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Curious if anyone had recommendations for useful gastroenterology books, as I will begin working in an inpatient & outpatient setting in 2 weeks. I would like to study the "basics" so the practice doesn't instantly regret hiring me ;) Any recommendations (or even advice) is greatly appreciated! Thanks! (P.S. -- yes, I did see that the same question was posted in 2011. Though, would like to see if people have different ideas 7 years later!)

I'm a 2nd-yr PA-C currently stuck in geriatrics but interested in psych. I think my next job would be in psych (in an ideal scenario, as of now). I get a lot of new patients from nursing homes and ALFs that are already on psych medications. I haven't found a good reference guide for psych meds outside of the 1st line SSRI's that are started for depression/anxiety and stuff that I learned in school. Is there a good source for what meds come after SSRI's? I inherit a lot of patients who are on SNRI's/Anti-psychotics and although I don't manage them (they are often seen by psychiatry), a lot of these people have a hard time being seen by psych because they are few and far between and the wait times to get to their psychiatrists are pretty long. I just want to know why they would take one med over another, like: for SSRI's: why would you choose celexa vs. lexapro vs. prozac vs. paxil vs. zoloft, etc... when would you consider an SNRI? for psychosis: why would you choose zyprexa vs. geodon vs. risperdal something that would break down basic questions into a quick guide for someone like me who doesn't work in psych would be much appreciated! Medscape & UpToDate are a little to detailed for what I'm looking for, although I read up on those too-- but something more quick and dirty is more appropriate for what i'm looking for

9 month Pathoma subscription available through 11/20/2017!! Pathoma helped me get through my didactic year of PA school and I've continued to refer to it throughout my clinical year for a quick review and reference on the pathology behind many disorders. I have 9 months left of an original 21-month subscription for sale for $60. I'll also include a PDF of the Fundamentals of Pathology textbook, valued at $54.99 on Amazon. Normal Pathoma subscription: regular 3 month price is $84.95, regular 21 month subscription is $119.95 Payment can be made via PayPal or Venmo. PM for more details and I will get back to you on the same day.

Hi everyone, A few years ago, I got wind of an online search engine called iclickEM that was geared toward emergency medicine providers and seemed very promising in that the algorithm was supposed to aggregate resources like UpToDate and PubMed with FOAM content and other stuff. But I'm trying to find it now and I'm not sure it ever got beyond a Beta version. Anyone have any info on it? Many thanks, Amanda

Literally, as it says, everything. From study tips to general information, lists of courses, lists of books to study from, lists of test/question bank resources (free and paid), phone applications and web applications (including other helpful blogs). I've compiled a list of it all. Hopefully this will get you through the PANCE and through every PANRE you'll ever take. Good luck fellow PA students and PA-C's! http://doseofpa.blogspot.com/2014/04/everything-you-need-to-know-about.html

This post includes international resources for physician assistants including job resources, links to international PA programs, links to international PA organizations, and general guidance for a pre-PA, PA student, or current physician assistant seeking international opportunity. http://doseofpa.blogspot.com/2014/04/international-physician-assistants.html If you have any additions or notice anything that should be updated, please let me know. Thank you for reading.

If you are a member of Twitter and interested in following an account posting news, research, articles, and interesting info relevant to PAs follow @Premier_PA. Keep yourself up to date and entertained.

