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 health 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 prevention 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. The final date for completing in-progress courses in the fall is 12/31.

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 regionally accredited.

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

No. The preceptorship can be located anywhere in California.  The ideal situation would be to have a community preceptor. This would enable you to remain in your home community as you participate in online courses, lectures, and clinical training, with the intent of minimizing class time in Sacramento.   However, not everyone is able to complete all required year two clinical rotations in their home community so 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. See sample calendar. 

Although the Mission of our program is to educate professionals to deliver primary health care to underserved populations in California, we would consider admitting students from out of state who meet our priority for selection.  if you do intend to move to California and have questions regarding establishing California residency for tuition purposes, please visit the following web page of the UC Davis Office of the University Registrar: http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/html/slr.html

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.