Update + My Top 3 Tips for Clinical Year!

Long time, no post! Since my last post, I have graduated from my PA program and passed the PANCE! I am now a PA-C! It still doesn't feel real! I am currently taking a much needed break at home with my family while looking for a position in dermatology.

As I was brainstorming post ideas, I thought that tips for clinical year could be very helpful. I wish that someone had told me these tips before I started my clinical rotations!

Behavioral Health Rotation | My Experience

I just finished my Behavioral Health rotation (my 7th rotation...just 3 more to go!) and I wanted to write a little about my experience and how I studied for the EOR exam. I did my rotation at an inpatient mental health facility with adult, adolescent, child, and dual (psychiatric illness + substance abuse) units. I worked with the adults for the majority of my rotation. To be honest, I was pretty nervous in the beginning, especially since the patients were acting out more than usual during my first week there...screaming at hallucinations, punching holes in the wall, banging heads against the wall, etc. As time went on, I became more comfortable working with the patients. It was a great experience and I learned a lot! I learned how to redirect patients who were easily distracted and deal with difficult substance abuse patients. You need to be careful because some patients can be very manipulative!

Didactic Year of PA School | 5 Tips

I can't believe I'm done with my first year (aka didactic year) of PA school! It went by so fast! I'm starting my clinical rotations in less than 1 week (exciting, but also nerve-wracking...eek!). I did very well in my didactic year, so I thought I would share some of the tips that helped me!

1.) Find your own groove. // Some of my classmates didn't study on the weekends (unless there was an exam on Monday). Others took one day off a week from studying. Don't try to do what everyone else is doing. Do what is best for you! Personally, I studied a little everyday for the most part. There were a couple rare weeks where we didn't have an exam, so I would take a break from studying then. This tip also applies to how you study. Some students like to make study guides. Others just study from their notes and PowerPoint slides. I started out trying to make study guides, but it ended up being too time-consuming for me. I ended up just studying the PowerPoint slides and my notes. Sometimes I used the Quizlet app as well.

This is literally what PA school feels like most of the time.
Source: Pinterest

2.) Share notes/study guides! // If you do make study guides, make sure to share them with your classmates! My class created a private Facebook group in the very beginning, so that we could share notes, study guides, etc. This is not a competition, so make sure to help out your fellow classmates!

Update | Year 1, Semester 3

I'm still alive guys! PA school hasn't killed me...yet. Haha! I cannot believe I'm already in the 3rd semester of my first year. For those of you who don't know, the first year is the didactic year and the second year is the clinical year. The didactic year consists of all the bookwork (not that we actually read the textbooks...just the PowerPoints...some of which are basically textbooks). The clinical year consists of our clinical rotations (emergency medicine, OB/GYN, internal medicine, etc.). In the program I'm in, we get to choose 2 elective rotations (cardiology, neurology, plastic surgery, dermatology, etc.). My top choices are dermatology and plastic surgery. I'm crossing my fingers that I will get them!

My second semester was probably a little harder than the first semester because we had cardiology, pulmonology, endocrinology, women's health, and G.I. And that was only for one course. We also had a lot of group projects, which took up some of our time as well. I ended up doing really well, and I was so excited that I reached my goal of a 4.0 GPA for the semester! I'm glad that all the studying I did paid off!

As always, please leave any questions or blog post requests below!

-C

How to Pass Gross Anatomy

Gross Anatomy can be a challenging class, especially if you have a tough professor. Here are some tips that helped me to do pretty well in the class!

1. Quizlet - This website and app helped me so much, not only for anatomy class, but all of my other classes as well! I would sometimes use other classmates' Quizlets as well as ones made by the second year students. It was even more helpful, though, for me to make my own with only the information that I was having trouble remembering. It actually helped me to remember information just by going through the PowerPoint slides and creating a Quizlet. 

2. Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards - These flash cards are good for memorizing locations of bones, structures, etc.

Image: Amazon.com

3. Use Mnemonics - Mnemonics are so helpful when you are trying to memorize different information for anatomy! This blog has a list of the most common anatomy mnemonics, and I often referred to it. I also came across this Brachial Plexus parody YouTube video that is so catchy and helped me to remember the terminal branches of the brachial plexus. 

