HanSolo

Just looked at their website. Looks like a 6 month rotation in pediatric urgent care. Based on the description, it sounds like things you should already be pretty comfortable with upon graduating from your PA program. I'm not sure what added value this would have for you. "During the training process, the NP/PA will identify and treat a variety of acute illnesses and injuries, including, but not limited to, pharyngitis, asthma, croup, pneumonia, UTI, cellulitis, gastroenteritis and dehydration, orthopedic trauma, and head injury. The NP/PA will master procedural skills such as suturing techniques and wound repair, wound care, abscess incision and drainage, simple fracture reduction and dislocation, splinting, and foreign body removal."

No. We were given it at orientation. I'll tell you how you survive PA school. Plan ahead, pay attention, be humble, take care of yourself, and don't be an asshole.

That information might be available from your state's chapter. Otherwise, plenty of new grads post offers in the "contracts..." section of the forum. As a new grad, you could also run the contract by one of the faculty at your program, if you feel comfortable doing that.

My guess would be ability to work more easily in surgical settings, and those type of jobs usually have higher salaries. I'm sure there are other factors, though.

As a student we are required to log every patient encounter. It can be a bit tedious at times, but certainly worth the time and effort.

On the talk of ADEK vitamins, a friend of mine recently told me his dog became hypercalcemic 2/2 vitamin D excess. Apparently it has been a recent problem: https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/12/a840c7efac3142/list-of-dog-food-brands-recall.html

Sounds like we all have a ton of personal anecdotes without much evidence. I'm with UGoLong on this one. Make a decision and roll with it. You never know what the future brings.

Thanks for sharing. I'm interested to see where this goes.

Not normal. If your clinical coordinator is ignoring you, then you need to speak to the director. You're not getting what you are paying for.

It's a lot of information but you'll figure it out. Some topics are pure memorization and there is no way around it. I find those to be the most difficult. However, with most topics there is often a pattern, and if you know the underlying physiology, you're doing less memorizing and more applying. Cardiac murmurs, for example. If you can visualize what is actually going on, then you don't have to memorize anything.

If what you are saying is true about lack of inpatient rotations at UT Rio Grade, then I think you can scratch that one off the list. Even if you never plan on working inpatient it is still important to have that experience. Frankly, I can't believe they'd even have a PA program with that option.

I'm with JD on this one. Buy nothing to start. Your school should provide you with everything you need in didactic year in terms of study material. Everything else should be available from your library if you need it. I'd even argue against oto/ophthalmo unless you know you'll be in a clinical setting where one isn't provided yet is required. Students from the class above me have all implied it was a waste of $, and nobody caries it around during clinical year.

It depends on how much emphasis you want to put on your career and what your life looks like outside of that. I don't think it's a clear cut "go for it" like some are suggesting. Sounds like you already have a pretty sweet gig with exceptional pay. Personally, I'd just ride that gravy train for awhile, save/invest a lot of your paycheck, and try to retire early...

I second gym membership or whatever form of exercise. However, I don't think you should study or review while at the gym. That's your time. The notes can wait. Enjoy the mental break and listen to music, a podcast, whatever.

?