Previous direct patient care is required and is an indication to the admissions committee of an applicant’s awareness of and commitment to a career in healthcare.
A minimum of 1,000 hours of direct, hands on, patient care experience in the United States or Canada must be completed by all applicants prior to application. Experience can be paid or volunteer, but clinical hours earned toward a degree are not applicable.
Experience Types
Below is a sample of what fulfills the requirements for direct patient care experience and what type of experience does not. Please note: this list is not comprehensive and does not contain all possible experiences.
Fulfills requirements for direct patient healthcare experience:
- Athletic Trainer
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Chiropractic Assistant
- Community Health Worker
- Dental Assistant
- Dental Hygienist
- EMT/Paramedics
- Home Health Aide
- Licensed Medical Massage Therapist
- Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
- Medical Assistant
- Medical Tech
- Mental Health Aide
- Mental Health Counselor
- Military Corpsman/Medic
- Nurse
- Nutrition/Dietitian
- Occupational Therapist
- Occupational Therapy Aide
- Patient Care Technician (PCT)
- Pharmacist
- Pharmacy Tech
- Phlebotomist
- Physical Therapist
- Physical Therapy Aide
- Radiology Technician/Diagnostic Imaging
- Research Assistant (must have direct patient care experience)
- Scribe with Patient care (please see here for more information)
- Social Worker
Experience that does not fulfill direct patient care experience - can be included in the application under health related experience:
- Unit Clerk
- Research (with no patient care contact)
- Shadowing
- Veterinarian Technician/Assistant
Shadowing
The program values and strongly encourages but does not require PA shadowing experience. Shadowing does not fulfill the direct patient care requirement.