A minimum of 150 hours of verifiable direct patient care must be completed by April 15 in either a volunteer or paid capacity. The admissions committee recognizes direct patient care experience to include: directly taking vitals, taking or recording patient histories, assisting in surgeries, procedures such as drawing labs, giving injections, etc.
Example of professions for an applicant to obtain their 150 direct care contact hours include but are not limited to the following: medical assistant, physical therapist/PT aide/assistant, respiratory therapist, occupational therapist, EMT/paramedic, LPN, RN, RT, MLT, NP, CNA, nurse's aide, phlebotomist, medical corpsman, pharmacist assistant, hospital social worker, psychologist, x-ray tech, ER tech, peace corps volunteer, clinical health education, athletic trainer, hospice (if experience includes direct patient care), dietician, scribe, dental assistant/hygienist, certified pharmacy technician. Others may be considered if emailed with detailed information.
In addition, a minimum of 40 hours of verifiable time must be completed shadowing a Physician Assistant (PA) with at least 20 of those hours spent shadowing a PA in a primary care setting (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics or Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care). If an applicant is working/volunteering directly with a PA in a primary care setting, then the minimum total time that must be completed prior to matriculation is 160 hours. Though not required, it is strongly encouraged that at least half of the required, aforementioned time be completed by the time of the applicant's interview date. If accepted into the program, all Patient Contact Hours must be completed by April 15.