PA Students

[roundabout]

I am curious for those of you who have been working as PA’s for many years, if the quality of graduates is meeting your expectations. I have noticed from scrolling through the “accepted students thread” that a large majority of accepted students have far less experience in healthcare compared to many years ago. Is this impacting competency post-graduation?

[MediMike]

I practice in an area that previously had two separate cohorts of students accepted to their program, one was a B.S. section and one was a M.S. section.

Within 5 minutes of meeting an individual I could tell which campus they had come from (and no, not by asking them) simply based on their interactions with me and the patients.  The students who came from the bachelor's side were without a doubt stronger in just about every aspect of clinical care.  Could they write a paper and do AMA citation as well as the other group? Probably not. 

This was due in a large part to the fact that on average the B.S. group had significantly more prior HCE than did that M.S. group.  It was a much more traditional cohort of students that all of us "old timers" here talk about, more medics, RNs and RTs than anything else.  But...that's all gone away now as the program is 100% masters.

*Totally sorry, I misread your initial post there OP.  I would say yes, comparing new grads that I have seen who entered with significantly less HCE and for that matter significantly less APPLICABLE HCE with individuals with more/more there has been way more of a struggle with less ability for independence.  This is of course anecdotal but my prior group took a chance on several new grads and it went badly for those who are more of the newer generation.  But...N = 3 right? Who knows.

[Joelseff]

I have precepted for 2 PA programs and 3 NP programs. I think it depends on their school and their previous experience. My PA students on average are prepared well for rotations. The NP students were more variable but with a little extra tutelage on patho, phramco etc, I thought did pretty well but I will say my BEST student (I actually had her replace me when I left my last job) was an NP... But... She was an MD in the Philippines and an RN for a couple years here[emoji4] and quite frankly she admittedly relied more on that experience and knowledge than what she learned in school. My best PA student was a previous RT and attended a top school. I have had some previous scribes come through and as far as basic clinical sciences got that down pretty well. They needed a little more guidance on taking a reliable hx and also on clinical skills but in the end did well.

 

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[mgriffiths]

40 minutes ago, Joelseff said:

but I will say my BEST student was an NP... But... She was an MD in the Philippines

Not exactly your typical NP student...

[Joelseff]

Not exactly your typical NP student...[emoji1787]

Kind of my point [emoji4]

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[EMEDPA]

3 hours ago, johncfl said:

I am curious for those of you who have been working as PA’s for many years, if the quality of graduates is meeting your expectations. I have noticed from scrolling through the “accepted students thread” that a large majority of accepted students have far less experience in healthcare compared to many years ago. Is this impacting competency post-graduation?

yes. as mentioned by Medimike above, students with prior exposure to medicine are way ahead when it comes time for clinicals. The impact on didactic coursework is less pronounced. 

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

So this is all anecdote. In general I will say yes, past experience makes for a stronger graduate. Having said that my BEST student had zero, BUPKISS, for prior experience. However, he was 36 and had lots of life experience. My worst was a prior IDC (so he claimed, but was definitely a corpsman) who I honestly thought would kill someone. So, in my opinion, it’s more about the person and the correlation we see with prior experience is actually older students who are more motivated by leaving their previous life as well as having experience to draw from, whether that be clinical or general life experience. New grads are simply young, smart, and usually just motivated to get a good job that will let them coast on a good lifestyle. This isnt all of them, of course. I’ve also have had many young and motivated students who wanted to be the best, and were far beyond their peers.

tl;dr Motivation and life goals are more important than anything else.

 

Edit: correct errors 

[CAdamsPAC]

1 hour ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

So this is all anecdote. In general I will say yes, past experience makes for a stronger graduate. Having said that my BEST student had zero, BUPKISS, for prior experience. However, he was 36 and had lots of life experience. My worst was a prior IDC (so he claimed, but was definitely a corpsman) who I honestly thought would kill someone. So, in my opinion, it’s more about the person and the correlation we see with prior experience is actually older students who are more motivated by leaving there precious life as well as having experience to draw from, whether that be clinical or general life experience. New grads are simply young, smart, and usually just motivated to get a good job that will let them coast on a good lifestyle. This isnt all of them, of course. I’ve also have had many young and motivated students who wanted to be the best, and were far beyond their peers.

tl;dr Motivation and life goals are more important than anything else.

Agree with above. Having been a  preceptor many students I say there is no absolute on this topic. I do think each person's experiences does color their views.

Edited January 20, 2020 by CAdamsPAC

[roundabout]

Thank you for your responses. I appreciate it