Catching Up

Hey everyone! So if you’ve been following this blog, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted since November of last year. Well, here’s a quick update. Spring semester was a killer (clinical medicine, pharm, lab med), but I got through it, and now I’m on rotations! I began my 3^rd rotation a few weeks ago, and believe me, the hard work you put in during the first year will really pay off! Rotations are definitely a nice break from the classroom, and I have noticed that I have (some) free time now! If you have any specific questions regarding rotations, feel to message me.

Speaking of messaging me…a few of you have sent me messages, and I never responded. Well, that goes along with the whole not posting in a year thing. But I’ll do my best to respond to as many as I can below.

“Please tell me what you guys are learning in PA school so i can prepare myself better.”

I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the anatomy of the human body, as well as a basic understanding of various common diseases (COPD, heart failure, etc). This will certainly make your life easier when you start PA school.

“Did the human anatomy and physiology required in the HES major count as prereqs? Or did you take human anatomy and physiology through the bio department?”

I can’t speak for every school, but all of the programs that I interviewed at accepted the HES A&P. Just make sure you take two semesters. In all honesty though, I wish I had taken the bio A&P, because the HES classes were a bit too watered down.

“What undergraduate major would you suggest getting? Would you advise someone to get a degree in nursing to become an RN and work for a year or two after getting the degree before applying to PA school?”

I would recommend any major that you have an interest in, can do well in, and complete all of the required prerequisites through either your core classes or electives. You also need to make sure you have spare time to get patient contact hours. I know it seems like a lot, but it’s entirely worth it in the end!

As for being an RN, that would be great experience for PA school. There are no former RNs in my class, but I do know a few in other programs. The one thing that I would recommend however is to have a strong argument about why you want to be a PA and not a NP after being an RN. I can almost guarantee that you will be asked this on interviews. As long as you have a good argument, I don’t see it being a problem.

"One question, how can I get to shadow a PA? Did shadowing a PA and being an EMT provide you with the required hours of direct patient contact that most schools look for?"

That one is a bit tricky. What I did to find PAs was I contacted my states physician assistant society and asked for PAs willing to have students shadow. You can also ask doctors or NPs that you know, or call around to a few doctors’ offices and ask. Calling volunteer offices at hospitals might be helpful, but due to hospital regulations, it could be tough.

My patient contact hours came from being an EMT and a PT aide. If I remember correctly, shadowing didn’t count as direct contact, as I was just observing, but it definitely helped.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to leave me a comment below. Thanks for reading!

Nearing the End of the First Semester

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been writing in as much as I promised, and I apologize if I've taken awhile (or didn't at all) to respond to your comments, but I've been really busy for the past 4 months. I started PA school back in July, and it has been non-stop since. Not that I didn't expect it to be like this, but it really is a lot of work! What's keeping me going right now is knowing that in the end it will completely be worth it. Right now I'm taking anatomy, physical diagnosis, pathophysiology, medical ethics, behavioral science, and microbiology. Out of the 6 classes I am taking, anatomy, physical diagnosis, and pathophysiology are definitely the most time consuming. Even though it's so much work,I'm loving every minute of it!

Here's a quick summary of what I do in each class:

Anatomy: study the structure and organization of the human body through lecture and a cadaver lab

Physical diagnosis: learn a complete head to toe exam, using lecture, a practice lab, and trips to a local hospital to interview and practice on real patients.

Pathophysiology: study the various disease states that the body can suffer from.

Medical ethics: discuss various "controversial" or tough to deal with situations that I may have to face as a PA in my career.

Behavioral science: learn about how to interact with patients on a human level, as well as about the many psychological disorders.

Microbiology: studying the different bacteria, viruses, and other organisms that can affect the body.

As you can see, I definitely have a full plate right now, and next semester will be even more intense! I'm sure I've said it many times previously, but the most important words of advice I can offer are to get as much experience possible before you begin. My experience as an EMT and as a cardiac rehab intern is probably the main reason I'm doing well right now and not going completely crazy!!!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next, as most of my time is taken up by school right now. But if you leave a comment, I'll try to respond in a timely fashion!

Almost There!

