Becoming A Physician Assistant

The end

2011-06-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

Graduation is in 5 days. I'm totally done with school and clinicals and am waiting to take the PANCE in less than 3 weeks (6/24). I start my new job 7/11 (that's a lucky day to start your career, right?!). It's an awesome, but weird feeling to be here. PA school has majorly changed my life, I think, and it's an interesting feeling to be on the other end of it. I know I've said it a lot lately, but I still can't believe how fast time has flown. I'm not sure that I'll have much to write about after I start working, so this blog has probably run it's course. I'm so thankful for the several of you that have actually taken the time to read my ramblings. :) When I started this blog, I just needed a place where I could talk about my excitement of starting school and talk about what I was going through (most everyone at home was tired of hearing me go on and on about PA school!). I have been pleasantly surprised that other students and pre-PA students have found my blog and have found it helpful. I suppose that was another mission of mine; when I was a pre-PA student I had so many questions. What would PA school be like? What is the interview going to be like? What kind of classes do PA students take? Would I have any life at all once I was in school? I am happy to be able to provide some answers (and hopefully reassurance) to now pre-PA students. I brag about our profession wherever I go to young students I meet... I feel passionate about spreading the word about how awesome PAs are. :)

On to the newest chapter in my life... life as a working professional. It is a very weird feeling to realize that I'm actually finally done with college/school. Other than one semester between undergrad and PA school, I've been going to school full time since kindergarten! I worked in high school and all the way through college (except most of PA school, but clinicals were like work that was unpaid!), so I'm ready to just work and get to have weekends and days off to relax, vacation, and spend time with my family without toting books and computers with me. :) I am also very excited to be one of the less than 3% of PAs in OB/GYN practice (according to the AAPA 2009 census), and hope to help promote our place in this specialty that is currently primarily held by FNPs (when it comes to mid-levels).

Thank you, everyone, for reading the story of my life as a PA-S and I wish you luck in your PA endeavors!

I got a job!

2011-05-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday, I have officially lined up a job to start this summer after the PANCE. I will be working as a PA in an OB/GYN group. I'm so excited for the amazing opportunity I've been given and can't wait to start! I totally got my dream job. :)

PA school was a difficult, but amazing experience that most definitely has paid off. Hang in there, PA students! It's so worth it! :)

Time sure flies!

2011-05-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much in a while because I've been crazy busy pumping out the last of my ED and geriatric rotations, the rest of my family practice hours, and studying for my last exams. After 2 years of being seriously busy, I am happy to announce that I am virtually done! I completed my last exams this week (rocked them!), and have just 25 hours left of clinic.

I'm also happy to announce that my job search is going well. I have had a great response and actually have a decision to make between 2-3 job offers. I am currently doing some training/trial time with my first choice job, and loving it.

I can't believe PA school has gone so quickly. Time sure flies when you are busy. I've had an amazing time during school; I've met some amazing people who have become lifelong friends, learned an unbelievable amount of information, and grown a lot as a person. There is nothing like PA school to teach you what you really can accomplish and what you want from life. It feels like just yesterday I started this blog screaming, "I got in!!! I got in!!!" :)

I am so thankful to UC Davis for giving me the opportunity to have these experiences and become a physician assistant. It really is my dream job, and I love it. I think often, lately, of the saying, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life."

I hope that everyone gets the same opportunity that I did to do what they love. Hang in there, PA students! I know school is busier than you ever imagined and stressful, but it's worth it! And it'll be over before you know it. This is the first weekend in as long as I can remember that I have nothing in particular to do; no studying and no rotations. It's a beautiful thing!

Working on my last 2 rotations!

2011-03-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

This week I started my geriatric rotation (in a skilled nursing facility) and my ED rotation. Neither are every day, so I'm filling in the holes of my ED shifts with SNF time. I've been to just one day of each so far, but I love them both. I was hesitant about the SNF rotation specifically, thinking it would be sad and depressing. However, I really like the SNF I'm at and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I am actually really enjoying myself there. There are, of course, some sad cases, but there were several others that were pleasant little old ladies that had so much to share about themselves and their families. And the slower pace was a nice change from surgery. It was nice to get to talk to the patients, and really it's a great medical practice because pretty much all of them are on dozens of medications and have several chronic diseases to think through. The staff has been really nice as well. :)

For ED, I also found that I really loved it! I never pictured myself working in an ED, but it was really exciting and I got to do and see so much for one day! In my first 10 hour shift I stapled a scalp laceration, sutured a leg lac, started an IV (first smooth one, yes!), watched an intubation and central line placement, and saw patients with everything from bumps and bruises to fractures to viral infections. It was fast paced and I loved it! I really love doing procedures, I've found. I also had my first experience with a complete EMR (electronic medical record) system, which was interesting to learn.

I'm about to start my last quarter of PA school and begin the search for a job as a PA. I'm a happy girl! :)

Surgery Rotation....check!

2011-02-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished my surgery rotation and learned a lot during my 2 weeks there. I got to scrub in on a few surgeries, and even help a little with one. I learned a lot about trauma. I learned that I have forgotten a lot of details about anatomy/physiology in my path to squeeze more detailed information in (etiology, clinical manifestations, treatment, etc). It was a good reminder that I need to continue to study those when I study new stuff, because it's so important to understand well. I really thought I had a good handle on anatomy/physiology, etc. until I was constantly pimped on it and realized that I didn't know it well enough to repeat it. Surgery, as a specialty, is fast paced. At the hospital I rotated with, PAs don't get to go in the OR much; they are mainly in charge of the patients on the floor (pre- and post-op) and the clinics (to follow up after surgery, etc). As a PA-S, though, I got to scrub in on some surgeries. I worked with the trauma surgery team, which was extra fast-paced, and you really need to know a lot about trauma to be very good at examining these patients thoroughly, which I did not. I worked with several different preceptors (PAs, residents, and attendings) and most of them were great teachers. One, however, made my whole rotation difficult and it was a new experience for me in a rotation. What do you do if you are not being treated fairly/professionally by a preceptor? I went through my entire 2 weeks trying to wait it out and hoped it would get better, which it didn't. But the rotation is over, and I learned a lot about myself and about surgery. Here are a few tips I would give after this rotation:

1. Although PA school is super fast-paced, and there are plenty of times when you think there just isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done, try to review the anatomy/physiology of each system each time you go to study that system for other things. For example, when you go to learn about treatment, clinical manifestations, etc of the cardiovascular system, have your A&P book out and review CV anatomy/physiology first, then the patho, then the diseases you need to study. It will not only keep your A&P skills sharp, but that in turn will help you to understand disease. A lot of the things you study are not going to stick, unfortunately, if you just remember them well enough to do well on the exam. You have to understand the mechanism of what's going on, and honestly you have to see it in practice several times. I have not been doing this A&P review this way, and it really showed in my last rotation. I plan to take this very good advice I am passing on from one of my great preceptors during this rotation and study this way as I review for my last few exams and for the PANCE.

2. If you are in a rotation and are being treated poorly by a preceptor, don't be afraid to speak up to your advisor/program at the very least. As my advisor put it when I talked with her after this whole rotation was over with, just because you are a student doesn't mean you have to put up with abuse. It doesn't happen a lot, I hope, but it has happened with a few people in my class since we started.

3. In your rotations, try to get involved in seeing/participating in any procedure you can. You will not likely get the chance to be taught these things when you are a PA-C as patiently as when you are a PA-S, and you can get experience seeing things you may not get to see after you graduate (for example, the inside of an OR at this hospital).

4. In your hospital rotations, take advantage of the opportunity to practice your physical exam skills (especially the special tests) on patients with known pathology... it will not only give you a chance to practice, but a chance to see the abnormal results you are looking for but rarely see in your outpatient clinic. Practice listening to lung sounds on a patient with pneumonia or CHF (including those skills you probably rarely use in clinic... tactile fremitus, egophany, etc.), do an abdominal exam on patients with liver disease, cholecystitis, or appendicitis (including Murphy's, and all the special tests for appendicitis - psoas, obturator, Rovsing's), etc. It was really cool for me to see a true positive Murphy's sign, and a true appendicitis with positive Rovsing's and rebound tenderness, etc.

5. If you get a chance, help admit patients from the ER to your service (depending on which surgery service you are working with). Then follow them into the OR, and follow them on the floor. It was a really cool way to see the disease process all the way through.

6. Ask lots of questions; the preceptors you are working with have a lot of experience and are often great at explaining things.

All in all, I was thankful for the experience I had at this rotation. I am looking forward to my next (last!) 2 rotations, and getting back into my main clinic... and then graduation! I have only 3 more trips up to Sacramento for exams and then graduation (3 months and 29 days!). I can't believe how fast it has gone. I can't believe how much I have learned (and how much I have yet to learn!). I can't believe what an amazing experience this has been. I am really thankful that I was given to opportunity to come to PA school, and to soon become a PA-C! :)

Rotations Update

2011-02-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

I finished my family medicine inpatient rotation a couple of weeks ago, and I was really glad that I did it. I learned so much and I really enjoyed myself. Inpatient medicine is just so much more intense and complicated than outpatient medicine (which I've been used to), so it has kept my brain on its toes, so to speak. It's been wonderful to be learning at a teaching hospital as well, because there are so many wonderful clinicians willing and excited to teach and help you learn.

