Didactic year
The portion of PA school that involves classroom learning.
Clinical year
The portion of PA school that involves rotations in various specialties providing care to patients and putting the medical knowledge gained during the didactic year into practice.
Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA)
This is an application service used by most PA programs. Some may have a separate supplemental application that must be filled out on the school’s website, but most programs utilize CASPA. It is similar to the Common Application for undergraduate programs: all programs get the basic information, but a few may need extra materials.
Patient Care Experience (PCE)
“Experiences in which you are directly responsible for a patient’s care. For example, prescribing medication, performing procedures, directing a course of treatment, designing a treatment regimen, actively working on patients as a nurse, paramedic, EMT, CNA, phlebotomist, physical therapist, dental hygienist, etc.”
Healthcare Experience (HCE)
“Both paid and unpaid work in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient’s care, but may still have patient interaction; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patients and/or their rooms, administering food or medication, taking vitals or other record keeping information, working as a scribe, CNA (depending on job description), medical assistant, etc.”