NCCPA’s Back 2 School program is an on-going initiative that encourages Board Certified PAs to speak to elementary, middle, high school and pre-PA students about the PA profession as a potential career path.
The program’s goals are to:
- Increase awareness of the profession. It’s important for youth to know what a PA is, as they will likely see a PA for their medical care at some point.
- Introduce the profession as an achievable career choice to students at an early age, allowing them to plan and prepare. Certain pre–requisites are required or preferred by PA programs, so the earlier that students can begin preparing and focusing their studies and courses, the better!
- Increase diversity of the profession. NCCPA is committed to increasing diversity in the PA profession. A more diverse health care workforce improves patient satisfaction and outcomes. Introducing the PA profession as a career option to students in racial and ethnic minority groups is a great way to make an impact in this initiative.
- Help develop a pipeline of PAs to meet the country’s health care demands. There is a projected shortage of 124,000 physicians by 2034. PAs are prepared to step up and fill this gap in order to provide high quality, accessible care to patients.
- Draw interest in PA profession through HBCU outreach efforts.
As one of the nation’s top health care jobs, it is important to share information about the profession with younger students so that they, too, may consider, and begin preparing for a career as a PA.
Are you a PA interested in sharing the profession with students? Here’s how you can get involved:
- Contact your local school or college.
- Schedule a presentation to talk with a group of students.
- Email [email protected] with details of your upcoming presentation (date, location, estimated number of students, grade level), and we’ll send you a PPT presentation you can use.
- Check out additional resources you can use for your outreach.