Hey everyone! So it's been over a year since I last posted. Life has been very busy preparing for PA school. Since I last posted, I have served a year as captain of my college campus' EMS squad, graduated college(!), got engaged(!!), shadowed PAs in the trauma bay and in the ER, and completed a one semester internship in a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation clinic, where I interacted with a multitude of patients and got to observe many different specialties of medicine! Oh, and how could I forget, I also got accepted into a PA school!! Here's a brief summary of my application process and the interviews:

I made sure to submit my application through CASPA early, and I recommend you do the same. The application opens in April, and you can submit it any time after that. I finally submitted mine in the middle of July 2008, a bit later than I had hoped for. Within about a month, I began to hear back from schools. I applied to five schools. Out of these five, I interviewed at four, was accepted at two, and waitlisted at another. I chose the first school that I interviewed at because I fell in love with the program while I was there. The faculty, campus, and curriculum really sold me! Funny thing is, this program was my fifth choice when I applied, but as soon as I got there, I knew it was where I had to go! I will be beginning there this July, and it runs through September 2011. I'm very excited, and nervous at the same time!

As for now, I'm working on getting the apartment lease set up, buying things for the apartment, and figuring out financial aid. I move in the first week of July^rd, giving me about two weeks to settle in before the program starts.

Well, that's all for now. I only had a few minutes to sit down and post, so it had to be a quick one. But as always, thanks for reading, and feel free to post any comments/questions you may have! Good luck!!

Busy Semester

Hello again! I apologize for the lack of posts, but this semester has been really busy. I'm currently taking microbiology, A&P II, biomedical ethics, and abnormal psychology, as well as an online medical terminology class. Microbiology is a lot of studying and work, and it's not the easiest subject in the world either. Even though this week is my spring break, a majority of it is going to be dedicated to studying for a microbiology exam the Monday I return. The work seems to never end…I just gotta keep my goal of becoming a PA in sight.

On Tuesday I am returning to shadow a physician assistant I shadowed over winter break in orthopedic trauma, as well as a trauma physician assistant. I am very excited, and plan to ask many questions!

Recently, I began volunteering in an emergency room near campus, and it has been very interesting. Aside from making beds and stocking supplies, I have gotten to see a lot of very fascinating things, such as an intubation the other day. Though it's not direct patient contact, I've found it to be very educational to see from the inside how an emergency room functions.

I've also recently been accepted onto another first aid squad near my campus, bringing my current squad membership total to 3 (yeah, I recognize that I'm a whacker…). I plan to start riding for them when I get back from break and gain more patient contact experience.

Finally, I'm working on my applications for a summer job. I plan to find employment utilizing my EMT certification as an ER tech. An ER tech is very hands on, and I am very excited to hopefully work as one for the summer.

In the next month or so I plan to begin working on my applications for physician assistant school. I need to go around and find people who are willing to give me references, as well as begin my personal statement. I want to have it all completed by June/very early July.

Well, that's it for today. Sorry for making it so brief, but I truly am swamped because of this microbiology exam. 300 pages to learn by next Monday…I can do it. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, and please feel free to comment/leave any questions you may have!

Shadowing Physician Assistants

One item that I forgot to mention in my first post was the value of shadowing PA's. I have so far shadowed two PA's, and I plan to shadow again on at least two more occasions before I apply. In this post, I will describe what it means to shadow a PA, as well as ways to find a PA to shadow.

So what does it mean to shadow a PA? In my experience, shadowing a PA consists of following a PA around for the day, watching how they perform their job. You get to watch the PA interact with the patients, fill out any paper work that needs to get done, and other various tasks done during the day. The most valuable part of the day, however, is being able to ask any questions you may have about the profession. In my past 2 experiences, both PA's I shadowed have been very open to questions, and answered many of my questions regarding applying to PA school, the profession itself, and why they decided to become a PA. The answers and tips they provided are incredibly valuable.

Because many schools ask for documentation of your shadowing experiences, it is helpful to keep a journal of your shadowing experiences, taking note of what you saw and learned during the day. When it comes time to apply to PA school, you can ask the PAs you have shadowed to sign off on your journal, and submit that as part of your application. I have begun to create a log of my shadowing experiences, and plan to continue to do so in the upcoming months.

As I mentioned above, at this time I have shadowed 2 PAs. My first shadowing experience was with a family practice PA. My day consisted of observing the PA see various patients in a doctor's office setting. I saw a variety of cases, such as a patient with a rash, a few BP medication checkups, and general physical exams. Though I learned a lot about the profession that day, I was able to recognize that family practice is not an interest of mine.

