Let's get back to work

I've three more days before I board the plane that will take me back to PA school. These six weeks have come and gone so quickly. By far this has been the best school break ever. I think my mind and body were so exhausted; I definitely needed every hour, every minute of this break. Now it's back to work!

I've already outlined what lies ahead of us this semester. Looking at the spring calendar is like looking at the calendar for last semester. We'll be as busy as ever, but this time we know what to expect. I say bring it on!

Happy New Year!

Hey gang. I hope all is well, and I trust you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year's Eve/Day. Time is just flying by.

I am officially a second-year PA student. In retrospect, I'm amazed that I have three semesters behind me. I've learned a lot, but there's so much more to learn, and now that clinical year is 5 months away I've got to kick it into high gear. What I love about my program is we have some say in where we want to go, and we are allowed to pursue preceptorship in any area of the country. The bad news is each and every one of my prospective rotation sites here at home have fallen through. But who cares! The great news is...

I'm going to Alaska!!

Our program is affiliated with a private Primary Care office in Juneau that has state of the art facilities: labs, micro, xray are all on site! They also have hospital privileges so I will have a chance to participate in that as well. Needless to say I am excited and appreciative. What a great opportunity this is for me. I will be the second student from my program to attend this site. The first student to go gave this site rave reviews, so I'm expecting to learn a lot. No word yet on any other rotation sites, but I feel like I will end up exactly where I need to be.

Now, the following is for any pre-PA students out there. Repeat after me: there are no shortcuts. There are no shortcuts. One more time...There are no shortcuts. Good!

I recall mentioning this before, but it bears repeating. PA school is a well demarcated path etched in the road. There are many side paths that feed into it, but there is no one way that will get you to your destination (a seat in PA school) the fastest. There are no shortcuts. Yes, PAs make a comfortable living and they are an integral part of the healthcare system, and they get to wear the cool white coat. Before you can begin to enjoy these perks, you've got to get your "C," and before you get your "C" you've got to graduate and pass the PANCE, and before that you must do well in your respective program. And in order to do well in your program you must lay the ground work.

There are many common threads floating around on the forum as of late, the most common being "What are my chances," and "Am I competitive." The most recent one to irritate the heck out of me is "Which schools don't require HCE." My response is if you don't have the time to acquire direct HCE you may want to reassess your goals. I have personally journaled my experiences in the unit where I racked up my hours, and you can refer to the 2009 entries to learn more about it. It sealed the deal for me in more ways than one. Not only was I touching patients, sticking them, drawing blood, run EKG's and do preliminary interpretation, doing wound dressings, talking one on one with patients' families, doing post mortem care, and drawing flushes for codes, I got a chance to stand bedside as I watched lines being put in and ventriculostomies being performed, and in my down time I read SOAP notes, learned how to read a basic chest xray, read lab values, etc. You can't begin to understand how this has helped me during didactic year. And I bet I won't truly appreciate my time on the unit until I reach clinical year.

The question is do you want to hit the ground running or do you want to play catch up? When questions like this come up, it screams that many of us coming into this profession don't know its history. No one expects you to know it all. No one expects you to be a PA on the first day of PA school. Knowing the basics, however, goes a long way in prepping you for success during didactic year and clinical year, and it just might help you land the job you want once you graduate. It's a snowball effect. Ok, I'm done.

I have two weeks left until we start up again. I am renewed and refreshed, in part because I know this is my last semester in the classroom. I couldn't be any happier about that! I miss the patients.