Preferred medical experience

[PACdan26]

I am pursuing work in the medical field which I plan to do until PA school and I want to know what jobs will be more appealing to admissions and provide more valuable experience. I am finished with the Certified Nursing Assistant program and just took the exam but recently received advice that admissions would not really care about that experience and would prefer work as an ER tech, volunteering until a paid position opened. I'm hoping to pursue work that makes me most desirable to PA school admissions so any input is appreciated.

[EMEDPA]

really depends on the program you want to attend. some like paramedic/rn/rt, others like medical asst., lpn, cna, emt, etc

in general the better the training and the more job responsibility the greater # of programs you will be able to apply to. some of the better ones want 4000 hrs at the level of medic/rn/rt, others are ok with 1000 hrs at cna level.

[Guest]

There are plenty of programs that don't require even 1000 hrs of experience. Some don't even have a set number of hours. You will be fine as a CNA. Much better experience than what some people I know got in with.

[LS_USAF]

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[Will352ns]

Don't think it would hinder it all. If anything, it may make you stand out a bit. It is just a matter of the school regarding it as true HCE.

[gamecaco4]

I sure hope being a CNA doesn't hurt anything. I'm starting training tomorrow and hope to have a job at a well known magnate (sp?) hospital within the next 6 months. I'm planning to apply to 3-5 programs after getting my bachelors with the HCE requirements ranging from 100 paid hours/1000 total hours up to 2000 paid/5000 total.