I am currently in the middle of my surgery rotation (trauma/general). Overall it has been going really well. Again, there is so much to learn! Trauma care is something totally new to me, let alone surgery. I feel like I know practically nothing after having learned so much at the same time. The constant quizzing from the PA I am working under is reminding me not to let my brian get lazy and to always keep going back to the basics (how long ago was SBD????). In PA school, at least in my experience, it goes so quickly that you only have time to learn a little about a lot of things. When it comes to hospital medicine, I'm realizing, you have to know a lot about a lot of things. It's been back to the books for me! An amazingly interesting adventure, though. I have just one more week to go in this rotation. I hope I get to scrub in on some cool surgeries! I got to scrub in on a cholecystectomy last week. Pretty basic as far as surgery goes, but awesome to see nonetheless. :)

I can't believe it's February already! 4 months and 6 days until graduation! I can't believe it!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I'm excited that 2011 is finally here. 2010 was a great year, but I'm looking forward to a lot of good things in 2011. First of all, 2011 is the year I graduate from PA school, take the PANCE, and start work as a full-blown PA-C! I'm excited about the prospect of both my husband and I working and not going to school at the same time (that's never happened before for both of us at once!). Although I plan to eventually pursue a Master's degree in PA studies, I don't plan to do it right away. In 2011, now that school will be done, we are hoping to start expanding our family. :) What a great year this could turn out to be. :)

For now, I'm trying to find ways to earn a little extra money... I've found it difficult if not impossible to work much during PA school and finish on time. Anyone need a photographer? ;) I really enjoy photographing families, but just haven't had the time to advertise much during school. Here's my website, if anyone is interested or wants to see. :) I'm also going to play around with affiliates... for example Amazon has a program where I will get a small percentage of the purchase if someone makes one from a link here on the blog. Not much, but I occasionally do mention PA related books, so I figured it couldn't hurt. For example, I found this little pocket reference book (Medical Notes by Bruce Lee, MD - see link at bottom of post), and have found it very useful in my rotations, especially my inpatient hospital rotation, although I use it occasionally in my outpatient clinic as well. It has laminated-type pages so you can write on it with a ballpoint pen and "erase" it with an alcohol swab. I love it because it has a place to put sticky notes at the front, and has a quick reference to everything from some physical exam reminders to algorithms to procedures to some diagnosis tables. It is a little fat, but lightweight and fits great in a lab coat pocket. So if you happen to buy this little book, click on the link at the bottom of this post, please. :)

I promised an update on my inpatient rotation. So far week 1 was awesome. I've really enjoyed the residents, medical student, and attendings I have worked with. I am learning a lot already. I like being able to take one or two patients and follow their care daily from admission to discharge. In the mornings, I arrive at the hospital between 6:30 and 7:00 AM, I review my patient's chart for vital signs over the last 24 hours and talk to the nurse to see if there were any events overnight. I then do a quick visit with my patient; a quick physical exam for signs of improvement or worsening of their condition and watching out for other things that can happen from being in the hospital and in bed all day. I ask him/her about how they did overnight. I then write up a progress note, look up their labs from that morning, grab a quick coffee and breakfast (at my hospital it's free in the medical staff lounge - sweet!), and head to meet up with the residents for "Morning Report." Morning Report is basically a half an hour where one resident either presents a patient case scenario or a quick presentation on some other medical topic for us to learn from. I then head over to meet the team for morning rounds. I then present my patient and any changes from yesterday to the attending, as does everyone else on the team with their respective patients. We then go around to each room as a team (for me it's myself, a medical student, an intern, a senior resident, and the attending) and the attending quickly sees the patient. Then I put in orders for any new labs or medication changes, if necessary and have the rest of the day to do research on my patient's disease, study some, and wait for people to get admitted or discharged, which I help do when they occur. It makes for a fun, albeit early, day. And I've really been loving it. I have 2 weeks left, and I'm excited to go back tomorrow. It was nice to have a long weekend, though (my resident gave us Friday and today off - this team doesn't work Saturdays).

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great time and are looking forward to 2011 as much as I am! :)

To Hospital I Go

2010-12-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas; I know I did. I took the last week off of studying (I'll probably pay for that later, but I needed it) and it was nice, although I was sick for most of it. :( I'm feeling better now, and Christmas is already over. Time to get back to work.

This afternoon I got a quick tour of the part of the hospital I am going to be in for the next 2 1/2 weeks doing my inpatient rotation. I'm getting things prepared tonight and catching up on tracking my patients from my outpatient clinic. I will try to post next weekend, at the end of the first week, an update on how the rotation is going.

Happy New Year! (almost!) I cannot believe it is about to be 2011. I was looking at my calendar today, at the days I have to be in class and the tests I have to study for, and it is starting to sink in that I'm almost done! 5 1/2 months left! Time to hit the clinic/hospital with roller skates on to get all of these hours and MCRs done so I can be done by graduation! PA-C here I come! ;-)

Vacation

2010-12-18T18:49:00.000-08:00

Vacation does happen in PA school, at least in my program. Not much, but I have been usually able to manage a week between quarters. This "break" I was planning to go to clinic but my preceptor is taking the week off for Christmas so I took the opportunity to take a week break myself. This weekend my husband and I are hanging out and relaxing at a cabin my parents own. It has been raining nonstop since yesterday morning! Very relaxing and I'm thankful to have such a warm, dry place to be.

This coming week I plan to use to do some serious house cleaning and baking for Christmas. With a program that goes straight through for 2 years, these little breaks are important for your sanity and stamina. I think they help me gear back up to hit the next quarter at full steam and be able to continue to be able to give PA school 110%. It's easy to feel guilty and just push through to study the next quarters' material, thinking that it will keep you from getting behind. Or that you can get that many more hours in clinic done. But I think it's important to remember to squeeze in some "me time" here and there; you have to take care of yourself if you expect to be able to take good care of others.

Just after Christmas I start my inpatient hospital rotation, which I'm excited about. I'm looking forward to the opportunity for new, exciting learning experiences. Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

I have had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend so far. We spent one day with my family, one day mostly just my husband and I, and this weekend with his family. It has been so nice! I'm really excited to start decorating for Christmas this week, too.

What are holidays like for a PA student? Well, that depends on your program, but in my experience, there really aren't any substantial "breaks" and no holiday has been completely spared from the need to study. I took the last 2 days off but brought my books and laptop with me so I can study in the car to/from my husband's family get together. Thankfully, I have quite a bit less studying to do this year as a Year 2 student than last Thanksgiving/Christmas as a Year 1.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to take a quick break from studying to enjoy spending time with family. Remember them? Those people you used to see a lot before PA school started? ;) Nah, in all seriousness it hasn't been that bad this year. 2nd year has definitely been much better for family and spouse time.

This year I'm thankful for my wonderful, supportive husband and family who have put up with me during this crazy busy journey that is PA school. I am thankful for finding a career where I love being at work and doing what I do, and one that will also allow me to be constantly challenged yet have time to be with my family as well. I am thankful for my second family; my amazing friends I have made in PA school. Even though we don't live close to each other, we've become very close and formed lifelong friendships. I am looking forward to hanging out with them in 2 weeks when I go back to Sacramento for finals.

Happy holidays!!!

The countdown begins...

2010-11-20T17:45:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit it, but I am now counting down the days until graduation. A year and a half ago I was excitedly counting down the days until PA school started. Don't get me wrong... I love PA school. I really do. I have learned so much and I truly love what I am doing. I love what I do at "work" (i.e. seeing patients in clinic... just not paid yet). It's just the having to study and do assignments on my days off that I'm ready to be done with. All the sitting in front of a computer or books has not left my back feeling very nice, and I think I will treat myself to a nice massage when I am done (or several massages!). :)

The exciting part about this part of PA school is all of the rotations I am getting to do. And although I do still have to study and do some assignments, that part is much less at this point than it was last year. And I do have some free time to do stuff at home or with family, just not as much as I'm excited to be having in 7 months.

So with that, as of today graduation is 6 months and 22 days away! :)

Zzzzz

2010-10-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

3 days into my psych rotation and I'm exhausted. The hours are actually much nicer than I'm used to (8-4:30 with only a 15 minute commute), but 5 days a week. I'm used to 3 12s with a day off in between to recover. I'm spoiled. I'm much more effective at studying in the morning, so this doing stuff after dinner isn't being very efficient for me.

The 3 days in a row isn't so bad, but having homework for the rotation to do, plus having to catch up on logging my patients from last week and trying to (or feeling like I should be) study and do assignments for class all in the evenings after clinic is just plain exhausting. Right now I'm working on a case study of a psych patient I was given that I have to diagnose, make an assessment and plan and discuss differentials as well as what I think her mental status exam would be like if she was real patient. I have to present this to a doc tomorrow. Sheesh. Not hard; I'm just too dang tired already (It's only 8:30pm!) and am very tempted to break out the coffee. My preceptor for the rotation also sent me home with a book on motivational interviewing I'm supposed to be reading in my "free time." Zzzzzz

On the brighter side, the psych rotation is interesting and I'm learning a lot. The days are pretty slow, but it's very interesting and I'm thankful for the experience. Better get back to that case study.

2nd Year - Let the rotations begin!

2010-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

I just got home from my first week of Year 2 exams, which all went very well. The lectures were also very interesting... how to approach patient cases in our different rotations, etc. I had a ton of fun hanging out with my friends at school as well. It's been really nice to be able to be home for so long (2 months this time!), but I really missed my friends. I love our program... it's such a great environment. I really feel like my friends in the class have become like a 2nd family. We spent so much time together the first year! Here's what we did yesterday:

We can't wait to start our surgery rotation!

All gowned up

It's so exciting to finally start lining up my 2nd year rotations. I am headed to orientation today for my geriatric rotation in a SNF, which I should start soon. (Lots to read up on before I start that one.) In a week I start my psych rotation. (Hmm.... lots to read up on for that one, too.) Still officially setting up start dates for my inpatient, surgery and ER rotation, but those should be within the next few months. I'm very excited for all of the new learning opportunities that will come with these rotations. Even though I don't have a whole lot of studying to do for my classes, I have a ton of research to do to get prepared for these rotations! It's so much fun to learn about stuff, though, that actually apply to patients you'll be seeing. PA school, in many ways including that one, is so much more fun than undergrad. :) Everything you are working your butt off to learn is applicable and the harder you work to learn as much as you can, the better clinician you will become.

So much to learn

2010-09-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am still very young in my life as a PA(-S), and although I've learned a ton in such a short time, I always feel like there are a million other things I don't know. And I want to know as much as I can to be able to provide the best patient care possible. I find myself doing research on medications, diseases, symptoms, etc in my spare time for fun. LOL What did PA school turn me into? ;)

Maybe it's not fun fun, like shopping or hanging out with friends and family, but it is, believe it or not, enjoyable for me. I love to learn. That's one of the reasons I got into this profession.... a lifelong learning opportunity. I hope that for the rest of my career I continue to have the passion I do now to learn and keep up on new information in the medical world. There is always something new and exciting in this field, your brain is continuously challenged, and you get to talk to and help people all day. What better job could there be?

