Is experience as Ophthalmic Tech Assistant useful for PA school?

[aztecmouse96]

I'm a recent university graduate who is taking a gap year to improve my resume for PA school. I worked as a physical therapy aide full time for 6 months and as a ophthalmic technician assistant full time for another 6 months. Currently, I have two job offers, one as a medical assistant (no certification) for a low income community family practice health center and another as an ophthalmic technician assistant with 50% scribing duties.

Between the two experiences, which would be more beneficial for my application? On one hand, being a medical assistant would be a new opportunity for me and can show some level of diversity in my resume. On the other hand, being a ophthalmic tech assistant shows focus and consistency and I've heard scribing is a good position to have. 

If there are other experiences that you can recommend, what would they be? Perhaps jobs that require certification would be better?

Thank you!

[GeorgeA]

You might have to ask individual programs - they can have very different expectations in my experience. Personally, I'd stick with the MA.

[Ket131]

I use to scribe.  If you want to scribe then you are going to be limited in what you see by being in only optho and seeing only that population, which is a problem with any specialty.  Id stick with something more general and what would do more "hands on" stuff...personally I'd pick the MA job.

[SrTaM]

I'd go with the MA position 100%. 

[aztecmouse96]

Is working as an uncertified MA more valuable than working as a ophthalmic assistant/scribe? The MA position seems to be about 50% admin duties as well. 

The position at the ophthalmology clinic has better pay and benefits so I am leaning towards that but obviously my main priority is to gain experience that best strengthens my application.

 

[prepakathyp]

100% MA.

I worked 8 months as an ophthalmic tech and felt it was not worth it for my PA school app.

I was also a physical therapy aide, felt like that experience trumped the OT position. At the time I had the offer to continue to be a PTA or MA, and I chose PTA. If I could go back, I would have done MA.

[steakPA]

I worked as an Ophthalmic tech prior to PA school. It all depends on who you work for. The small practice I worked for loved to teach which made the experience rewarding and helped me learn the “why” behind diagnoses rather than just following the pathway of “we do x for y”. Additionally, being present for the doctor-patient interaction was really valuable in learning how to lead a patient encounter and write notes. I found my classmates who didn’t scribe struggled a bit more when writing their notes during school. 

 

Additionally, I found that a lot of my classmates seemed to struggle with ophthalmology and grasping the concepts because it’s such a niche specialty. It was nice to be able to help them with certain concepts and they could do the same for other topics that I struggled with. At the end of the day, I would go with the position that you feel like you’d learn the most. 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by steakPA

[kaitt236]

I agree with steakPA. I'm applying this cycle and my PCE is from being an ophthalmic tech at a retina specialist. I find it very beneficial, I interact with patients and the doctors a lot. I have also learned a lot about the eye that I didn't know about. I would pick the one that you feel you'll get the best experience from.