What are some things I should do over the summer as an undergrad pre-PA?

[swirleyy]

I am following a pre-PA track right now and I have recently just finished my first year of undergrad. I originally was planning to volunteer at a hospital, but I realized when it was too late that it does not offer the hands-on patient care experience that I desired. I'm still going to volunteer at the hopsital, but I would really like to gain this experience starting this summer. I cannot do any HCE at a hospital since I am not certified in anything. To gain such an experience, should i try to get certified as an EMT or CNA? If so, which do you think is the best road to take to get the best experience? Are there any other ways of gaining HCE besides being certified as an EMT or CNA? I would really like to get myself involved in hands on patient care experience since i haven't been really exposed to it.

 

My only concern about being certified as an EMT / CNA during my undergrad years is the possibility of not being able to find a job with that certification. That would pretty much mean I wasted my ~1k to get certified.

[UGoLong]

I agree that you should volunteer in the hospital anyway. You will at least get to see who does what and how there. Also learn about part-time jobs that would given you more experience.

 

As far as EMT vs CNA goes, it depends on where you live. If you want a paying EMT job (versus working with a volunteer squad), contact some of the local ambulance services that do interfacility transports and see what's up. For either job, find some local people who do it and see what the possibilities are.

 

You have a good attitude for a guy planning his freshman summer. It's a good time to build a local network of folks who know what's going on in your community.

 

Good luck!

[tour9196]

Well the easiest way is to get patient care experience, from my perceptive, is to work as a CNA in a nursing home, a ton of nursing homes are short CNAs. EMT, on the other hand, is a tough job to get BUT, from where I am, the ambulance services usually have volunteer 'jobs' that are relatively easy to get into. Other than those two jobs, you could try telemetry technician which has some hands on patient experience, but I believe you need to take a class for that. You could also try a different hospital. If you do any patient care I believe you need, at minimum, a BLS. There are some places, in my area at least, that you can try applying too without the certification as they pay for the training. Search around and you might get lucky.

[Swarley]

Become CNA certified. You can easily get a job at a nursing home. I would try applying to hospital jobs as well.

[smansoor34]

I agree with everyone else, get EMT/CNA certified. You should also check out if your university offers EMT or CNA certification courses for credit. The university I went to had an EMT certification course that ran all semester long. It offered four credits so things like that can help you gain graduation credit and prepare you for PA school. :)

[atheaslet]

Agreed. And kudos for getting on this so soon. I wish I jumped on it a little quicker.

And for me, CNA was an option that provided a job much easier. There are even jobs at the hospital that do not require a cna but if you get one, the hiring process will be much easier. You could apply for the lift team, or patient care tech jobs which are good because they will give you direct patient contact. Working in a nursing home is a good start and easier to find a job, but I would try and get something in the hospital as it is a much different animal and shows you more of the healthcare field in general.

 

Another thing I did was take a traveling job. I don't know where you are but some areas have a large need for workers in rural areas nearby and you can negoptiate the contract length somewhat. For me the hiring process was pretty easy because they were pretty desperate for workers. So if you have the time and freedom over the summer I would highly recommend it. Depending on how rural it is it can be quite the experience.

[lov2xlr8]

I took an OR Tech (not Surgical Tech) job my Senior year of undergrad, went to three hospitals and asked recruiters what I could do legally without a cert and finally landed this (this was in Fl). Required no certifications except BLS which I took through the hospital, couldn't have asked for better experience: transported Pt's from floor/ER to OR, prepped Pts in the OR, prepared rooms for the next case, even got to scrub in on quiet nights/weekends. I haven't seen a similar position in NY though, so it might be a Florida thing (Medicine is practiced a little different down there, :-)). Plus you'll probably have a better chance the more rural the Hospital is. Just go to hospital and pick a recruiters mind, I got paid horribly and did a lot of scut/wiping butts, but was great experience for PA school and made a lot of great friends while there.

[swirleyy]

Hi, thank you for all of your suggestions! I really appreciate it. By the way, I am from Boston but I go to Syracuse University so finding hospitals in rural areas might be a bit difficult for me. However, all of your advice helped a lot!

 

Another thing, is it best to take a gap year and get more HCE before applying to PA school? I personally do not want to take a gap year because I want to jump right into everything and I feel like I might forget a lot of my science material, but if I do not take a gap year, I will only get ~750 hours by the time I apply as a senior. The PA schools I am looking into are Northeastern Univ. and SUNY but most of the good PA schools require 1,000 HCE hours. A friend of mine told me that whatever school you choose after undergrad will matter when it comes to getting a job. Would it be best to take a gap year and then apply and get a better chance in getting into a better PA school or does it even matter?

 

Also, what happens if I do not get accepted into a PA school after I take a gap year? I read in one of the requirements that science courses required must be taken within 5 years of applying. If I fail to get accepted after my gap year, does that mean I would pretty much have to retake the courses I took at my freshman year? I would really want to succeed but I am just afraid of the possibilities of failing.

[c0untingstars]

Worry about taking a year off when the time comes :) I ended up with nearly 2 years off in between undergrad and PA school and I highly recommend taking a year off, for many reasons. PA school is exhausting and you will get burned out...I was already pretty burnt out in undergrad (too many outside responsibilities), so I would have struggled going straight to PA school. It wasn't challenging whatsoever to get back into the swing of things, in fact, I was pretty excited to. Another reason to wait is to get more life experience before entering a professional program. See what it is like to work 40+ hours a week for an entire year, take a vacation, devote time to your family. Many of us feel pressure to start our careers as soon as possible, don't get caught up in the chase. There are a handful of programs that only allow you 5 years for your prerequisites, but there are so many that allow you more time. If you have to retake a class, oh well. That being said, you could try to apply right away and see what happens. If you don't get in you reapply the next year. But also consider the stress of traveling to attend interviews and missing class your senior year.

[lov2xlr8]

I can't imagine of any schools not accepting 5 year old classes because they were taken as a freshman, that's crazy, maybe 5 years out from undergrad in general... I agree with above, PA school sucks, take a year off and enjoy life a bit, get some good experience and then go full steam ahead, you won't regret it. Also, the school you go to won't matter in the long run (not biased, I went to a top 10 school - because of price, not prestige), might matter locally because all hospitals have their preference, but in the end we all pass the same boards

[lov2xlr8]

Another thing, in that year off, save some money, PA school drains you monetarily, many pb&j's through those 2 years for me

[winterallsummer]

I'd use the time for EMT or CNA. Shop around, I was able to get my CNA for $400 (granted in a cheaper place than Boston) but I bet you can still find under a grand. My advice is apply to undeserved and psychiatric hospitals to begin with and work your way up to a bigger hospital gig. Persevere and you will find a job. Could do EMT if you are interested in emergency med.