Love

2010-09-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

I love my "job!" Yesterday I got to put in a patient's IUD! That, on it's own, was pretty exciting. It was the second one I had seen done and my first that I actually did, so it didn't go as quickly or smoothly as I had imagined, but you've got to start somewhere. :)

I also had two severely uncontrolled diabetic patients (very sweet patients) that I got to spend quite a bit of time counseling (the luxuries of being a student) and helping them understand how serious their diabetes was and how to make changes in their lives to prevent serious complications from happening. Those patients are tough, because with diabetes patients can go for years and years uncontrolled and not feel sick at all. (It's similar with hypertension patients.) If someone doesn't sit down and talk to them seriously and directly (but in a caring way, not condescending) about the serious, and fatal, consequences of letting their disease go uncontrolled for so long, they won't feel motivated to make the changes they need to make to better their lives. I can totally understand this... if you are overweight, but have no comorbitidies, it's very difficult to grasp the real need to make serious lifestyle changes to get your weight under control and therefore have the drive to make them.

Nothing happens overnight, but I think that in a small way I was able to help these patients. I know that they appreciated me taking the time to explain things to them, and that I genuinely cared about their health, which is why I was making such a big deal out of their blood sugars. I can't hold their hands, but I hope that little by little (starting with going to our health educator I referred them to, who can take much more time than I can), they will be able to make some changes to keep their quality of life as good as it is now. Or better yet, maybe even improve it.

And every once in a while I have a patient, like one I had this week, that really makes me feel like I've made a difference. Even a small one. These patients are usually complicated and are difficult if you are trying to keep up with a schedule, but they really just need to talk to someone. By listening and using all of the communication skills we learned in school (including how to kindly direct the conversation so you can listen and get the information you need to treat the patient's chief complaint), the patient gets cared for and feels like you genuinely care about them and their well-being (which you do of course). This patient actually got teary-eyed and told me that she thought I was going to be an amazing PA when I am done with school and that she really, really appreciated me listening to her and caring about her. She told me about her old PA, who she loved for the same reasons, who has now retired. And her new clinician, who tells her that she has other patients to see, so she needs to cut to the chase. (Remember that even though this is true, you can't ever say that to a patient!) Now, she wants to start being my patient. Anyway, even though it was difficult to get my actual job done in a timely manner, she really made me happy because it was solid proof that I made a difference in someone's life. Small as it may be.

I love going to work, and I can't believe that in 9 months I'm actually going to get paid (good money, too!) to do this. What an amazing blessing to be able to touch people's lives in the way we do, love doing it, and actually get to make a living off of it. Once again, I am so very glad I chose to go to PA school!

Bear with me....

2010-08-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I get bored easily. :) I am making the switch back to Blogger. I noticed they have a new option that makes it easier to design the page. (For some reason I couldn't figure it out easily before.) I don't plan on changing again, so this should be the new page. Sorry for the confusion! I transferred all the posts I had posted on my other site so no one needs to go back and forth if anyone wanted to see the old ones.

As for my life in PA school currently, I am now officially a Year 2 student! It feels really good. I have just over 9 months left. Right now I am just working in my family practice clinic toward my new MCRs (minimum clinical requirements) and waiting to hear when and where I will be doing my rotations. I'm done with my Medicine classes, so I don't have as much to study, which is nice. However, we are going to be having more exams than usual and at a higher level than usual, so I still have to do lots of review and PANCE practice. I'll start that next week. :) This weekend I'm enjoying not having anything to study. :) My next exams are the first week of October. I've got a couple of errands to run today, but I'll be back soon to post some updates about my experiences in clinic.

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I make up my mind about blog design/location!

Year 2, here I come!

2010-08-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Summer quarter finals completed (all went very well), which means I am officially done with the Year 1 didactic work. 9 more hours in clinic tomorrow (although I’ll be working a 12 hr shift) and I’ll be officially done with the hours and MCRs (Minimum Clinical Requirements - i.e. different diagnoses I have to see) I need for Year 1! I’ve got everything all ready to go and will be heading up to Sacramento Friday for an appointment with the department to officially checkout. Assuming I am not missing anything, I should get the official thumbs up to start working on my Year 2 clinical requirements. Woohoo!

10 more months to graduation and I can’t wait! I love the program and love everything I’m learning being in school, but it will be sooo nice to get a paycheck again! These past 14 months flew by and I know next June will be here before I know it. I have learned so much clinically and personally in the last 14 months and am still 110% happy with my decision to go to PA school. :) I am so proud to see the little PA-S after my name every time I sign a chart, and I’ll be even more happy when I get to see PA-C!

Moving forward

2010-07-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve been slacking on the blogging front lately, but have been enjoying my transition from 1st year to 2nd year as a PA-S.This quarter we have just one didactic class and clinic time, which has been really nice. I love being in clinic and have been going 3 days a week, studying 2-3 days a week, and having (gasp) 1-2 days free. In one more month I will be virtually done with all didactic work and just doing clinic full time, which will still be 3-4 days a week most of the time. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately and spending time with family, which has been really nice. Last weekend was the first time in a long time where I felt like I had done all the studying I could do for the current unit and I had no other classes to study for and no clinic to go to on the weekend. I honestly felt like I didn’t know what to do with myself! I finally realized that I could relax (don’t remember what that feels like! haha) so I caught up on some housework and cleaned a lot. It’s amazing how you let some things slip when you are in a program like this. I hate having a messy house... so glad I’m to a point where I can keep up on that more.

I did really well on my EKG exam I was studying for and also did well on our most recent exam (OB/Gyn). Next unit is infectious disease and men’s health. Should be interesting. We had an amazing lecturer on HIV yesterday. I have just a few weeks left worth of clinic to do until I can officially transition to a “Year 2” student. It’s so nice! I love my program, but am excited that the end is near. :) It will be very nice to get a job and get a paycheck again. I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I started as a PA-S. It is absolutely amazing how much I’ve grown as a person and clinician in such a relatively short time. I love what I am doing and I know every day that I absolutely made the right choice by going to PA school. I feel so fortunate to have found a career that I absolutely love!

Farewell, Atlanta

2010-06-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

This was my first professional conference as a PA student, and although I definitely understand the financial constraints of us students, it was so worth the money to come all the way out here. I would highly, highly recommend any PA student or PA-C to attend these conferences as often as possible.

I attended several CME lectures (not as many as I had planned, though) that were extremely informative and some of them even helped me review for things we are about to be tested on. Many of the lectures are clinically based, so they are “quick and dirty” 45-minutes talks about a certain disorder; how to recognize it and what to do about it. They are all given by awesome docs or PAs. I learned a lot about the changes that are on the horizon for PAs and recertification, including the talk about specialty certification. I learned about the new health care reform bill that was passed and how it affects PAs. I learned about Congress and how simple it can be to advocate for our profession, even as a PA-S.

Best of all, I met tons of fabulous, inspiring PAs and PA students. It was so nice to be around so many people that share my interests. The challenge bowl was so much fun, and I got to hang out with some awesome people.

All in all, I leave Atlanta feeling incredibly proud of my profession and empowered to go forward and make a difference. I have already been thinking up things to do for PA week this year (October 6-12th) and I hope to go back to class and inspire my classmates to become just as passionate about advocating for our young profession.

Farewell, Atlanta! I can’t wait for AAPA 2011 in Las Vegas!

AAPA 2010

2010-05-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

I’m on my way to Atlanta, GA for the AAPA conference! This will be my first time attending, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve been following the convo about it on Twitter, and I’ll be tweeting from the conference as well. Some of the lectures/activities I plan to attend:

*The Latest on NCCPA and PA Certification
*COPD-Asthma: Comparing and contrasting
*SAAAPA National Medical Challenge Bowl (so excited to see how this works!)
*Year 1 Student Professional Lectures (rotation guidance, etc)
*(love this title...) “How Not to PQRST Down Your Leg on Rounds: 12-lead ECG Interpretation” - hopefully will help me out as my ECG exam is coming up soon.
*Physician Assistants for Latino Health Scholarship Salsa Dance

I took yesterday and most of Thursday off of studying to celebrate my birthday, but it’s back to reality now and I’ve got to squeeze in some studying during this trip as I have finals in a week and a half and lots of musculoskeletal stuff to cover. Got some done on the plane to Denver and should get a little more done while I wait for my next flight and on the plane to Atlanta. Then, the fun begins! I’ll keep you posted on the goings on at IMPACT 2010. :) I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Updates

2010-05-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing profound to say today, just an update. :)

I didn’t get elected as President of our student society, but I was chosen to be the Diversity Committee Representative. I’m excited to be a part of our student society, even if I didn’t get the position I originally hoped for. I’m really looking forward to this next (and last!) year of PA school.

I’ll be going to the AAPA Conference in Atlanta, and plan to tweet about my experience (and hopefully blog, too). Follow me on Twitter, if you’re into that... I’m KimHarrisPAS. The conference is the week before my last week of class this quarter (i.e. big medicine final!), but I’m really looking forward to it. I’m excited to see the Challenge Bowl and there are tons and tons of interesting CME lectures going on all week. Although I can’t earn CME as a student, I think the information will only help me out in clinic. A couple of the lectures will likely also help me out in class (rotator cuff injuries and 12-lead ECG interpretation!). Plus, I love to talk (surprised?) so I’m excited to meet new people and other PAs/PA students. This will be my first PA conference. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people at AAPA 2011 because the conference is in Las Vegas. :) Definitely going to that one, too. :)

School is going really well. I often think how I am so happy that I chose to go to PA school. I learn something new all the time and am constantly challenged. I love my classmates and my teachers. It feels like a second family, kind of, when I go up for class weeks to Sacramento. It’s been fun watching everyone grow and become friends, and our class is starting to expand (by way of babies)! One classmate of mine had twins last month (she’s taking a year off to be with the babies, if anyone was wondering how that works), another is pregnant and due in July, another’s wife had a baby last week, another’s wife is pregnant, and yet another pregnancy was announced last week. So for the class so far one year into the program, that’s 6 babies here or coming! I have a feeling there will be more before graduation next year; at least more pregnancies. I wonder how common it is for PA students to start families while in school? Seems to be a lot going on in our class. :)

I have felt a change lately in myself; I feel more comfortable in my skills and knowledge (still far from feeling like I know what I’m doing most of the time, though, as is expected). The things I am learning in clinic and class are coming together and I’m just really having a lot of fun. I do miss weekends where I wouldn’t have to study, and for that reason I’m looking forward to graduation next year. I feel like the pieces of all of this information are starting to fall into place and make more sense. At the beginning of the program, I felt completely overwhelmed by what I needed to learn and thought for sure that I would never get to the point where I could think like a clinician. I still have a lot to learn and practice, but it’s getting better. I remember the first week of class we did a role playing exercise just asking history questions and I cried because I felt sure I would never be able to remember to ask all those things. LOL, it seems silly now. :) I’ve gotten pretty good at history taking and am working on refining my physical exam skills and remembering/sorting through differentials in my head. The differentials are the hardest part for me, especially to do it while you are talking to the patient. That skill, I’m sure, will come later with more and more practice. We had a lecturer last week that talked about how he felt when he was in school; he thought for sure he would have to switch careers because he felt like he didn’t know anything and wasn’t getting it. He’s now a successful orthopedic PA. It’s always refreshing for me to hear someone else admit that they are feeling/have felt that way. I feel that way, and probably every PA student/medical student feels that way but don’t admit it. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and those skills will come with experience.