Last week I had the opportunity to shadow an orthopedic trauma PA in a hospital clinic. Most, if not all patients I saw were recovering from bone fractures, and were returning today for their follow up appointments. A majority of the patients seen were still in casts, and I was able to view a multitude of X-rays showing the initial injury, as well as the healing process, including various plates and support rods that were used to stabilize the broken bone. I found the day to be very interesting and informative, and would definitely like to shadow there again. It was here that I was given the idea of keeping a journal of my shadowing experiences. I was also lucky enough to get the contact information for a trauma PA at the same hospital, whom I hope to setup a shadow date with in the near future.

So how do you find a PA to shadow? The first thing I would recommend doing is contacting your states PA society, as they often have a list of PAs that are willing to have students shadow them. Through my states PA society, I was able to get the contact information for the orthopedic trauma PA I shadowed, and I am currently waiting to hear back about an ER PA near school. If you are unable to find a PA through your states PA society, the next thing you can do is contact doctor's offices or hospitals near you and ask if they have any PAs on staff. Once you are in contact with a PA, you can ask them if they are willing to have you shadow for a day. This is how I found the family practice PA I shadowed.

I hope you found this post on shadowing PAs informative. If you have any questions/comments, please feel free to hit the comment button below and leave me some feedback!

What is a Physician Assistant?

So what exactly is a Physician Assistant (PA)? I have included below a link to the US Department of Labor page on PA's, as well as a video clip that does a very good job of decribing the profession. Also be sure to check out my links section on the right hand side of the page for more pages with information on PA's. Enjoy!

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos081.htm

A Little About Myself…

Hello! For my first post, I decided that I would introduce myself, as well as let you know where I am in the process of applying to physician assistant (PA) school. For starters, my name is Ron, and I am a junior health and exercise science major at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). I started my freshman year as a chemistry major, hoping to go into forensics, but I decided to change career paths and my major during the summer before sophomore year. After speaking to a few people I worked with that summer, I decided that the physician assistant career path was the right choice for me. Thankfully, many of the classes I took as a chemistry major are prerequisite courses for PA school, so I did not have to start all over again. Since then, I have taken many of the required or recommended prerequisite courses for PA school, including Anatomy and Physiology I, Introduction to Pharmacology, Nutrition, and many others, all of which I am enjoying. In the past fall semester I completed organic chemistry I, which was a tough battle, but I got through it. In the upcoming spring semester, I plan to take Anatomy and Physiology II, Biomedical Ethics, Microbiology, Abnormal Psychology, and a Medical Terminology course online through my local community college.

If you happen to be in the same position as I am, or are just beginning your quest towards becoming a PA, I highly recommend you take as many of the courses I mentioned above as possible. The three courses I bolded are courses that are required at a majority of PA schools, and most of the others are considered "highly recommended". Just make sure that you achieve at least a "C" in the class, as most schools do not accept any grades below a "C" to count as a prerequisite. In addition, PA schools really focus on your science classes, so be sure to do as well as possible in those courses.

Just last week (12/13/2007), literally 1 hour after completing my last final exam, I fought through an ice storm and made my way into Philadelphia to attend an open house for the Drexel-Hahnemann PA program. I found the one and a half hour long program to be very informative, though I still plan to email the program director with a few further questions. I highly recommend attending an open house for any programs that you are considering. They are very informative, allow you to ask any questions that you may have, and, if nothing else, allows the program to get to know you and shows your interest in their program (which cannot hurt your application). By attending the open house, I have reaffirmed my opinion that Drexel-Hahnemann is my number 1 choice.

So outside of school, what do I do? Well, I am a NJ EMT-B, and I volunteer on both my campus squad (Lions' EMS) and my home squad (Allamuchy-Green First Aid Squad). I also plan to volunteer at a hospital next semester, as well as on another squad near my college. I plan to count all of these volunteer hours towards my patient contact time when it comes time to apply to PA school. Many, if not all schools require or recommend some sort of patient contact time prior to admission. I currently have approximately 800 hours, and I plan to gain another 200-300 before I send in my applications.

I also happen to be a New York Jets fan, though being a Jets fan can be tough at times. I am fan of my two dogs, a sheltie and a shih tzu, as well as emergency medicine shows on TV, cheap delivery food (if you are or ever were a college student you'd understand), refrigerators that don't smell, people who don't turn the thermostat up to 90 degrees, my girlfriend, rural living, Charlie Brown, and snow storms. If you would like to know more about anything I have discussed above, feel free to leave comments, or check back periodically for more posts as I continue working towards becoming a physician assistant. Have a happy holidays!