RE: Physician Assistant was: Physicians Assistants

[Guest guest]

Sure,

I would be glad to try and answer questions anyone might have. For

clarification the correct title is Physician Assistant, not physician’s

assistant.

As for your specific questions, 1) Best schools- Well that’s subjective, There

is however, a listing of how the graduates of the programs end up doing on the

national certifying exam. I think you can check that at

http://www.aapa.org/pgmlist.php3

2) Most program lengths vary between 2 and 3 years. I went to Texas Tech and

it was 27 months. Some programs offer a BS, but all the ones in Texas now offer

a Masters degree.

3) I am 100% a believer that well trained medics make great PAs, especially

those who have gotten a good deal of experience. But there are no specific

classes I can think of. You should refer to the course pre-requisites to the

program you are applying to however. For example:

http://www.ttuhsc.edu/sah/mpa/preReq.aspx

4) As far as the RN question goes. That’s a whole different line of work.

Having your RN is not necessary to do well in PA school. PA schools are more

aligned with medical schools and medical models of teaching, and that is

certainly not the case with nursing programs. (I work with some excellent nurse

practitioners who would agree with this statement)

Like any other professions you have really good PAs and some who are not real

EMS savvy. It is an entirely diverse field that has many career paths, not

related to Emergency or EMS

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have

andrew raines wrote: Is there any way that you

could ask some of your questions online? I'm

interested in becoming a PA, but I don't even know what questions I

should ask. The only thing I know to ask is where are the best

schools, and how long does school take? I'm in the medic course at

Temple College right now. Are there any classes that I should consider

taking to help out with that later? Should I get my RN before the PA?

Thanks!

Raines

NREMT-B

> Hello,

>

> I am a paramedic who is considering working towards becoming a PA. I

> know there are several on this list and I was hoping a few of them

> would have a few minutes to e-mail directly and answer a few questions.

>

> Thanks,

>

> mayfieldr@...

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