Last week I took my last pharmacology exam (yay!!!!) and it went very well. I had a medicine midterm on psych and neuro that also went well. The last unit for medicine this quarter is musculoskeletal, which has a huge amount of information to study. When I got back in 2 weeks I will have my medicine final (comprehensive as usual), but no other exams, which is nice. We have some skills workshops for that week and will be taking our first PACKRAT (the practice PANCE). After that, I will have been through one year as a PA student. I can’t believe how fast time has flown.

Back to the books.... musculoskeletal is waiting for me.

Studying at 30,000 ft?

2010-05-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Right now my husband and I are on a plane to New York City; a vacation for just the two of us badly needed after us being apart so much during school. As much as I’ve been excited to go, it kind of freaked me out that I would be “wasting” 4 days of possible study time, including more than 10 hours on a plane (roundtrip) because I’ve got a big medicine midterm (neuro and psych - big subjects) and a pharmacology exam in a week.

Excitedly, though, I am pleased to say that my time on the plane has been a more productive 5 hour block of time than most of the time at home. I brought my laptop and was able to complete a paper/project that is due just after the exams before we even get to NYC. Phew! (BTW, thank goodness for my MacBook Pro that has an amazing battery life and has lasted this entire flight!) And apparently (I’m behind the times) they now have WiFi on big flights like this one so I could even be on the internet studying, which I intend to do on my flight home. How cool is that?

So one paper down + some EKG studying on the way to NYC, and I will spend the 5 hour flight home on Tuesday on the internet while 30,000 feet above ground accessing all my textbooks (that would weigh at least 50 pounds if I had to take them all along) to work on studying neuro and psych stuff for Medicine. No wasted time and I can relax more and enjoy myself (and my time with my husband!) in the city this weekend. :) Gotta love technology.

And if decide to squeeze in a little studying this weekend (probably should), our hotel has free WiFi so I can work on some neuro here and there as well. My husband is an architect and he’s informed me that he has plenty of buildings to go see on his own if I need to hang back and study. :) What a sweetheart... he’s really been extremely supportive through this whole crazy program!

Oh, on a side note, I’m going to the AAPA conference in Atlanta later this month... anyone else going? I’m so excited!

Running for office

2010-05-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

School is going great, and we are pretty close to reaching the one year mark. :) As we approach our second year, each class elects a Student Society and it is now our turn. After encouragement from many of my friends/classmates, I have decided to run for Student Society President (self-explanatory) and Historian (basically photographer - right up my alley). We will vote as a class when we next go back to Sacramento in 2 weeks, so we will see if I get elected to either position. I am a little nervous but mostly excited to take on a leadership role in our class. As you probably know by now from reading my blog, I totally love this program and this profession and I’m so excited to get the chance to participate in our Student Society.

If I get elected as President, though, I’ll need to make some last minute plans to go to Atlanta for the AAPA conference. I had planned on going, but have been taking what feels like so many vacations with family (and therefore weekends off studying) that I felt guilty about taking another one. Also, the conference is over the weekend of my birthday and I was planning to have a party here. Party in Atlanta, anyone? :)

Anyway, here’s an update on school: Clinic is going well and my skills are improving. In class, we just finished studying Endocrine diseases and drugs and are now on Neuro and Psych. The ECG exam I was nervous about got pushed back to the summer (phew!), as did our oral practicum, so we have just 2 instead of 4 exams in 2 weeks when we go back to class. We learned a lot this quarter about treating geriatric patients and about family theory (considering the home dynamics and family when treating a patient). I’m excited to say that with the second year comes more clinic at home and much less time in class in Sacramento... in fact, last week was our last 5 day week of class for the remainder of the program! I love seeing all of my classmates, and I have a blast every time I go up for class, but it’s hard being away from home and my husband as often as we were the first year.

So, wish me luck at our class election! I’ll keep you posted. :) For now, I’m off to continue studying seizure medications. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Mistakes and lessons learned

2010-03-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will have been a PA student for 9 months exactly. Nine months... the (approximate) length of a pregnancy, the length of a school year, less time than it takes to plan an average wedding. However, I still find myself beating myself up when things at school don’t go as well as I’d planned.

Didactic work is going really pretty well. It’s a very heavy load of information to take in, but I’m still near the top of my class; a place I prefer to be. I find that many of my classmates feel the same way, and I suppose that’s just a part of the kind of personality that pursues a career such as this one. It’s the clinical skills that are not leaving me with as much confidence as the didactic ones. I’ve had to realize, however, that I’ve been doing book work at school, and therefore developing those skills, for 22 years. My educational career since kindergarten has included 7 years of undergraduate college (yes, to get a 4-year degree... I changed my mind a few times!) that has helped me to hone my studying and retention skills. So how can I expect myself to excel at being a clinician right away, using a way of thinking and a skill set I’ve only had 9 months of practice to develop? And in actuality, I’ve only been in an actual clinic setting as a clinician-student for less than 2 months. Makes sense, right? Why, then, has it been so hard for me to realize that? Why am I so hard on myself?

In all honesty, I’m doing just fine in clinic. I make mistakes daily in clinic; forget to ask certain history questions, forget to do a particular part of a physical exam, leave an important differential off my list, and my assessment and plan skills are not great yet. But I get a lot of things right, too. And I’ve had a great response from patients; they really like me and I’ve received several compliments on my thoroughness and passion for educating, as well my kindness. My preceptor has been very happy with my skills and progress. It’s my own problem “thinking that I should be perfect at everything the first time I try it” as my husband has pointed out several times. :) No, I was not a fantastic cook when I first got married. Ok, semi-crappy would describe it better. But I’ve gotten much better at that, too. :)

My point is that over the last two months of being in clinic and making more mistakes than I’d like to (I’m a perfectionist; a good and bad thing), I’ve had to refocus my energies on really and truly learning everything I can from those mistakes, rather than focusing on my self-perceived failures. Oscar Wilde once said, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” So true.

PA school is an exhilarating, fun, and extremely humbling experience. If you are entering PA school soon, keep that in mind. :) It’s a tough transition from student to clinician in a different ball game than you’ve encountered previously in your careers. I was told this before, and didn’t really listen but I should have.... there are going to plenty of times during school and early in your career where you feel like you don’t know anything. But try to remember the previous hurdles you’ve overcome and if you truly step back and look at every mistake as a learning experience, you will become a fantastic clinician.

A medical student told me once of her experience, and I think that pretty much all of medical school applies to PA school. She told me that she had been at the top of her class as an undergrad and left college thinking, “I can totally do this!” Then medical school started, a whole different ball game, and she realized, “Crap. I have no idea what I’m doing.” By the time her didactic training was over, she had adjusted, learned a ton, and was again thinking “I can totally do this!” Then clinicals came, a whole different ball game, and she thought again, “Crap. I have no idea what I’m doing.” The cycle happened over and over again after each new rotation and again as she entered her first job after graduation. The point was that as medical/PA students and early clinicians, we face new challenges like we’ve never encountered before and it takes time to be able to feel like you know what you are doing.

There’s only so much you can learn from books; I’m finding that the real growth happens when you make a mistake out loud (whether it is an oral exam or with a patient). It sticks better and you’ll never forget it again. This has been a path of personal growth for me as well; learning how to truly accept and grow from mistakes rather than just keep beating myself up about them.

Here’s to humility and continued growth! (And the end of a long-winded blog, sorry!) :)

Sutures and injections and cast removals... oh my!

2010-03-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing day in clinic today. It was so much fun! I am currently seeing patients about half in an urgent care setting and half in a family practice setting. I saw a classic case of strep throat today (felt cervical lymphadenopathy on someone other than myself for the first time! Dorky to be excited about that I know...), got to remove a cast, assist with 2 sets of sutures (I got to basically do one suture each time), and learned how to do a trigger point injection. Plus, I drained a blood-filled blister and did my first well-child exam. :) Funny how these things make me so happy. :)

I love everything I’m learning in school from the books, but it just doesn’t compare to hands-on learning with patient interaction. Awesome!

I just finished my third quarter so I get to go to clinic 3-4 days a week during my “break.” So back to clinic tomorrow for another fun-filled day!

Clinic... the reason we do this.

2010-03-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve been in clinic almost a month now, and although time has been strapped (hence the lack of blog posts - sorry!), I am totally and utterly loving it.

Right now, in addition to my normal load of studying and exams, I am in clinic 2 days a week. I don’t get any studying done those nights because when I come home I have to spend time tracking the patients I saw into our school database and well, my brain is pretty much useless at night. (I’m totally a morning person). But each day I’m at clinic goes by so fast and I come home with exciting stories and feeling great.

