klmpac Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 Hello, I’m currently taking a gap year and preparing to apply for PA school when CASPA opens up in April 2020. I have a question regarding direct patient care hours. I’ve been working as a home-health CNA for the past 3 years, racking up 2000+ hours. With that being said, I’ve always had this anxiety eating away at me that home-health CNA’s are looked down upon in the terms of what they’re able to do as opposed to CNA’s working in SNF, hospitals, etc. I’m often misrepresented as a home-health aide even though I have my CNA license. I’m always afraid this will hinder me when applying to PA programs simply because I’m viewed as more of a “maid” than a healthcare professional. However, I do more CNA tasks than what people assume. I have bed ridden clients I care for, I have clients that require lifts, and I have clients that are on ventilators. On the other hand, I do have my fair share of clients that are on respite care and my time is solely spent there as a comforter and person to talk to. At a recent open house for a PA school I’m interested in, I voiced my concern for this and they assured me that it’s quality over quantity and as long as I was caring for someone it would suffice them. However, that’s just one of the many schools I’m interested in. With this being said, I also have some volunteer hours working as a CNA in a free clinic in my hometown where I’m doing more of the assessing and treating PA schools are looking for. However, majority of my hours are from my CNA job. I chose home health because I knew the company I was going to work for was very flexible with hours and I needed that while I was in college. I’ve been with them for so long and grew so close to patients that I haven’t thought about leaving and going to a hospital or SNF to get more/different exposure. I guess my question for anyone reading this is: would you consider my home health CNA job direct patient care? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finntastic Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Individual schools might have different opinions but in general you should be able to classify CNA as PCE. See: https://beaphysicianassistant.com/blog/difference-between-pce-vs-hce-for-pa-school-application Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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