HCE?

[jtuineau]

27 minutes ago, johncfl said:

This may be a stupid question. But what exactly is the difference between PCE and HCE?

To my own understanding, there is no hard-and-fast rule that categorizes experiences PCE or HCE. Generally, experiences that put you into the realm of medicine, such as billing/coding, receptionist, any role in the hospital not directly interacting with or treating patients but that still give you an understanding of healthcare, fall under HCE. Experiences that put you directly in contact with patients in a way that directly contributes to their medical treatment, such as most techs, phlebotomists, nurses, medical/nursing assistants, fall under PCE. PCE tends to fall into sub-categories as well depending on the level of involvement/level of decision-making you had pertaining to patient treatment.