The only problem I’m having at this point is adjusting my time around my family. My husband has barely seen me since clinic started (as I have to squeeze two extra days a week worth of studying into the other days) - he half-jokes that he feels like he’s living alone now - and I haven’t seen my parents or brothers and sisters or friends much at all. And my house! I haven’t had the time to give my house a proper cleaning in I don’t remember how long. It’s been a bit rough. I am starting to see why many PA students told me that soon I’d be counting down the days to graduation rather than being so excited to start. However, I thought that they meant because they hated being in school or what they were doing. This is not my feeling whatsoever - I’m loving it and feel like the experience has brought out a stronger part of me that I hadn’t really found before and I feel more like myself than doing anything else... it’s kind of weird. But I do find myself looking forward to graduation eagerly because I miss being able to come home and spend time with my husband, my family, friends, and cleaning products. I feel guilty not being able to be very good at maintaining relationships right now.

However, the amazing experience I’m having keeps me going strong. In just the few days I’ve been in the clinic, I’ve seen everything from URIs to ear infections to lacerations (Got to do my first suture yesterday! So exciting!) to benign positional vertigo to asthma to fractures and more. All the patients I have seen so far have been so exciting, and I love the interaction with them! I’ve already gotten to see a couple of patients back for second visits and have had a wonderful response from everyone. We are so lucky not only to get to learn all of the inner workings of the body and medicine, but to build such an intimate relationship with our patients. I can’t explain the feeling that gives me. Just happy and honored, I suppose. It warms my heart. Some of my patients are just amazing people.

I’m so glad to finally be in clinic. In fact, I wish sometimes that I was just learning in clinic and not having to study from books so much because clinic is so much more fun. But alas, that’s not how it works. Clinic and patient encounters are the reason I chose to become a PA. This is the reason I’m here in this program and I’m thankful for the opportunity to be doing it. Looking forward to going back tomorrow, but for now I’ve got to hit the books again. Pharmacology, here I come!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

2010-01-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

I can’t believe it is 2010. It is just shy of one year past my PA school interview; how did that happen? I remember what I was feeling at this time last year: anxiousness, excitedness, unsure of where I would be in 6 months or where my life would take me. I was extremely excited and honored to be chosen to interview at my #1 and only PA program. However, I had never interviewed for a professional program before and I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard horror stories about large interview panels basically grinding you and asking really difficult questions; many of which I didn’t know what to expect let alone how to prepare for them. I knew that although I had done very well in school as an undergrad, all the students applying and chosen to interview were equally smart, if not more so, and maybe had more clinical experience. I don’t like not succeeding, and I was so nervous that my interview wouldn’t go well and that I wouldn’t get accepted.

I very much wanted to be a PA, and thought that I could be good at it. My life’s plan at the time (when to start a family mostly) was revolving around me getting accepted that year and finishing in 2011.

Fortunately, the day of the interview came and went extremely well. I had prepared as well as I could, done a mock interview (very helpful - I would highly recommend doing at least one) and very anxiously went to my interview. Right from the moment I entered the office, I was greeted by the awesome staff who put me at ease. My interview went really well and was much more relaxed than I expected. As I left, I asked when I could expect to hear back and I was told “as early as today or as late as 5 weeks from now.”

Just after I arrived back home that evening, I got the call I had been waiting for! I saw that it was UC Davis on the caller ID and I was so excited I just showed the phone to my husband and said, “It’s UC Davis!!!!” I had been accepted as a PA student to UC Davis’s class of 2011!!!

The next few months I continued working and anxiously awaited more information about my first quarter as a PA student. School started at the end of June, and I was officially a PA-S!

The last 6 months of 2009 few by with a vast amount of physical exam skills, communication skills, pathophysiology, medicine, and pharmacology in my head. I loved my new program and was proud to be becoming a Physician Assistant. I made great friends with my classmates, and drove a ton of miles back and forth from home to school.

By the end of 2009, I realized that after just 6 months as a PA student, I had changed as a person. I became more confident, stronger, and stood up for myself more.

I am very much looking forward to 2010, my experience as a PA-S in the clinic seeing patients (starting Monday!), and getting to actually practice doing what I intend to do every day for the rest of my career. It’s so exciting! Now I can officially say that I will be graduating and done with school next year!!! :)

Here’s to a fantastic new year, starting PA school for some of you, maybe applying and getting interviews for others, and still others may be finishing! Congratulations to all of you and thanks for sharing this experience with me!

New Blog Site

2010-01-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around with making my own blog setup, rather than using Blogger, and I've set one up here. I will see how that goes for a while, so unless it isn't working out (and I'll let you know) I will be posting over there. Let me know what you think!

Again, here's the new page. Happy 2010!

White Coat Time

2009-12-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Today I get to wear my white coat for the first time and see a "patient" for an entire visit, start to finish. It's oral practicum time! My written finals this week went very well, and I'm hoping this mornings "visit" will go well also. I feel good about it, and I'm excited to get to practice being a PA!

I am so excited to get to start clinic next month! I can't believe I get to actually see patients (with the help of my preceptor of course) 6 months into the program. I love this program! I feel so very fortunate to be able to be a part of it. I was told by a teacher the other day, when discussing starting clinic, that UC Davis is the only PA program in the US that integrates clinicals into the first year as well as the second. (I personally haven't researched this, so I apologize if it's wrong). This was one of the main things that attracted me to this program - how awesome is it that I get to learn hands-on while I'm learning in class as well?! Can you tell I'm a little excited? ;)

We've been learning about the Chronic Care Model and motivational interviewing; understanding that our role is to help them make good choices about their lives and help them to know how to take care of themselves, rather than just giving orders and hoping that they follow them. It's a bit more detailed than that, but that's basically it. I think it's awesome, and yesterday we got to practice motivational interviewing in talking with patients suffering from various addictions (cigarettes, alcohol, narcotics, etc.) and counseling them to help them quit. Without just telling them, "you really need to quit [smoking, etc.]."

I love this program! And I'm 1/4 of the way done! Yay! :)

Finals - Quarter 2/8

2009-12-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

I find myself this week cramming for my second set of finals as a PA-S. I can hardly believe it is going so fast! I also can hardly believe how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. My finals this time around include(d) tons of reading, of course, several quizzes and a written exam next week for Well Pediatrics. More reading, a quiz, and a paper on addiction for Behavioral Science another written final next week. For that class, actually, I learned a lot through the readings and assignment. We learned about the Chronic Care Model and how to help patients help themselves make positive lifestyle changes. Very interesting information, and I hope to be able to use it to help people in the future.

I've been practicing quite a bit on my physical exam skills as well as chart-writing skills for my, well, Clinical Skills class and I have an oral practicum next week as my final. It's going to basically be my first full "patient" encounter - from introductions, HPI, ROS, to the physical exam, to diagnosis, development of a treatment plan, writing of a complete chart note, and presenting the case to my "preceptor" (or teacher in this case). It will be focused encounter this time, so I get to use my newly developed differential diagnosis making skills. Scary, but exciting.

Lots of great information, but thankfully not a difficult final, for my Professional Development class. My Pharmacology class is already done for the quarter... to be continued in January. And Medicine... actually my favorite (because it's very interesting and directly applicable) but the most time consuming (because I have to try to learn and keep straight etiologies, pathophysiologies, clinical manifestations, diagnostic tests, and treatments for what feels like thousands of diseases). Respiratory is the current system and will be half of my comprehensive final next week. As of December 9th, I will be 1/4 of the way done with PA school and well on my way to PA-C!

So as I return to the books to study about pneumonias and such, I want to leave you with a hilarious video a class of PA students put together from Emory University about, well, the life of a PA student. It cracked me up, and I hope you enjoy it.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a day late on this post because I spent all day yesterday cooking and enjoying time with family (the picture is from my table - I was so proud of how everything turned out!), but this time of year really makes me reflect on my life and appreciate how lucky I am, so I'd like to write about it today. :)

Although this has been a rough year for many, it really has been a much better year for us than the last. I have been blessed in so many ways. I am thankful this year for my wonderful, loving and supportive husband, family and friends. I am thankful that my husband has a job that he loves and is able to continue doing it during these hard economic times. I am thankful that both my husband and I received our Bachelor's degrees this year. I am thankful that we have a wonderful, warm house to live in (and renovate - I just finished painting our kitchen cabinets... a project that took me all quarter but looks great!).

I am extremely thankful to have the opportunity to study at UC Davis as a PA student. I truly feel that this is the career I was meant to have, and I am loving every minute of it. (Okay, there are some days when I really don't want to study, but I still love it). I can't believe how much I have learned already; in fact I was just telling my husband that it's a strange feeling, but I feel privileged to be able to learn what I'm learning. Being a PA (student) is such an awesome thing. I can't wait to start clinic next month! We are truly gifted with being able to help and bond with people in a way that not many people get the opportunity to do.

Good luck to everyone that is interviewing or awaiting interview invitations! I was so anxious this time of year last year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remembers all that they have to be thankful for. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I'm off to Thanksgiving #2 (at my parents' house). Back to the books tomorrow.

Balancing

2009-10-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm a PA student. And a wife. And a daughter, friend, and sister. Sometimes trying to balance all of those roles is difficult, so I thought I'd write a little about the balancing act that you might face going into a difficult, time-consuming program like PA school.

According to the AAPA's student census (2007 is the most recently posted), the average entering PA student is 25.2 years old, 71% are female, 28% are married, and 20% have dependents. I don't even have children yet, but many students do, and that is another role to balance with school. The trend for PA students is getting younger, so less students are married or have children, but there are still plenty out there (in 1997, for example, the average student was 29.7 years old, 39% were married, and 31% had dependents). UC Davis is very family-oriented, so in my class I would say there are more like 90% married and probably 30-40% with children. Even without a spouse or kids, you are at least your non-student self, a son/daughter, a friend, and possibly a boyfriend/girlfriend. All of that plus PA-S is hard to juggle sometimes.

My point is that when you enter PA school, you probably have several other responsibilities and relationships that you did just fine managing before. However, once you're in school, the things you study go so fast, and you're worried about not knowing everything because you have to actually see patients and do a great job (it's not just about passing the test anymore), and let's face it, most of us are overachievers and perfectionists. It's very easy to become encompassed by studying and put the other stuff on the back burner. I, personally, needed some reminding that PA school is not everything; in fact it's a huge part of my life right now, but it's not the most important thing. I needed to get my nose out of my books for a few hours here and there (and gasp! occasionally a whole day) and just be Kim, my husband's wife (among other things) and not just Kim, PA-S.

