We absolutely love our clinic positions…working as physician assistants in the OR and in the emergency department is SO fun. We frequently say to ourselves, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!”

Since the OR and ER are such fun and interesting places, we often get students who want to shadow us…pre-nursing, pre-PA, pre-med, biomechanical engineering…the list goes on.

We had ONE rule for all students witnessing their first bloody procedure or surgery…

The rule was they had to stand with their backs touching the wall at all times…

The reason for this was simple….when they felt faint, they could just slide down the wall to sprawl on the ground…avoiding a possible concussion or injury from fainting in the middle of the room. This was one of those rules based on experience. 

And many shadowees had no idea they would respond by passing out.

Which is why it’s important to get experience shadowing PAs, and getting experience in patient care or health care positions!

You need to know without a doubt you are ready to become a PA, and the only way to know what you are getting into (and that it is something you will be passionate about as a career) is to get exposure! 

PCE/HCE and PA shadowing are super important parts of your PA school application. It shows that you understand the healthcare field and have acquired some skills and knowledge that will help you on your journey to becoming a PA. 

It demonstrates you know how PAs function in the real world, what their responsibilities are, and what a typical day in the life of a physician assistant is like.

Rule of thumb: the more experience – the better. The more hands on – the better. The more variety – the better. 

When it comes to PA shadowing, many pre-PAs make the mistake of “checking the box”, then moving on…meaning they get the required minimum number of PA shadowing hours, then stop shadowing.

But this is a rookie move. You want to aim for 50 hours of PA shadowing as quickly as possible, then continue accruing at least 3-4 hours/month of PA shadowing until you are accepted to PA school!

This shows PA schools that you are dedicated to learning as much as possible about the physician assistant career, to putting yourself in situations where you are exposed to as much medicine as possible, and that you know what you are getting into by joining the PA profession.

So don’t just check the PA shadowing box and move on! Keep shadowing PAs until you are accepted to PA school!

Little tweaks like these can make your application so much stronger and increase your chances of getting an interview and accepted!

If you need PA shadowing, we host weekly PA shadowing hours in our PA-Cers group. In addition to these weekly PA shadowing hours, you also have access to hours of shadowing replays, all of which you can add to your CASPA application!