Any RDs out there?

[Guest RDtwoPA]

Hello fellow RDs,

I've been a RD for 8 years and a nutrition professional for over 12 years. I am considering making a career change to become a PA and am really happy to have found this thread. I have two questions, three actually...

 

What inspired you all to pursue becoming a PA?

Did you find that admission committees understood that RDs have PCE? I feel so often that other HCP don't know what we do. 

My prerequisites are pretty old and while I plan on refreshing a few science courses I am curious if anyone knows of a search engine when you can sort programs by the time limit for prequisites. Luckily one of the programs geographically closer to me has no time limit but I am having trouble finding a chart/search engine that allows to search my prerequisite time limits. 

Thanks.

[PrePA0410]

Hi!! 
I am applying next year so I’m not sure as much about the second question. However, I have heard a lot that RD experience is considered PCE. If you think about it we are working directly with the patient, sometimes doing NFPE, making care plans diagnosis etc and following up. I haven’t checked it out yet but I heard there is a new program called MY PA BOX which might have some search engine capability. I also purchase this guide called the applicants manual of physician assistant programs. It goes through almost all the programs and lists the stats, prerequisites etc. for me personally I graduated college in 2015, so I still have had some flexibility in terms of prerequisites but certain school I don’t plan on applying to if it’s within 5 years.

 

i really started looking into PA because I felt drawn to Something more in medicine I currently work in clinical and I have started to feel bored and not as interested in it. I want to make more of an impact on my patients and when I researched PA more it seemed very interesting! I like the lateral mobility and that you can work in different specialities. I think the nutrition background will be very beneficial as well.