Everyone has their own way of balancing their life in school, but I encourage you to try and put the books down every once in a while and go hang out with your friends (non-PA school friends!) and spend some quality time with your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend or just your family. These people are who made you who you are, and they are not in school with you. Plus, they are your support group and that's extremely important to have going through a program like this.

Even though I'm not studying quite as much as I was before, I still study all day (as if it were a job, because well, that's pretty much what it is). I just have chosen to spend the evenings (and one weekend day) with my husband, friends, and/or family. And believe it or not, I actually feel less stressed because they are an awesome family and support system and I love spending time with them.

So if you're applying to PA school or are already in a program, keep in mind that you are likely going to feel like you have to study every waking minute, but from my experience (and those of my friends in school), no matter how much you study you are still going to feel like you don't know everything you should (because I think it's impossible), so make time to enjoy yourself and pay attention to your other roles. :) It will work out, and PA school will be over some day in the not-so-distant future.

Now after I kiss my husband goodbye and he goes off to work, it's back to "work" for me - time to hit the books. I've got a midterm next week. :)

What Schools Want...

2009-10-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I was asked to talk about what PA schools might look for in an applicant/future student, and I'm happy to oblige. :) I will say, though, that I am not a member of any admissions committee and I am only speaking from my own observations. So for what it's worth...

Obviously each program is different and they all have different weights they place on each of several criteria of an optimal applicant. That being said, I would generalize that schools are looking for an applicant with a good academic background (to show that you can handle to heavy load of coursework you will have in PA school) although this holds more importance in some programs and not as much in others. What I would consider as usually pretty important is clinical experience. All of the schools I looked at (and I for sure didn't look at all of them, so again, for what it's worth...) wanted anywhere from 1000-2000 hours of direct patient experience such as a back office medical assistant, EMT, nurse, respiratory therapist, physical therapist, etc. I think that the reason for this is that they want to make sure you've had experience in the medical field and know that what you are getting yourself into is nothing like ER or Grey's Anatomy. Seriously. :) It also really helps to have shadowed or at least talked to a PA so that you really know about the profession and feel that it's right for you. I will add, though, that you never know what programs want and sometimes they accept students with less clinical experience or academic performance if they excel in other areas. So it never hurts to apply.

Other than the two big ones of academic and clinical strengths, I really think it's mostly about personal qualities. By this I mean that I think most PA schools (or medical or dental or PT, etc programs for that matter) are looking for a student who is mature, passionate, responsible, can be open-minded and professional, and who is good at interpersonal skills.

Most schools will give you hints about what they are looking for in their mission statement or application materials, so always look because every school is different. But at the end of the day, unless you are on that admissions committee ("adcom" you might hear), there's really no way to know exactly what they want.

I hope that helped some. I think that if you've done your research and you know this is a career you are dedicated to and why, you'll do fine. Good luck to any new PA interviewees, applicants, or future applicants!

Update - 2nd quarter

2009-10-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

My second quarter is practically half way through already... time sure flies when you are learning so much so quickly! Midterms this week went very well and as always, I am amazed at myself and how much information I can learn in such a short amount of time. And I still totally love it. This quarter we've got to focus on more real-life medicine and physical exam techniques and it's even more fun than before. I get to start seeing patients in the clinic at the start of January and I am very excited and a bit nervous about it.

One lesson I've learned so far this quarter is that what they tell you about reviewing at the end of a long day of studying really helps. Sounds like a "duh!" kind of epiphany, but I never could get myself to go back over everything I've spent the last 8+ hours reading at the end of the day. Also, I used to be a solo studier, but in a program like PA school I can't express to you enough the benefit of studying in a small group. Because there is soooo much information to learn in, as I've said, a seemingly very short amount of time and the only goal being to learn it all, it is hard not to be overwhelmed with everything. Studying alone, I found myself feeling like I never accomplished anything at the end of the day because there was always so much more to do.

This quarter, I was fortunate enough to have a good study group (I would recommend 2-3 people only, or it gets complicated and easier to get distracted) and felt very efficient. I'll share with you my general schedule the last few weeks (and will be for the foreseeable future). As a side note, it is very difficult to work in a program like this and do well academically, but if you have to it is doable. I am fortunate enough to be able to only be a full time student, so of course it would be a little different if you are working through the program. Anyway, I study everyday except Saturday (I've reserved that day to let my husband see and spend time with me - it's hard to do that anymore!).

Each night (and this was my study partner's great idea), my study group sets a mini-goal to accomplish for the next day (a set amount of reading or objectives) and we spend all day getting that goal done individually, then meet at the end of the day and review everything from that day together. At the end of a unit we are studying, we review the entire unit together, therefore ending up reviewing the material 3 times, and still feeling more accomplished and less stressed than doing it like I was before. And it helped to break up the monotony of studying by getting to talk and not just stare at books (and at this point there are about 10 books to go through to get information about one disorder). It's not only great for those reasons, but having a study group helps you to get pieces of information that your group member(s) might have caught that you didn't, or little ways to memorize difficult things that you wouldn't have thought of. Sorry that was so long, but short story is I love studying this way. :)

I also can't emphasize enough the use of tables for studying medicine topics! You really need to know the etiology (cause), pathophysiology (how the disease works), clinical manifestations (symptoms and what you would see on exam), and treatments for what feels like a million disorders. Table format makes it immensely easier to sort these out and pick out the key distinguishing characteristics about each one.

Key advice I've learned from this quarter: study with a classmate (at least for review), set mini-goals, and use tables! :)

As a side note, this blog was seen on the AAPA's Facebook page helping to promote PA week! I was glad to see so many PAs and PA students working hard to promote and spread education about this amazing profession. Go PAs!

One quarter down!

2009-09-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

I just completed my first quarter of PA school!

It took a ton of studying and hard work, but I learned so much already and developed some study habits/schedules that are working well so far. I still totally love my program and I can't wait to move on to next quarter, where we get to start learning some actual medicine and more direct, applicable stuff. However, I'm very excited to have a little break for a week or so. :)

2/3 Classes Complete for Quarter 1/8

2009-08-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Finals week 1 of 2 went very well; thanks for the support! 2/3 of my classes for this 1st quarter are now done and I can focus the next 13 days on studying Patho for my last final. I've found a great study group and I think the last final will go really well, too.

McCance (the author of the Patho book), here I come! ;)

Finals here I come!

2009-08-24T12:39:00.001-07:00

Packing up again to head back to Sacramento for finals week 1 of 2. Tomorrow is my first practicum - the full head-t0-toe physical first thing in the morning. The good news is that it is coming along great and I think it will go really well. Plus, I'll be done for the day at 9:30. Nice. Then Wednesday is the written final for HAAP (the health assessment class) and a written and small "practicum" final for my Behavioral Science class. I've been studying these last two weeks all day almost everyday for the HAAP written final. It's a lot of material, but I think I've got most of it. So Wednesday afternoon I will be 2/3 done with finals from my first quarter! I can't believe it is over already.

I just got my book for next quarter. A LOT of reference books; interesting but they take a whole lot of room on my bookshelf. :)

Back to packing.... wish me luck this week!

One Week to Finals...

2009-08-15T17:50:00.001-07:00

Another week in class has passed, and all that's left this quarter is finals! I can't believe I'm practically 1/8 of the way done with PA school. Not a lot, I know, but it will go by so fast! This past week we had our last lecture for Patho, a great lecture on ethics, and our last and most interesting unit for our Health Assessment class.

After our ethics lecture, we watched a movie called The Doctor. It was pretty fun, actually. My teacher brought popcorn and everything. :) It was a good movie with a great message for any healthcare provider: always remember that your patients are people first and foremost. It can be easy to forget, but remembering that and treating them as such makes a huge difference. Our ethics lecturer reminded us that "medicine is never about YOU;" it's about the patient. An awesome lecturer and a great afternoon. Who knew we'd get to eat popcorn and watch movies in PA school. ;)

For our last unit in Health Assessment, we spent a day learning how to do GU/GYN exams (GU=genitourinary). In the morning we rotated at stations with inanimate models learning how to perform pelvic exams including the bimanual exam, then the breast exam, and finally the male GU and rectal exams. Then in the evening, we went to the campus clinic and got to perform the exams on real people! Paid "models," not real patients, but it was actually an awesome experience. These models apparently do this all the time, and have learned from the teachers, so while the teacher is observing and adding their instructions/advice here and there, the model actually taught us most of it. It was great to get patient feedback ("too much/not enough pressure" and they could tell us if we were in the right spot or not. You obviously don't get to ask real patients if you are doing it right, so it was a great experience to learn these exams which make everyone nervous. I can't believe I've been a PA student for only 6 weeks and actually got to perform full male/female GU/GYN exams on real people. I guess you know you're meant for this job when even learning that excites you. :)

I've learned how to perform a complete physical exam, and have to do one head to toe (except the GU/GYN, those I have to just say what I would do) for one of my finals in a week and a half. I need some more practice, because there is so much to remember and repetition is the only way to get it all for me. Then two more written finals and home for another week and a half to finish studying for my last final (Patho) which is in early September. Then a week and a half "break" until Fall quarter. I just registered for fall classes; something like 36.5 quarter units. Sheesh! It's going to be a busy quarter!

On a side note: Thank you guys for commenting and asking questions! Keep 'em coming! I will do my best to help answer them. :)

Where to Start? (For Pre-PAs)

2009-08-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

I received a comment (thank you!) asking for advice on where to start when it comes to getting into PA school/becoming a PA so I thought I'd address it with a post. I felt the same way when I first decided to pursue this career and I'd love to help, if I can, other pre-PA students with their path to becoming a PA.

Degrees.... there are a few schools still out there (mine included) that still on paper say that they only require an Associate's degree or the equivalent, but my personal recommendation would be to go for the Bachelor's. Just my personal opinion, but my reasoning is that the PA profession is headed in the direction of a Master's level of education. In fact, I believe the AAPA is pushing for all PA programs to be Master's level as soon as 2012. So if you have a BS/BA, even if you are not going into a Master's program, it would be easier to go get a MS later to keep up with your peers. Aside from that, even the programs that say they only require a AS/AA or equivalent mostly seem to accept those with a BS/BA and I think it has to do with showing that you can handle the commitment and the coursework you will encounter as a PA student. Again, this is just my opinion, and there are students with an AS/AA with a lot of clinical experience that are accepted to schools at this point. On a personal note I think that the coursework, study habits, and time management skills I developed while getting my BS have helped me in PA school.

