SERENITY NOW

Glad to hear that it's getting good use! You're absolutely right about advertising -- professional authors have told me the real work begins after you hit publish. I haven't had much time since we just had our second kid. Once some time frees up I plan on doing more advertising and promoting etc.

I'm so happy to hear! It's a bizarre experience working on something for so long, sending it out into the world, and hoping others find it helpful. So far the feedback has been fantastic (whew!). If you'd be interested in a discount for a group purchase, shoot me a PM and I will see what I can do

That's great to hear! Really appreciate the support!

Thank you for your support! Remember to submit the receipt for CME reimbursement. Let me know what you think!

Hello again everyone! I wanted to thank the community for your support and feedback on the new grad guidebook. After multiple rounds of beta readers from this community, professional editors, and countless hours of writing later… the book is finally published! As a thank you, I wanted to offer the book to you all at the lowest price possible (Free on kindle unlimited/$5 ebook/$12 print) for the next couple weeks before it goes up to normal pricing. I am also happy to answer your questions here (AMA) about the transition to practice, job hunt, or anything else you'd like to know. If you’ve missed my prior posts, here is the TLDR for the project: Our biggest challenge as APPs is the transition year after graduation. Practices are leaving us to sink or swim without the mentorship prior generations had. I wrote a book that addresses these challenges you’ll face as a new grad and summarizes the key knowledge you’ll need to practice medicine safely. I cover everything from finding a job without red flags to the practical clinical medicine that isn’t taught well in schools. The target audience is PA students in clinical year and new grads. For what it’s worth, I have nearly a decade of experience as a clinician-educator and am currently an assistant program director for an EM APP postgraduate training program. I've thought a lot about these topics and have been helping new grads for years! Check it out! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDJQND8V Best, SN

Sorry for the delay. Tough question! We thoroughly review all applicants, including experienced clinicians, but those with experience often face unique challenges in a residency program. To prevent a participant from dropping out, we must ensure the program is a good fit for everyone. Here are a few key challenges that experienced clinicians might face: 1. Financial Adjustment: A residency typically entails a significant pay cut, which discourages many from pursuing this path. Applicants must assure us that this salary reduction won't be a problem. 2. Intense Schedule: Coming from a normal job, the residency schedule can feel miserable. Compared to PA school, it’s not so bad, so new grads don’t have as much of an issue with this challenge. You'll need to consider if your personal life can truly accommodate such a tough schedule. My program had cycles of six 12-hour shifts in a row followed by 2 days off. 3. Teachability: Many residency applicants are perfectionists with a set idea of how they want to practice medicine. Once they're a few years out of school, some people can be particularly hard to teach. Residents need to be open to critical feedback, even if it contradicts their understanding of the right approach. 4. Specialty Selection: We often ask applicants, "why our specialty?" It could be challenging to convince the committee that this is your ultimate specialty unless you have compelling reasons. I’m sure we could brainstorm more. As for what makes a good applicant with 2-3 years of experience in another specialty, consider these qualities: 1. Practical considerations: They have all of their ducks in a row to handle the financials, time commitment, etc. 2. Strong Motivation: They have solid reasons for switching specialties, and it's evident they intend to stay in this new field long-term. They can articulate their reasons and show evidence of their commitment (e.g., getting an EM:Rap subscription if they want to switch into EM). 3. Resilience and Adaptability: They can endure challenges and adapt to changing situations. 4. Humility and Teachability: They're open to learning, take feedback well, and maintain good relations with others. 5. Relevant Experience: Any transferable experience from their previous specialty would be beneficial. I’d take a lot of time to craft a strong application that demonstrates these qualities. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you so much. I recently got a wave of beta reader feedback from the prior group and am finalizing the updates before I send them to you all. Thank you for your patience! I'm happy to open it up to others if more are interested. Best, SN

Great! PM sent.

You got it! PMing you now. Thank you

Great! I'll PM you two the info

Hello everyone, I’m a practicing EM PA, educator, and a long-time friend of the forums. I've noticed that many practices aren't training and supervising like they used to. New grads are left feeling overwhelmed and underprepared. I'm writing a guidebook to address this pain point and offer the mentorship you deserve. The goal is to help new grads safely and efficiently transition to clinical practice. I cover everything from getting your first job to reviewing the clinical medicine you need to get up to speed. The emphasis throughout is how to safely deliver patient care as a new graduate. I’d like to share the third draft of the book with *graduating students or new grad PAs* interested in giving feedback. Your input will make the final version as helpful as possible. If you’re interested in becoming a beta reader and receiving a free copy, please comment below! The *first 5* to comment will get it. Please only volunteer if you have some spare time over the next month. Thank you all, John

Yes, absolutely, your prior experience if it is even semi-related to the field will be a big positive and should be emphasized. I hadn't mentioned that above because by the time people get into PA school they can't work on that area much further, but thank you for pointing that out. And thank you so much for the support!

Great question! All of those areas you mentioned are important, but I personally would prioritize your efforts as follows: #1 priority: Doing really well on the interview. We have designed our programs to provide you the training you need, as long as you can bring A) a passion for the specialty, B) the grit needed to get through it, and C) a personable easy-going personality that makes everyone in the department want to teach you. The interview is where you convince us you are bringing these to the table. These three qualities are all "must haves" for us, as they're the biggest predictors for successful completion in our experience. What's more, most programs make their admission decisions right after the interview... so while there are 5+ other parts of the application that we had read at some point in the preceding weeks, how you interviewed is what's most fresh in our mind when making the final decision. (Availability + recency bias) Bonus points if you can convince the adcom during the interview that you want to stay in the area long-term... we want to keep great PAs as colleagues after they graduate! #2 priority: "Killing it" on your target specialty's rotation, to get a raving letter of rec, as well as a solid fund of knowledge (which comes across during interviews). A preceptor who writes, "this student is one of the best I've ever had, very driven, and everyone loved having them around" will go a very long way. If there is a single red flag dropped by a preceptor, that can seriously hinder an applicants chances unfortunately. Choose your LORs wisely! Similarly, tailoring your rotations and electives to your target specialty is also a fantastic way to demonstrate a passion for your specialty as well as bolstering your fund of knowledge prior to starting the program. For example, if you wanted to go EM, choose your peds rotation in the peds ED, your surgery rotation as trauma surgery, your elective in critical care, etc. #3 priority: A tie between the personal statement and keeping your GPA preferably over 3.3-3.4 range. These are a "nice to have," not a "must-have" for us, as they don't always do a great job of predicting success. That being said, don't bomb your GPA or your personal statement. Strive for at least average, but don't stress for perfection. The other things like board scores / EORs and other factors I think are low priority for similar reasons. Practically speaking, how do you accomplish the above? How can you best prepare for the interview and reliably do great on your specialty's rotation? This "how" is harder to explain over a forum post and is what I have attempted to detail in a few chapters of the book. I hope this post has at least answered your question from a high-level view! Best, SN

I thought this post seemed familiar haha. I didn't have a chance to get caught up on reading until now... Congrats, my friend I hope to see you out here some day! Get ready to enjoy post-residency life... it's much better haha!

That's a good question and a pretty complicated one. I think applications have risen pretty steadily over the past decade, as the job market has gotten saturated and it has been harder for people to jump right into the sought after generalist jobs (EM/IM/CCM etc) as a new grad. At this point we usually have numerous applicants each cycle who meet all of those criteria you listed. If you were to add one more criteria, "interviews well," then I think the answer would be yes. But if they interview poorly, they might not get a spot anywhere. Just my 2cents...