Seeking Advice

[MTtoPNW]

Hello everybody!

I am seeking advice about some very important life decisions coming up soon. Here's a little background about me:

• I am currently 25 and work as an anesthesia technician at a local hospital (non-certified, just basically assisting anesthetist in the operating room).
• I became an EMT at 18, and work as one up until this last December.
• In January, I became a police officer in my city, but ended up getting injured on the job and could not return to that line of work - therefore, I ended up back in healthcare. 

Since I was younger, I have always loved the healthcare setting. In high school, I was tremendously interested at the prospects of becoming a PA or a nurse practitioner. I would specifically like to specialize either in emergency or anesthesiology. I never pursued that path coming out of high school because I couldn't afford to go to college, and I seriously doubted myself that I could ever make it through school. 

I am absolutely horrible at math - essentially from 8th grade forward, I just never "got it", and didn't have people or resources at my school to correct my course before it was too late. Recently, I have been using Khan Academy to reinforce my math skills. Math is something that will be extremely challenging for me moving forward, especially on the GRE. 

At this point in life I am basically seeking advice on the best path to go towards:

• From the research I have done, nursing creates a viable option for PA school in the future, and obviously, NP school. I have not yet decided whether PA or NP is right for me, as both careers offer some great advantages over the other. If going the PA route, I'd love to look into the surgical path, and NP I'd like to become a CRNA.
• It would take me quite a while to get through school because I will have to work full time while doing it - meaning working at night, and going to class in the mornings after work. 
• I have considered online degree paths, such as anthropology, but I have so far read that PA school does not exactly look at online degrees in the best light, and anthropology lacks a lot of pre-reqs I need. 

What do you all feel is the better bachelor option: nursing or something like anthropology? Any advice on enhancing math skills as an adult who's been out of HS for a bit? And, lastly, any words to support the pathway of PA over NP? 

 

Thanks.

[KuchiKopi]

Hey! 5 year trauma/ED RN here going the PA route. I entertained the idea of CRNA but most schools want 1-2 years of ICU experience, which I do not have, nor really wiling to get. Plus doing the same thing everyday is also not something I am interested in, hence I'm in emergency lol. You said if you go NP you want to go CRNA, but these are two different programs (unless things have changed) you either go NP or CRNA. (CRNA is a great gig though)

So if you do go nursing, this still does not fulfill the prerequisites and will have to return to school for them, that may not be something of interest to you. Then while doing prerequisites I worked full time, and now my experience and PCE in nursing will greatly help my acceptance to PA school.

Now I did not choose NP due to the fact I am more interested in the medical model that is emphasized in PA school rather than the more psychosocial model used in nursing. Also the fact that NPs come out with like 700 clinical hours while PAs do 2000. It has been my experience that PAs are better prepared and well rounded (now this will depend on the provider). 

Now you can still easily get in with anthro, especially since you have all the EMT PCE, and you can probably keep a better GPA with working full time. It would honestly be hard to work full time and get the best grades in nursing. For me nursing was not significantly difficult but still time consuming and requiring significant studying.

So that's all I am going to type for now, if you have any questions of me then ask away

[DiggySRNA]

Welcome!

Working as a RN does provide excellent PCE prior to enrolling into PA school. It's actually listed as one of the highest level of PCE alongside RRTs, medics, radiology technologists etc. However, most BSN programs do not typically include all of the pre-reqs for PA school. So, you'd have to do post-bacc courses in upper level biology and chemistry (300 level) courses such as microbiology, genetics, Ochem, BioChem, etc. The math level in nursing school is basic as hell. Medication calculation is the easiest thing to learn and that's coming from someone who is terrible at math. 

I've only been a RN for about 1.5 years but prior to nursing I had applied to 9 PA schools and 1 BSN program (interviewed at 2:1) respectively and was denied at all 9 but accepted to the 1 BSN program I applied to. No regrets so far. As for me, my plan is to enroll into a DNP program with a concentration in Emergency Nurse Practitioner. Then do a Residency/Fellowship in Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care. Reason being, all of my pre-requisites for PA school have expired or is expiring. Continuing up the Nursing ladder is easier financially. I prefer a guaranteed path than a maybe. 

As for the curriculum, PAs are better trained to enter the work force upon graduation and passing the PANCE as compared to NPs. I would say CRNAs are equivalent to PAs curriculum wise. However, I would say my experience in the ER will serve me well as a future ENP compared to those who went directly into a Direct Entry NP program. Level of confidence and understanding the flow of the ER is something that cannot be taught in a classroom.

I'm one of those individuals who try to exceed the bare minimum and always looking to advance my skill set and knowledge base. It is unfortunate that most NP programs require a minimum of 700 hours of clinicals (some even less).

Regardless of the path you choose, you'll be doing an amazing thing. You just have to sacrifice for now to get to where you need to be.

Good luck!

Edited May 25, 2020 by Diggy

[DiggySRNA]

whew...how 3 years can really change your career path lol