What should I get my BS/BA in, you might ask? I would say whatever you love. I've learned that it really doesn't matter what your Bachelor's degree is in; the point is that you made it through a 4 (ok, sometimes more than 4 years) program and finished. I personally, got my BS in Biology because I thought that was the "right" degree to get, and it turns out I really loved science, so it worked for me. And many of the classes I had to take for my BS have helped with this first quarter of PA school. However, sometimes having a BS/BA outside of the normal Biology/Chemistry departments makes you stand out and shows that you are more well-rounded. So seriously, get a degree in whatever makes you happy to take classes in for 4 years. You just may have to take a few extra classes to cover the prereqs for school, but at least you will be doing what you love.

In general, where to start? I would highly recommend shadowing a PA if you can to be sure this is what you really want to do, if you haven't already. Ask them about what they love and don't like about the profession. See what they do on a day to day basis. I found this book, Getting Into the Physician Assistant School of Your Choice by Andrew Rodican, to be very helpful in getting me here. Check it out - maybe you will find it helpful, too. The PA forums were also very helpful to me, to hear from other Pre-PAs, PA students, and practicing PAs about their experiences.

I hope that helped somewhat; keep any more questions coming my way and I'll try my best to help. :) I totally love PA school and really feel like it is the right career for me. I hope that you find that you feel that way someday, too. :)

Another week in class

2009-08-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

The first midterm I talked about in my last post has come and gone. It went very, very well and I am very thankful for my study group. I think it helped immensely. I feel much more confident now having that first exam out of the way.

This first quarter is, amazingly, almost over already. I am packing up to head back to Sacramento today for another midterm tomorrow and a few days in class. Just one more Patho lecture left! This is really our last week of lecture at all for the quarter. The next time we go back for class will be 2 days of exams, then a week home and back to Sacramento for our last final in early September.

The midterm tomorrow is for our Health Assessment class. I'm not worried about it; I feel prepared. Our final for this class is in just 2 weeks, where part of it is a practicum in which we perform an entire physical exam on our partner in front of a teacher (the pelvic, rectal, and breast exams are just articulated, not actually performed on each other). The task was daunting at first because there are so many things to remember to test, but after having practiced it a couple of times it's really not that bad. It, like most things here, I think will just get easier with practice and repetition. Already we've learned how to perform just about the entire exam; all that's left is the pelvic, rectal, and breast exams and we are learning those this week. It's crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun (and extremely busy)!

First Midterm

2009-07-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

My first midterm is coming up already the next time we are back in classes; just over a week away. We've been through two weeks in class and one week at home so far with a crazy amount of reading to do. However, although the Pathophysiology class for this quarter takes an ungodly amount of reading/studying time it's interesting, and our Health Assessment class is really a lot of fun. We spent a couple of days this week with practice "patients" (our teachers) so that we could practice introductions, explaining what a PA is (harder than I thought actually), and using open ended vs closed ended questions. It's been a little tricky getting the hang of conducting the interview; for example where to ask about which ROS (review of systems) questions and how to write it up. But it's been really fun (after the first one, which made me very nervous!). We've started learning how to do some parts of the physical exam and practice on each other, which was even more fun and interesting. After just three weeks, I know (in general) how to gather pertinent information from a patient and how to conduct the respiratory, cardiovascular, and HEENT exams. All of which need lots of practice, of course, but still exciting.

So I have 2 practice patient visit write-ups, several quizzes, and LOTS and LOTS of studying to do before we go back in 9 days, but I'm having a great time and I love the program I am in. I feel, already, like I definitely made the right choice. I have great classmates and awesome teachers.... very fortunate for such a great learning environment. I'm really glad that I splurged and bought an oto/opthalmoscope kit because I think a lot of practice will be helpful and it is nice to have it available at home where I can attack anyone who comes to my house ("you knew you were coming for a physical exam, right?") :)

Orientation

2009-06-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

I am now officially a UC Davis PA student! Orientation took place over the last two days and as of tomorrow we move into the actual coursework and lectures. We will be attending class in Sacramento until Thursday and then returning home for self-study until two weeks from now. As a side note explaining this, this program is based on distance learning with a heavy emphasis on clinical training in your local community, in the hopes that you will form relationships and end up practicing in your local community (in California) serving underserved populations.

As for orientation, this is how it went for me: The first morning we spent a lot of time meeting each other and the staff/faculty. I really enjoyed getting to meet everyone in person and really like my classmates. We got some administrative presentations, study skills advice, and a student panel comprised of 2nd year students and recent grads of the program. Today, we had some technical training on the computer/web software we will be using for classes and exams and a Q&A session with a teacher, which was very helpful. Overall, I really liked the orientation; I felt it was very helpful and I feel less anxious about the experience now that I know some more details.

So now, it's time to hit the books! Here's to a crazy, exhausting, and wonderful next 2 years!

One week!

2009-06-22T16:54:00.001-07:00

With just one week until the first day of orientation, I am feeling both excited and anxious. I've been working to get all of our finances and paperwork in order for the coming quarter so that I can focus on school; it feels good to be organized! Since I won't be working during school, it's been a bit of a challenge to figure out finances on only one (my husband's) income and to figure out just how much financial aid I need. I will definitely post next week about how orientation went and then how the first couple of days were.

I have a lot of reading to still do this week to prepare for the first week of classes so that I don't get behind before I even start. Now that I have everything else in order, time to hit the books again!

3 weeks to go!

2009-06-08T16:19:00.001-07:00

It took me a couple of days studying to get back into the swing of things, but it's going well so far. After the first pathophys chapter on the basics of the cell, it has now picked up a little into more interesting, new information, which I like.

I'm remembering and putting to use my old study habits (mainly take breaks! And plan tasks rather than just endlessly reading, which always leaves me feeling overwhelmed and like I accomplished nothing.) I found a 'quiet room' today at my local library that is actually surprisingly extremely quiet... It helped a lot. I think that will be a frequent study spot of mine.

Although there is still much to study before orientation (and tons more after that), it feels really good to be back in the swing of things and making some progress, as well as learning new things.

So far so good! 3 weeks from today I will be an official PA-S. :)

The Work Begins...

2009-06-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

I received more homework to do before the first day of class (several PowerPoint lectures and reading assignments for my Health Assessment class). So I figured it was about time to start cracking open the books I was so excited to get. I began reading my pathophysiology book... it's hard to read through introductory cell bio again (it feels like I've studied the cell and organelles a million times). It reminds me of having to do that first day of lab in every science class where you are learning the ins and outs of the microscope; necessary knowledge, but tedious nonetheless once you've done it a few times. Once I make it through this chapter, hopefully the topics will progress to new information.

Just for this one class (Scientific Basis of Disease), I have 23 chapters (between two books) assigned to be read before the first day of class. Bring on the coffee. :)

A New Chapter

2009-05-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day at work before starting PA school. I have been fortunate enough to have a job with my dad or a family friend, no matter what my school schedule was like, for the last 11 years. I was able to gain a lot of varied experience over the years, and through this path I discovered the PA profession. Through all of my trials finding a career I would love, I always had a place to work and most importantly, a supportive family. I am very thankful for this.

Today marks a new stage in my life; the day I am moving on towards my career and ultimately growing up, you might say. It feels strange and exciting to realize that I am moving on to this new part of my life. I will miss seeing my family so often, and the friends I've made at work, but I can't wait to be doing things completely on my own and to begin working in a career that I love.

On to a new and exciting chapter in my life...

2009-05-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a month from tomorrow I will be starting PA school. Time has flown so quickly! I'm very excited (as I'm sure you could tell already) and a little nervous. I'm excited to meet all of my classmates in person! Facebook has been a great resource - I set up a group for our class shortly after we got our list of classmates and I have been able to "meet" many of my classmates already through the group. I think it will continue to be a great resource; a place where we can exchange thoughts and questions through the program. In my particular PA program most of the students are spread out throughout California and we only all get together for classes in Sacramento an average of one week a month (the rest of the time we are doing classes on the web and doing lots of hands on clinical training in our local areas), so web communication will be a great help.

2009-05-25T11:41:00.001-07:00

Let the studying begin! I received my first assignment the other day - 9 pages of reading assignments and objectives to complete before the first day of class. I need to go get a big binder to start organizing these objective lists, notes, and quizzes.

This Friday is my last day at my current job! For the next month before school starts I intend to get these objectives done, get everything caught up at home, and definitely RELAX! I plan to get some fun reading done and spend lots of time with my husband, family, and friends before life gets crazy again with school.

2009-05-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

I registered for my first quarter of classes this week: Health Assessment, Scientific Basis of Disease, and Behavioral Science. Class starts in just 48 days!

As of now, I have all of my books (except one that I will pick up on my next trip to Sac) and have ordered all of my equipment. I need to work on some scholarship applications (one is due this Friday!) and am anxiously awaiting information from Financial Aid regarding how much, if any, money I will get some help with. I hope they get to my stuff soon - it makes planning difficult without knowing exactly how much I will need.

I downloaded ePOCRATES Essentials for my iPhone as well as Taber's Medical Dictionary... both of which are awesome and I think will be a huge help in school (especially in the beginning). I would totally recommend both. ePOCRATES had a 60 day free trial and Taber's was only $50 for a year... well worth it to me because it is so much more convenient to look up a term I don't know on my phone than to lug around a huge dictionary. It also has QuickTime attachments of term pronunciations, which are helpful.

Just a few more weeks of work left at my current job! Very exciting. I can't wait for school to start!

