Frequently Asked Questions

Physician assistants are health care professionals licensed, or in the case of those employed by the federal government they are credentialed, to practice medicine with physician supervision. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery, and write prescriptions. Within the physician-PA relationship, physician assistant exercise autonomy in medical decision making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. A PA's practice may also include education, research, and administrative services.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who are prepared, through advanced education and clinical training, to provide a wide range of preventive and acute health care services to individuals of all ages. NPs complete graduate-level education preparation that leads to a master's degree. NPs take helath histories and provide complete physical examinations; diagnose and treat many common acute and chronic problems; interpret laboratory results and x-rays; prescribe and manage medications and other therapies; provide health teaching and supportive counseling with an emphasis on preventeion of illness and health maintenance; and refer patients to other health professionals as needed.

While NPs and PAs often perform similar functions, there are important distinctions between these health care professionals:

• NPs may work independently or in collaboration with a physician and must have an RN license before being accepted into an NP program. Almost all NPs are educationally prepared at the master's level. NPs are authorized to practice as advanced practice nurses by individual state regulating boards. NPs assess patients, make diagnoses, determine treatment plans, and furnish medications.
• PAs are licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. PAs are trained in intensive accredited education programs that use the medical model. Upon graduation, PAs take a national certification examination; graduation from an accredited PA program and passage of the national certifying exam are required for state licensure. PAs are authorized to practice by individual state medical boards.

Absolutely!  An NP comes from a nursing background while a PA generally has a different career background, so their respective fields have quite different origins and histories.  In addition, they operate under different state laws and titles. Nevertheless, their roles in the health field can be so similar that the UC Davis FNP/PA Program successfully educates these two professions together.

Two years of direct "hands on" patient care experience is strongly recommended, though not required. We value broad patient care experience that better prepares an applicant for the role of an NP or PA. Some examples of strong clinical experience are: RN, LVN, back office medical assistant, RT, PT, paramedic, and other health care occupations.

There is no expiration date for prerequisite courses, however, we do recommend that A&P be taken within the last five years. If any of the prerequisites were extremely difficult for you and your GPA was lower than 3.0, you should consider taking refresher courses.

All but two prerequisite courses must be completed by the end of fall quarter (December).

Distance learning courses are becoming more and more popular so we do recognize that applicants may complete some of these courses on-line. If any science courses are taken, they must include a lab and the institution must be accredited.

Yes, we will accept courses from any accredited college or university.

No, that is what is so unique about our program.  You may remain living in your home community while attending class a few concurrent days per month.  Then you return to your home community where you will be participating in online courses, studying, and completing your clinical training with your community preceptor. This allows you to continue clinical practice in your community after graduation. To assist you in visualizing the structure of the program (time in-class versus time in your community), please review the sample calendar.   Although it may appear that the second year is less intense due to the decrease in required class attendance in Sacramento, clinical hours have almost doubled. Not everyone is able to complete all required year two clinical rotations in their home community. You may need to travel and/or stay away from home for the following rotations: 

• inpatient patient rotation: 144 hours
• surgical rotation: 96 hours
• emergency room rotation: 80 hours

We try and maintain regional affiliations to decrease your need to travel, but depending on your area you may need to complete your year two rotations in Sacramento.

Usually not.  The Mission of our program is to educate professionals to deliver primary health care to underserved populations in California.

Students are trained in partnership with a physician preceptor in their own community. Each individual applicant is likely to be the most knowledgable about an appropriate clinical instructor in their community. Therefore, we expect an applicant to identify a preceptor in their community and the Program will conduct an approval process and supply the preceptor and clinical site.

The FNP/PA Program admits 60 students each academic year.  As you can see from the following statistics, we are able to interview only the most highly qualified applicants and offer admission to a small percentage of the applicant pool. We do not have a waiting list and if you are not offered admission, you must reapply.