What type of health care experience looks good?

[whichonespink]

I am a new graduate nurse and aspiring PA who is having a hard time finding a nursing job. Hospital jobs are hard to come by, and it seems now the only places calling me back are non-hospital locations. Including nursing homes and psych facilities. I'll take what I can get since I need the healthcare experience, and the money. I also have a number of pre-reqs to complete. But would my chances of getting into PA school be negatively affected if I did not get acute care experience, which I won't get outside the hospital?

[cinntsp]

But would my chances of getting into PA school be negatively affected if I did not get acute care experience, which I won't get outside the hospital?

 

Nope...it's fine.

[Guest hubbardtim48]

I agree with PAMAC. Also, it depends on the type of program you are applying to (i.e. primary care, surgical, etc.). In my case my school is primary care oriented so working in a primary care area (nursing home, clinic, critical access hospital etc) would look awesome. Good luck and God bless.

[ehnj]

My roommate and close friend went through the PA admissions process a few years back, when I was still in undergrad and pre-med (which really requires no patient contact). He completed an EMT program and worked for over a year while doing his pre-reqs, post-bacc. His classmates had done everything from volunteering in a hospital or nursing home, to having shadowing/volunteering satisfy that requirement. Patient contact is the key. If you're a new RN, any clinical position you take will probably give you more meaningful hands-on experience than anyone who wasn't in allied health prior to applying has.

 

If you're having trouble getting anything in the hospital, I'd suggest looking at ambulatory surgery centers. I'm a surgical tech at a new facility that is rapidly expanding, and they hired six new nurses in the past two weeks. Of the two I've talked to so far, one has some home care experience, and the other just graduated in May. The new grad is basically floating between pre-op, OR, and PACU until they decide what is best for him. But all three options are excellent experience, especially when you're straight out of school. In a hospital, it's so hard for nurses to get into the OR. One of our nurses spend months (and thousands) for a perioperative nursing program at a prestigious NYC hospital, and still couldn't find a hospital OR nursing position after coursework and training. I don't know where you live, but in northern NJ, at least a half dozen new surgical centers have opened up within miles of me. Many only offer per diem positions, but getting into PACU and the OR isn't easy, and gives you fantastic experience. Regardless, anything you do as an RN will be more than adequate for clinical hours, as long as you really draw value from the experience!

[ParamedicToPa]

How is field Paramedic experience generally looked on? I have never worked in a clinical setting and dont really have the time to add a per diem ER Tech job to my schedule at the moment. My experience includes 2.5 years of transport for non-emergency ambulance company that provided some valuable experience of reading tons of histories, monitoring vitals, operating ventilators and IV pumps, etc. After that I have worked for a fire dept for 1 year and I know many people think of firefighters as guys who sit around in recliners watching ESPN all day but I average around 10 calls per shift.

[True Anomaly]

How is field Paramedic experience generally looked on? I have never worked in a clinical setting and dont really have the time to add a per diem ER Tech job to my schedule at the moment. My experience includes 2.5 years of transport for non-emergency ambulance company that provided some valuable experience of reading tons of histories, monitoring vitals, operating ventilators and IV pumps, etc. After that I have worked for a fire dept for 1 year and I know many people think of firefighters as guys who sit around in recliners watching ESPN all day but I average around 10 calls per shift.

 

To echo PAMAC, being a paramedic is in the absolute upper echelon of prior healthcare experience for PA school.

 

And don't worry about what people may think about your fire department career- it's nothing but a positive. Having experience as a paramedic on a 911 rig is as good as it gets. While I also averaged about 10 calls/day as an EMT in the fire department, I also played my fair share of X-Box :D

[rev ronin]

... and if you skip Paramedic, but still keep active in the Fire/EMS community when you're in PA school, then all of a sudden the career paramedics and EMT/FFs are coming to YOU--the lowly volunteer EMT/FF--asking for advice and input on PA school. :-)

[whichonespink]

Thanks for the feedback. Fortunately, I managed to secure a job in a hospital, in the ED no less! I had to move to another state to get that job, but in the long run, it should be good.

[AKay52]

I just got a job as a registered dietitian in a nursing home - i'm hoping this will count as direct health care experience!

[EMEDPA]

Thanks for the feedback. Fortunately, I managed to secure a job in a hospital, in the ED no less! I had to move to another state to get that job, but in the long run, it should be good.

strong work!!!!!

[EMEDPA]

That's pretty much most guys dream job (a lot of that has to do with the fact that they think that you guys sit and play x box ).

.

a lot of that has to do with the fact that sometimes that's a fair description. my first medic job was in southern ca.

we had a station on the beach 50 ft to the water. mexican restaurant next door gave us free food if we showed up in uniform. we had a weight room, wide screen tv, ping pong table, etc and ran maybe 5-6 calls in 24 hrs...it was sweet....

[ParamedicToPa]

Becoming a professional firefighter these days is probably harder than becoming a PA. That's pretty much most guys dream job (a lot of that has to do with the fact that they think that you guys sit and play x box and get really hot chicks).

 

Lots of folks on here say paramedic work is fantastic. It sounds to me like it's excellent. You'd probably be doing more as a paramedic in the field than an ER tech. I seriously don't think your hce would be what holds you back.

 

 

lol I wish thats how being a firefighter was in my dept. I have never played a video game at work and run an average of 10 calls a shift which take an hour each, and then write half those reports which average 30 min per report. Thats more than half the day gone and then you add in checking out the rescue, washing it, station duties, and various training.