2009-04-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

The ball is rolling and things are starting to move in the direction of starting the program! I received my textbooks yesterday and I am ordering my diagnostic equipment (stethoscope, oto-opthalmoscope, etc). It's really exciting to me! I know, I know, I get excited about everything. :) But I am! :)

I was recommended Maxwell Quick Medical Reference to have handy during the first quarter and, I would imagine, the beginning stages of clinical training in the second quarter. Just looking through it, I can tell that it is going to be very helpful. In case anyone pre-PA is curious about what kind of books are required for the first quarter (at least for UC Davis), in general I have an Anatomy & Physiology book, a Pathophysiology book, Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking, and a book on developing medical interviewing skills. Although the Bates' book is apparently the gold standard and looks awesome - I also bought their pocket version because a fellow PA recommended it to me. It seems to be a pretty good condensed version of the big book, and will fit in my coat pocket so I can refer to it at the beginning during H&P training or clinical work without having to lug around the big giant, full, version. It is a little on the heavy side for a pocket book, but I think it will be worth it.

I started glancing through the medical interviewing book and it seems really interesting to me, even before I start the program. I'm going to read through it a bit tonight; I figure it can't hurt to learn more about being a more compassionate, skilled, interviewer. It takes more practice, I would imagine, that one might think and I've experienced too many clinicians that did not bother to learn these skills - and a couple of really great ones that did and you could tell. From a patient's perspective, I think it's an important thing to remember, so I intend to make sure I remember what I'm learning now.

2009-03-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing new to report... I'm still waiting for a book list and the chance to register from UC Davis. I was told mid-March, but here we are near the end of March.... so maybe mid-April? I'm so excited that I'm anxiously awaiting any new information, or even assignments!

All I have to say today is that I am loving finally feeling like I've found my place in the career world. Even though I, of course, am not officially a PA yet, I just know I've finally found where I fit. I just love everything about it! I can't wait to get to do it every day. :)

2009-03-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I got my first lab coat this weekend! (Thank you, Dad and Stacy!!!) It still feels a little weird to see myself wearing it, but it feels really good and exciting at the same time.

Nothing else to report; just waiting for more details from the school.

111 days until the start of the program! :)

2009-02-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

I became a member of CAPA and AFPPA yesterday and am mailing in my application to join APAOG (Association of Physician Assistants in Obstetrics & Gynecology). I am choosing to join APAOG also because although I will be specializing in family practice, at least for the beginning of my career, I have an interest in women's health and a membership will provide resources to me that I think will not only be interesting but helpful in the clinic. I'm really excited that I've joined my first professional associations. :) As I mentioned before, the AAPA will have to wait until June when I begin classes, but I'm really excited to become one of their members as well.

On the school front, I had my first assignment today... to order myself a background check. It was easy, but I feel like they asked for a lot of information. I know it's important, though, to make sure that you are sending good people into other people's clinics to handle patients. I'm curious to see what a background check report looks like; I will get a copy of mine after they process it. It'll be interesting to see even though it won't have anything bad in it. :)

2009-02-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

What Is A Physician Assistant?
(Courtesy of the California Academy of Physician Assistants)

Today you may be seeing a physician assistant. Physician assistants provide high quality health care services to patients and to the community. We hope this brochure will answer any questions you may have. If you should have further questions, ask the physician.

Q. What is a Physician Assistant?
A. A Physician Assistant, or PA, is a licensed and highly skilled health care professional, trained to provide patient evaluation, education, and health care services. A PA works with a physician to provide medical care and guidance needed by a patient.

Q. What are the training requirements to become a PA?
A. A PA must attend a specialized medical training program associated with a medical school that includes classroom studies and clinical experience. An Academic degree and/or certificate is awarded upon graduation. Many PAs have two or four year academic degrees before entering a PA training program. Most PA training programs require prior health care experience.

Q. Is a PA licensed by the State of California?
A. Yes. To practice in California, each PA must pass a rigorous national examination before being licensed by the Physician Assistant Committee, which is part of the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Medical Board of California.

Q. What additional duties does the Physician Assistant Committee perform?
A. The Physician Assistant Committee is responsible for consumer protection, making recommendations about the scope of practice of PAs, and providing information about PAs to the health care community and others.

Q. What types of services are provided by a PA?
A. A PA performs many diagnostic, preventative, and health maintenance services. These services include, but are not limited to, the following list.

Taking health histories
Performing physical examinations
Ordering X-rays and laboratory tests
Performing routine diagnostic tests
Establishing diagnoses
Treating and managing patient health problems
Administering immunizations and injections
Instructing and counseling patients
Providing continuing care to patients in the home, hospital, or extended care facility
Providing referrals within the health care system
Performing minor surgery
Providing preventative health care services
Acting as first or second assistants during surgery
Responding to life-threatening emergencies

Q. How does a PA work with their supervising physicians?
A. Each PA must be supervised by a physician. The physician supervises the PA either when both are at the same location or by telephone. The supervising physician must always be available to the PA should the need arise. The supervising physician is responsible for following each patient’s progress.

Q. Is there any difference in fees charged by a PA and a physician for the same service?
A. In many medical offices the charges are the same regardless of which health care provider is seen. As a general rule, the PA spends a great deal of time with patients. A PA emphasizes primary care and patient education, which may reduce the number of return visits.

Q. Is a PA covered by malpractice insurance?
A. Yes. Generally the PA works under the insurance policy of the employing physician or health facility. PAs may also carry their own malpractice insurance.

Q. Do most insurance policies cover care provided by a PA?
A. Yes, most do. Some carriers bill for the PA directly, while others bill through the supervising physician. All reimbursements for Medi-Cal usually are made through the supervising physician or the employing institution. Medi-Care reimburses for services provided by the PA in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, in addition to primary care services.

For more information about physician assistants, a specific physician assistant, licensing requirements, or to file a complaint, contact:

Physician Assistant Committee
2005 Evergreen Street, Suite 1100
Sacramento, CA 95815
(800) 555-8038
(916) 561-8780
E-mail: pacommittee@mbc.ca.gov
Web site: www.pac.ca.gov

The Physician Assistant Committee wishes to acknowledge and thank the California Statewide Area Health Education Center for permission to use information from their brochure, NPs and PAs -Who Are They?

2009-02-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've been looking into all the financial aid/loans/scholarships I can Google so that I can try to figure out how I'm going to pay for living expenses while in school. So far I just have to wait to hear from UC Davis's Financial Aid Department about most of the financial aid available to me; at least until April, which seems like a long time away. I've found a couple of scholarships I can apply for, some I can apply for after I start classes and some that are due before classes start. It's difficult to fill out some scholarship applications because they ask what kind of school you are attending (4-year college/university or 2-year community college), to which my answer is neither, which is of course not an option. :) I am attending a college/university for only 2 years. And they ask what grade level you are... I'm not technically a grad student because I am not earning a master's degree, and on the FAFSA I had to put that I am a 3rd year junior, even though I'm a 1st year PA student....???? I guess 3rd year junior is what they classify us as. Weird.

Anyway I started working on an application for a scholarship offered by Tylenol. I intend to apply for the AAPA scholarship but that cycle doesn't start until later and I have to be an AAPA (American Academy of Physician Assistants) member to apply; I have to be already attending classes to become a member, so that one will have to wait a few months. The AFPPA (Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants) also has a scholarship that I will probably try for. I have to be a member of their association to apply as well. Same situation for CAPA (California Academy of Physician Assistants). I intend to become a member of all of these associations because they can provide me with great resources, and fortunately student membership dues are very cheap ($25-50 per year, sometimes for 2 years).

I'm not too worried about money, but free money would be better than having to pay it back from loans!

I added a "definition" of a Physician Assistant to the header today that I had found online. I think it sums it up pretty well. :) And I added "PA-S" to my name by my picture... "Physician Assistant-Student."

127 more days until orientation!

2009-02-16T19:23:00.001-08:00

We now have a list of the dates we will have to be in Sacramento for class; it's nice to be able to plan those days out... so Jason knows how many days I will have to be away and how many days I get to be here. Luckily there are many more days I get to be home than away.

Everyone seems to be studying up for the next few months before school starts. I have my medical terminology book sitting here next to me, but I don't feel like studying. :) On the other hand, I find it hard to just relax; getting ready for PA school seems to be on my mind a lot.... supplies, classes, financial aid, etc.

I decided today, though, that I would like to stop working at the end of May so that I have the whole month of June to relax - yeah right, did you read the above paragraphs? ;) - and anyway just make sure my house is spotless before I start crazy studying again. Plus, since it seems I will have plenty to work on before school even starts, I can get some early studying in. Relaxing would be nice, too, though. I haven't ever been not working OR going to school, even for a month, since I was 15. I think I deserve it as this will be my last chance. :)

I'm very much looking forward to starting classes, though, and can't wait to start my career as a Physician Assistant!!!

2009-02-11T20:26:00.001-08:00

We got an official list of classmates today... it was so exciting! It feels much more real now. :) I should be hearing about exact class dates and book lists and things very soon. I can't wait until June!

2009-02-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

I've submitted all of my paperwork for financial aid to the UC Davis School of Medicine.... it's funny because even though I'm not going to medical school I still get to be a student of the "School of Medicine," even if it is just as a "special status" student.

I'm getting more and more excited every day for this part of my life to start. I can't wait to get the book/supply list! While I should be relaxing during this time off and reading, etc., when I haven't been cleaning and organizing my house, I've been looking up PA stuff. :) For example, I found a pretty good summary of what a PA is and does, here. (If anyone is reading this and is curious). I've been looking up the laws relating to PA practice in California, where to get CMEs, etc. I need to relax a little and give myself a break. I keep telling myself that there's plenty of time to learn all of that stuff later.

Off to a good book now...

2009-01-29T19:20:00.000-08:00

I got in! I got in! I got in!

After a crazy summer trying to find a preceptor, that it turns out I didn't really need to find anyway, and more crazy months freaking out over my application and interview, I finally did it. I got the acceptance call the day of my interview. I had only been home for about an hour when I got the call.... I was so excited I couldn't stop jumping up and down for an hour. :) All the hard work paid off. I'm going to be a PA!!!

There's really not much to do at this point but wait; the orientation isn't until June 29th. I should just be enjoying this time off with no school and relaxing, but I'm so excited that I can barely stop thinking about PA school! I'm very happy, though, that I can stop worrying about whether I will get in or not, so that I can use the time off to catch up on things around the house that have needed to be done for a loooooong time.

Five months from today I start PA school!