Does CNA count as patient care experience for PA school?
At every program we checked, yes, but the program decides, not you. CASPA lists CNA work as an example of patient care experience, and also as healthcare experience "depending on job description." Each PA program then applies its own rules. Three things decide whether your CNA hours count: what you actually do on shift, whether you're paid, and whether the hours came from your CNA course.
What CASPA says
CASPA, the central application for PA programs, sorts experience into nine types. Two matter here:
- Patient Care Experience: work where you are "directly responsible for a patient's care." CASPA's examples include "actively working on patients as a nurse, paramedic, EMT, CNA, phlebotomist."
- Healthcare Experience: paid or unpaid work in health care where you are not directly responsible for a patient's care. CASPA's examples include taking vitals and "CNA (depending on job description)."
So CNA appears in both lists. CASPA also says plainly that each program's definitions vary and that it has no preference which category you choose. You pick the category; each program decides what it accepts.
Three things that decide it
1. Your duties. Hands-on care is what programs want to see. UW MEDEX, for example, lists Certified Nursing Assistant among its commonly accepted experiences, but it will not count nursing assistant work that is "strictly assisting with activities of daily living." MEDEX says it reads the job descriptions you enter in CASPA to decide what qualifies.
2. Paid or volunteer. Some programs count only paid hours. UNC Chapel Hill asks for paid, direct, hands-on patient care, and UW MEDEX requires paid experience. Albany Medical College accepts volunteer hours in a licensed health care setting.
3. Course hours. Federal rules require a nurse aide training course of at least 75 hours, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical training. At the four programs below that address it, those course hours don't count: UNC, Albany, UW MEDEX and Yale all say experience gained as part of your schooling or training doesn't qualify. Your hours start when you start working as a CNA.
Three programs, side by side
| Program | CNA on its list? | Paid only? | CNA course hours? | Minimum hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNC Chapel Hill Jan 2027 entry cycle | Yes | Yes, paid only | Don't count | 1,000 |
| Albany Medical College page checked Oct 2026 | Yes ("Nurses Aide") | No, volunteer OK | Don't count | 1,000 |
| UW MEDEX Northwest 2026–27 | Yes, if not ADL-only | Yes, paid only | Don't count | 2,000 |
Three examples, not a ranking. Rules shown are for the cycle named; these cycles have closed, so check each page again when your cycle's requirements post.
How many hours do students have?
Minimums are only the floor. In PAEA's survey of students who started PA school in 2022, the median was 3,200 hours of paid direct patient contact, and a quarter had 1,750 hours or fewer. Minimums also vary widely: Stanford recommends 500 hours, Yale recommends 1,000 (not required), and UW MEDEX requires 2,000.
How to make your CNA hours count
- Look up each program's job list on its own admissions page, and note the cycle and the date you checked.
- Log hands-on duties as you go: vitals, patient transfers and any other hands-on care your job allows, not just "assisted residents." Programs read these descriptions.
- Keep course clinicals separate from paid work in your log, so you never count them by accident.
- When the page doesn't say, email the program before you take the job, not after.
Free: the Patient Care Hours Starter Kit. A 3-step check for whether a job counts at your schools, CASPA's categories on one page, and a simple hours log. Built from the same program pages as this guide.
Get the free kit →Quick answers
Is CNA patient care experience or healthcare experience on CASPA?
CASPA lists CNA as an example of both: patient care experience when you are directly responsible for a patient's care, and healthcare experience depending on the job description. Each program decides what it accepts.
Do CNA training hours count toward PA school?
At many programs, no. UNC Chapel Hill, Albany Medical College, UW MEDEX and Yale all say experience gained as part of schooling or training doesn't count. Count hours from when you start working as a CNA.
Do volunteer CNA hours count?
It depends on the program. UNC Chapel Hill and UW MEDEX count only paid hours, while Albany Medical College accepts volunteer hours in a licensed health care setting.
Sources (all opened October 2026)
- CASPA Applicant Help Center: Experiences: https://help.liaisonedu.com/CASPA_Applicant_Help_Center/Filling_Out_Your_CASPA_Application/CASPA_Supporting_Information/2_Experiences
- UW MEDEX Northwest: Clinical experience prerequisites (2026–27): https://familymedicine.uw.edu/medex/applicants/clinical-prerequisites
- UNC Chapel Hill PA Program: Admissions requirements (2026–27): https://www.med.unc.edu/healthsciences/unc-pa/admissions/admissions-requirements
- UNC Chapel Hill PA Program: FAQ: https://www.med.unc.edu/healthsciences/unc-pa/admissions/frequently-asked-questions
- Albany Medical College PA Program: Admissions: https://www.amc.edu/admissions/pa-program-admissions
- Yale PA Program: Prerequisites, experience and skills: https://medicine.yale.edu/pa/admissions/prerequisites-experience-skill/
- 42 CFR 483.152: Nurse aide training requirements: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-483.152
- PAEA Student Report 6 (2022 Matriculating Student Survey): https://paeaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/FINAL_student-report-6-2025-01-13.pdf
- Stanford PA Program: Preparatory experience: https://med.stanford.edu/pa/admissions/preparatory-experience.html