Adopted from Bucaramanga, a little city in Colombia, at two months old into a loving family that anxiously awaited my arrival, made me very appreciative early on of the opportunity in life I was given. I was my parents only child, their pride and joy, and wanted nothing more than to make them happy and proud of fulfilling what would eventually be my dreams to become a physician’s assistant. My decision to become a physician’s assistant did not arise from childhood aspirations, but as a result of a variety of experiences I encountered in my life. With my father passing at the age of four, my mother unexpectedly took on the role of a single parent and unknowingly, my inspiration and role model. My mother instilled in me values, such as compassion and respect for others, stressing the importance of giving back to the community. She also emphasized the idea of reaching high, and following your dreams; she herself had always dreamed of becoming a nurse, but at that time and in her upbringing such ambitions were not supported. She paved the way for what became my passion for medicine by first exposing me to volunteer work and its immense satisfaction, and supporting my strong interest in the sciences. Although not far from home, dorming at Rutgers as an out-of-state student had removed me from my once protected environment; and from this I experienced tremendous growth. Early on in my college career, I lacked the discipline and time management skills necessary to excel as I had previously in school. Coinciding with this digression in school was the life altering news that my mother was diagnosed with MDS. She would have to receive treatments at Sloan Kettering every other week and its progression into Leukemia was something we would have to possibly prepare for. Distressed with my mother’s health, being ill prepared for the rigors of a college curriculum, coupled with efforts to keep my dream alive, initially interfered with my academic work. Yet, despite my struggle, the continuous effort put forth allowed me to mature, grow, and strengthen my drive to do whatever it takes to achieve my dreams. Intrigued by anatomy and physiology in high school, but it was at college where I became truly inspired by my brilliant professors in the sciences. My initial faltering in the general science courses had momentarily shaken my academic self-confidence, but never deterred me away from my fascination in the sciences; It was then during my sophomore winter break, that I decided to major in nutrition. For I had loved to read health magazines when I was growing up and it appealed to me that it effectively intertwined with medicine, and in fact was much more closely related than I had previously thought. My coursework gave me an excellent background in independent research such as low-bone density risks posed to lactose-intolerant populations and analytical thinking with endocrine disorder based scenarios. I had partaken in multiple group projects where many consensus decisions were made, much like that of a P.A. and his/her team. Labs such as microbiology, allowed for me to see and perform tests and see the importance of their validity and results. As I progressed in school, my interests in the people-oriented aspects of medicine became much more prevalent. This interest in people was manifested in many of my extracurricular activities; where a central theme was helping people with cancer. Personally I’ve known and lost both friends and family to this disease, so to be able to empathize with those going through the same rollercoaster of emotions was something I sincerely wanted to do. During my experience with Colleges Against Cancer and Adopt-A-Family, I gained profound insight into the healing relationship between patient and P.A. While I participated in these two organizations, I would make visits to RWJ and CHOP to visit a 3-year-old boy named Logan who was diagnosed with Leukemia. The first time I entered his room, I initially felt overwhelmed with emotion seeing an innocent frail young boy with such a debilitating disease. However, as soon as I walked in I soon realized, faces of both Logan and his family that had previously appeared withdrawn, began to glow, as a reaction to the company I was providing. At that moment, I realized how even a brief visit could have such a powerful effect and serve almost as a healing medicine, that temporarily, could transform people, into a vibrant, healthful state. Knowing that I had made a difference the in the lives of a few individuals was very rewarding. I then took on multiple positions in the organizations executive boards that allowed me to become much more involved and undoubtedly confirmed my dreams to enter the P.A. profession to help others. Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. Solely completing a P.A. program by itself will never make me happy in the long term; but it’s who I will become, as I overcome all obstacles necessary to achieve my dream, and that will give me the deepest, and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment. I know, that when I’m granted the acceptance into your P.A. program I will do everything and anything I can to ultimately become the best P.A. I can be; and it’s that by-product of happiness that I’ll receive that I know I’ve chosen the right career that makes me feel fulfilled.

I started a thread several weeks ago about our NEW Physician Assistant Links and Resource Library. At that time we got some excellent feedback on how it could be improved. To see the original thread, click here. We have now revamped the library considerably to make it more user-friendly. Please check it out. Here's the link: http://physician-assistant-ed.com/physician-assistant-pa-links-and-resource-library/ I'm sure you'll find that it will be an excellent resource to bookmark and refer to in the future. Best of all, it's 100% FREE! I've shared three quotes below that we received about the library even before making these recent updates. So take a look and provide us with some more feedback :) "The links page is amazing. I have navigated it multiple times and keep finding myself going from link to link. Doing a Google search for this information could take days. The links make a lot of information available in an easily accessible format." "I started looking at the Link Library on my 30 minute dinner break…. I lost track of time! Thank you so much for putting it together!" "I LOVE LOVE LOVE the links section!!! so incredibly useful… thanks for all your hard work on this!" David Payne PA-C President and Founder www.Physician-Assistant-ED.com