First Semester...Done!

I'm finally finished with my first semester of PA school! It has been a whirlwind of studying, classes, and exams. We had 2-3 exams every week and 6 exams during finals week. I'm so glad that we are done with Gross Anatomy! Overall, I am happy with my grades for this semester, and I hope I can do just as well next semester. Next semester we start our pre-clinical rotations. They are basically shadowing experiences, but we might be able to help out depending on the provider we are with and our comfort level.

I'm so happy to be home for 3 weeks, but it is definitely weird not having Gabby around. I keep wanting to go look for her in the basket under my sister's bed... and then I realize she's gone. This is the first time in my entire life that my family does not have a pet in our household. The house feels so empty. Okay...enough of this depressing stuff!

On to something that I have been obsessing over...You guys need to watch the indie movie "Copenhagen"! Danielle told me about it, and I have been obsessed with it! It is thought-provoking and makes you feel every emotion. I have also been obsessed with a song featured in the movie called "Vi to Er Smeltet Sammen." It is in Danish and I don't understand what they are saying, but I still love it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

-C

Random Rant

Hey guys!

I just wanted to write about something that has been really bothering me lately. In class last week, one of our professors told us that dermatology is the highest paying specialty for PAs. It seems like ever since then I have been hearing that more and more of my classmates want to go into dermatology. It is fine if you want to go into derm if you genuinely are interested in it, but don't just do it for the money. It isn't worth it because you won't be happy. I guess PAs are lucky in this sense since we can switch to another specialty fairly easily. I have been interested in dermatology since I was in high school, and I didn't know that it was a high paying specialty at that time. I would want to work in dermatology even if it was the lowest paying speciality because I am genuinely interested in it. I honestly wish it wasn't the highest paying specialty because that makes it more competitive, and I'm scared that I won't be able to find a job working in derm...but who knows? Maybe I will change my mind after my rotations and find out that I'm even more interested in something else.

If you are in PA school or medical school right now, what area of medicine do you think you want to work in?

-C

Long Overdue Update!

Hi everyone! I'm still alive! PA school hasn't killed me...yet. Haha! I'm sorry I haven't updated in quite some time. I have been super busy with school and school comes first! We are more than halfway through our first semester, and I cannot wait until our break in December!

The most difficult class for me has been Gross Anatomy. I mean...I'm doing okay in the class I guess, but I just hate getting anything below an A. I did really well in my anatomy class in undergraduate, so it just really bothers me. I think it is a combination of the professor and the amount of material in such a short period of time (...but mostly the professor...since there is a lot of material in the other classes and I'm doing well in them). I definitely recommend reviewing anatomy before starting PA school, especially if it has been awhile since you took the class in undergrad! If I had done that, maybe I wouldn't be having such a hard time in the class. I'm just glad that we will be done with Gross Anatomy after this semester!

We had our second Physical Diagnosis lab practical earlier today. It was on the Lungs/Thorax, Heart/Peripheral Vascular, and Abdomen. We had 30 minutes to do it. I did pretty well on it, but I made a couple stupid mistakes because I was so nervous. I literally felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. I'm always a nervous wreck, but I try my hardest not to show it. I was even more nervous because the professor who was grading me (and who is also my advisor) said I had such good grades beforehand and was expecting me to do really well. That just made me more nervous because I didn't want to let him down! I'm such a perfectionist that I am never satisfied, even if my grade is a 90-something. I will only be satisfied with a 100, which is obviously really hard to get. Anyone else have this problem? It is a really horrible mindset to have, and I'm trying not to beat myself up over grades that are still good. I'm definitely happy that I did a lot better on this practical than on my last one! I ended up running out of time on the last one because I talked/explained too much.

I have to go study for my Pathophysiology exam now, but I'm going to leave you with this picture of Ryan Gosling that I found online with the heart auscultation locations! Haha!

Image: Pinterest.com

Who doesn't love Ryan Gosling?? 

-C