this always blows my mind....

[marilynpac]

There you go emed, we're at opposite ends of the spectrum...I'll take your experience any day.

[Hemegroup]

I hope you let your faculty know about this. You are there (and paying good money for it) to learn how to be a practicing PA, not to stand with your hands in your pockets and watch somebody else practice; that's called shadowing. My pet peeve is when a student sits back and doesn't pursue the chance to perform procedures; if you don't jump in and try these procedures, you'll never get to master them.

 

I spoke up each time and she would ignore me. Thankfully everyone else there involved me awesomely ("lac in the hall, got it? cool"). And as idyllic as it sounds that you can complain to your program about not being allowed to do more, it's just not reality that it'll accomplish much in every case. That's not always their fault either, sometimes preceptors are set in their ways and there are only so many sites to send students to.

[Avalon]

This thread has aroused a lot of anxiety for me. May I ask a question, as a new graduate? If my rotations did not provide me with sufficient experience to gain a sense of mastery over some of these basic procedures, how might I go about remediating this deficit, now that I am out of school and about to enter the job market? I really am willing to entertain all possible (and even creative) options to feel more prepared.

[medic25]

m25...we have failed several students who refused to do procedures...we had 1 guy who said he was going into fp and didn't need to know that stuff. he was right because he never became a pa....

 

Thankfully I've never had any students outright refuse to do procedures; usually the problem is with them being hesitant and not volunteering for the procedures. Once they get a nudge towards the patient they are usually good about getting their hands dirty.

[medic25]

This thread has aroused a lot of anxiety for me. May I ask a question, as a new graduate? If my rotations did not provide me with sufficient experience to gain a sense of mastery over some of these basic procedures, how might I go about remediating this deficit, now that I am out of school and about to enter the job market? I really am willing to entertain all possible (and even creative) options to feel more prepared.

 

If possible you may want to try and speak with some alumni from the programs you are applying to. They could give you the best insight into whether the clinical rotations are good or not. This is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if you might find better rotations in the older, more established programs. If a program has been able to fine tune its clinical rotations for many years, they hopefully have ironed out a lot of the kinks. A newer program may have to fight it out with other programs (MD, PA, NP) and have to settle for a lower quality site if it's the only thing available.

Thankfully my PA program had been around for many years and we had a multitude of great clinical sites. The sites were used to having PA students and put us to full use; in surgery I got to first assist on some cases, in OB I did a ton of pelvics and deliveries, and in my ED rotation I was doing everything from sewing lacs to putting in a subclavian line. When I was first applying to PA school I spoke with a few PA's who had graduated from my program, and knew that I should expect a great experience.

[EMEDPA]

thankfully my pa program had been around for many years and we had a multitude of great clinical sites. The sites were used to having pa students and put us to full use; in surgery i got to first assist on some cases, in ob i did a ton of pelvics and deliveries, and in my ed rotation i was doing everything from sewing lacs to putting in a subclavian line. When i was first applying to pa school i spoke with a few pa's who had graduated from my program, and knew that i should expect a great experience.

this is why you don't go to a brand new program. They haven't worked out the kinks yet.

I was in the 25th class of my program and had great rotations in em, trauma surg., fp, im, peds em, obgyn, psych, and a 12 week em elective.

[jwells78]

It was my experience that the PA program really had little to do with having a good vs. a "bad" rotation. I went to a good school, yet most of my rotations were so/so as far as procedures, ect.

 

There are just so many variables that I think it's really kind of luck of the draw in a way; preceptor personality, student personality/motivation, type of facility, competition with residents/ other PA students, ect. Another thing I noticed during school was the assumption by the preceptor that I had "done most of this already" as a military medic/ Iraq/ prior HCE. This happened to other medics in my class too. Sure, I've done some trauma- but it's not like I was over there doing complicated lac repair everyday! Teach me!

 

My ER rotation was rural, and though we (the PA preceptor and myself) saw everything that walked through the door- that only meant perhaps 15 patients in a 24 hour period (yes- it was THAT rural). I probably sutured a few times- and not one I&D on that rotation. I got WAY more experience during my 4 mo FP preceptorship because they had an Urgent Care and I did every abscess/ wound closure that walked in (lucky for me).

[EMEDPA]

It was my experience that the PA program really had little to do with having a good vs. a "bad" rotation. I went to a good school, yet most of my rotations were so/so as far as procedures, ect.

 

There are just so many variables that I think it's really kind of luck of the draw in a way; preceptor personality, student personality/motivation, type of facility, competition with residents/ other PA students, ect. Another thing I noticed during school was the assumption by the preceptor that I had "done most of this already" as a military medic/ Iraq/ prior HCE. This happened to other medics in my class too. Sure, I've done some trauma- but it's not like I was over there doing complicated lac repair everyday! Teach me!

 

My ER rotation was rural, and though we (the PA preceptor and myself) saw everything that walked through the door- that only meant perhaps 15 patients in a 24 hour period (yes- it was THAT rural). I probably sutured a few times- and not one I&D on that rotation. I got WAY more experience during my 4 mo FP preceptorship because they had an Urgent Care and I did every abscess/ wound closure that walked in (lucky for me).

 

JWELLS- Too bad you couldn't do em with us. you know how busy we are....at least you got the trauma elective..