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How many students will have "at least one year's equivalent of professional healthcare experience"? And what is equivocal of professional healthcare besides professional healthcare?

 

U of M's PA program asks for this as well. Last year, I had emailed them and they offered a number of suggestions of what would satisfy this requirement. Basically, you would need 2000 hours of front-line, clinical experience in a health care or health care related setting.

 

Remember, PAs can/could be former RNs, OTs, etc. or other health / allied health professional. Therefore, it wouldn't be hard to have that requirement as that type of applicant.

 

Hope that helps.

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so how much would a physician assistant differ from a nurse practitioner in terms of scope of practice, responsibility, prescribing priveleges etc?

 

smiliepie,

 

We've had a number of interesting threads about this on here. I would suggest doing a search.

 

There's also loads of info on the 'net.

 

Haly

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U of M's PA program asks for this as well. Last year, I had emailed them and they offered a number of suggestions of what would satisfy this requirement. Basically, you would need 2000 hours of front-line, clinical experience in a health care or health care related setting.

 

Remember, PAs can/could be former RNs, OTs, etc. or other health / allied health professional. Therefore, it wouldn't be hard to have that requirement as that type of applicant.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Yeah, but an RN shouldn't have to become a PA in order to "boost" their chances for getting into medical school. I'm more curious about the regular students who are mostly permitted to visit long-term care wards and read novels. While the requirement is not outrageous...I just don't think it's that easy to obtain.

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Yeah, but an RN shouldn't have to become a PA in order to "boost" their chances for getting into medical school. I'm more curious about the regular students who are mostly permitted to visit long-term care wards and read novels. While the requirement is not outrageous...I just don't think it's that easy to obtain.

 

Remember, not everyone is trying to get into med school ;)

 

A RN may choose to go the NP or PA route for a greater scope of practice. Both NPs and PAs get to do things that a regular 4-year undergrad nursing degree won't allow you to do. Having seen both NPs and PAs in action at my former local hospital, it was amazing to see how they could take the minor cases in the ER and reduce the wait times. This hospital was one of the trial areas for PAs in ON.

 

Since PAs are new in Canada (the non-CF ones), it'll be neat to see how it plays out.

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whats the salary range???

 

None of the non-CF PAs have graduated yet (that I know of); plus, there's not much published info on PA salaries in Canada (that I found). That being said, there's an established range in the US as the profession has been in existence there for quite some time. Here, it's going to depend how rural and remote you want to work, as I'm sure those communities will be offering great incentives as they do for FMs and NPs.

 

There's loads of info on PAs on the 'internets', should you want to learn more.

 

Hope that helps :)

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Remember, not everyone is trying to get into med school ;)

 

A RN may choose to go the NP or PA route for a greater scope of practice. Both NPs and PAs get to do things that a regular 4-year undergrad nursing degree won't allow you to do. Having seen both NPs and PAs in action at my former local hospital, it was amazing to see how they could take the minor cases in the ER and reduce the wait times. This hospital was one of the trial areas for PAs in ON.

 

Since PAs are new in Canada (the non-CF ones), it'll be neat to see how it plays out.

 

Oh I realize that...but someone above mentioned this would be a good way to edge yourself into medical school...I really don't see that--if you're already a professional, you wouldn't need this course.

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Oh I realize that...but someone above mentioned this would be a good way to edge yourself into medical school...I really don't see that--if you're already a professional, you wouldn't need this course.

 

For sure!

 

Personally, I would be cautious to use a PA program as a "stepping stone" to med school. Why? There's clearly much money being invested in these new PA undergrad programs in ON. The goal is to create PAs; not more pre-meds, hehe!

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For sure!

 

Personally, I would be cautious to use a PA program as a "stepping stone" to med school. Why? There's clearly much money being invested in these new PA undergrad programs in ON. The goal is to create PAs; not more pre-meds, hehe!

 

Yup--prob. wouldn't look too good.

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didnt ontario implement a PA program a couple of years ago???

 

it was a 3 year test run - they mostly hired american students for those 3 years (coz those were the only schools till Uoft came in)

 

for the americans i was reading a range of 50- 110K/year

 

those same american students that joined the canadian new program..(it was on a mcmaster site) it was around 30-35K

 

 

None of the non-CF PAs have graduated yet (that I know of); plus, there's not much published info on PA salaries in Canada (that I found). That being said, there's an established range in the US as the profession has been in existence there for quite some time. Here, it's going to depend how rural and remote you want to work, as I'm sure those communities will be offering great incentives as they do for FMs and NPs.

 

There's loads of info on PAs on the 'internets', should you want to learn more.

 

Hope that helps :)

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For sure!

 

Personally, I would be cautious to use a PA program as a "stepping stone" to med school. Why? There's clearly much money being invested in these new PA undergrad programs in ON. The goal is to create PAs; not more pre-meds, hehe!

 

That's why there is a requirement of "1680 direct patient contact hours as a health care professional" for the new PA program.

http://michener.ca/pdf/Physician%20Assistant%20Information.pdf

 

I'm graduating from bachelor of science degree in nursing soon, and once I obtain 1680 hours as a RN (equals to roughly one year of FULL TIME working with some overtime as a nurse), I'm going to apply for the program (provided that I don't get into a medical school by that time).

 

I'm going to watch this program closely.

 

I will either be PA/NP or both depending on how each of them fare in the future.

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That's why there is a requirement of "1680 direct patient contact hours as a health care professional" for the new PA program.

http://michener.ca/pdf/Physician%20Assistant%20Information.pdf

 

I'm going to watch this program closely.

 

I will either be PA/NP or both depending on how each of them fare in the future.

 

For sure! I agree with you on that point.

 

Do you have a preference for either PA or NP?

 

Keep us posted! And, please post any news on the programs if you find anything out.

 

Best wishes!

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didnt ontario implement a PA program a couple of years ago???

 

it was a 3 year test run - they mostly hired american students for those 3 years (coz those were the only schools till Uoft came in)

 

for the americans i was reading a range of 50- 110K/year

 

those same american students that joined the canadian new program..(it was on a mcmaster site) it was around 30-35K

 

That was the trial program (not an educational/ degree program). The ON government got CF/Military PAs, US PAs, etc to test out how PAs would work in ON hospitals. I don't think any non-military PAs are trained yet in Canada; however, they probably will be graduating any time now.

 

At my formal local hospital, our PA for the trial was a former CF member PA.

 

The new PA programs look quite cool.

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For sure! I agree with you on that point.

 

Do you have a preference for either PA or NP?

 

Keep us posted! And, please post any news on the programs if you find anything out.

 

Best wishes!

 

Thanks.

 

I've worked with nurse practitioners, and they do what the physicians do.

Physicians and nurse practitioners work and collaborate together to solve problems.

 

Right now, I like PA and NP equally.

 

However, I see the potential for the NP to grow and expand its scope (with the education) due to the political power that the nursing board has.

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