Prior healthcare experience is important for PA school for many reasons. Knowledge of the intricacies of how a healthcare team operates is very important to aid in fostering teamwork. The basic understanding of common medical concepts are better gained by experience, and not by learning from a book or class. Because PA school is not as long as medical school, it is valuable to have a foundation of medical knowledge and experience to build upon to bring the PA up to the level of skill, knowledge, and competence that is needed to be a successful PA.

Becoming a PA requires a strong commitment. Spending time in a medical field before going to school helps you get a sense of the kind of commitment that is needed to provide quality care to patients.  This understanding is strengthened further if you have a chance to work with a PA, given your future aspirations. 

Having had prior experience helps you realize whether or not you can handle the work emotionally.  It is very helpful to know before you commit to a career as a PA how you react and handle issues ranging from a patient's poor response to treatment to communicating effectively in difficult situations.

Prior healthcare experience is important so that the individual has a general idea of what to expect in the healthcare field. Being a PA is not about the money--it's about wanting to help people through caring, education, and compassion. By having previous healthcare experience the individual knows, at least to some degree, what will be expected of them as a PA...what the hours are like and what situations they might be placed in. Prior experience will also help while in PA school to give the individual a reference point to relate to while learning a vast amount of information in a short amount of time.

Most PA programs last about two years - from the first day of classes to graduation.  During this short period of time, students have an enormous amount of information to digest, rotations to experience, and skills to acquire.  Given the obvious time constraints of PA school, prior patient care experience is essential.  Upon starting PA education, students must have the most basic skills of patient interaction already in place.  This familiarity will ease the transition to a more advanced role of healthcare provider.

When considering all the adjustments and learning students have before them, PA programs want to be sure that applicants are as well-prepared as possible upon entry.  Prior patient care experience gives aspiring PAs the opportunity to develop a passion for medicine.  This passion, when in place, makes a huge difference in carrying them through the rigors of PA education and equipping them to become caring, compassionate medical providers.