newton9686 Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Hey Lucent Wellness, Can’t speak for every PA to ever go back. But I do feel like as a hospitalist PA by training it has been easier than my classmates. Both PAs in our class continue to work relatively regularly and make pretty good grades. Most of the traditional students look at us like we our crazy. It depends on the block but its for sure a benefit. I think the biggest challenge is staying motivated. Medical school (and PA school) is in large part organized hazing. So the biggest thing is continuing to run the marathon even when you are tired of the BS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted December 24, 2022 Author Share Posted December 24, 2022 December update Not much to report as not much happened. Certainly just went through the hardest semester of medical school yet. Things started off pretty well and I picked up pathology pretty quickly. Pharmacology was nice, more in depth, but very manageable. Microbiology is very similar to the micro I took in undergrad. We added pathophysiology the last two months which is the hardest class of all. Still working on research projects. They're moving slowly. Just submitted a paper this week and hopefully it'll get accepted. Ready to get on with the spring and get to Step1 so i can be closer to clinicals. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayamom Posted December 24, 2022 Share Posted December 24, 2022 Hopefully you have some time to relax. We are desperate for family doctors/primary care providers in the north east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted December 24, 2022 Author Share Posted December 24, 2022 1 hour ago, Mayamom said: Hopefully you have some time to relax. We are desperate for family doctors/primary care providers in the north east. Certainly taking advantage of my time! Not doing much studying at all and if I’m doing anything school related it’s for my research papers. It’s been an awesome having all day to spend with my daughter and not having to worry about studying 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted May 25, 2023 Author Share Posted May 25, 2023 (edited) Hey PA Forum! Wanted to check back in after I finished second year. I recently completed my last final for my second year. My program is pretty heavy on tests at the end of second year mixing in pre-clinical NBME and in house finals. Luckily everything went well, I scored well on in house and had high national percentiles on NBME. This year was tough academically. I could have glided by with less studying but I really wanted to make all As so I put a lot of work in. I definitely think PA school has helped me tremendously in medical school. Mostly from the aspect that I've seen portions of information in some capacity. Which saves me time to focus on the details that I hadn't previously seen. I layer was peeled back on certain things as well. I will now study for Step 1 over the course of the next couple of weeks. Which is a draining process. I will start clinicals later this summer and I have yet to receive my schedule but I am so looking forward to getting back our in the field. We just got comments back from reviewers on my first APP paper so hopefully if they like our revisions and it can be published and I can share to those who ask. A recent cool thing that happened was I was on campus this past week for a clinical check off and one of the faculty of our adjoining PA program was there. The faculty member introduced themselves as Dr. X and that they were a boarded EM physician and PA. So I emphatically said "me too". Turns out they have been at the program for a year and I just hadn't been made aware of them being a PA and MD. So I look forward to their mentoring and having the opportunity to use them as a resource. Edited May 25, 2023 by PAtoMD 5 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 25, 2023 Moderator Share Posted May 25, 2023 Congrats! You make us proud by representing the PA profession so well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted May 25, 2023 Share Posted May 25, 2023 Thanks for the update! It is an interesting journey to follow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted June 17, 2023 Author Share Posted June 17, 2023 Just took Step 1 a few days ago. So glad to have that behind me. Now I just need to wait 2-3 weeks for my score report. It was a beast of a test. 8 hours is a long time. But its a test you can prepare for certainly. High yield stuff is high yield. Appears Psych is my first rotation but I'm still waiting on the rest of the schedule for my 3rd year. Edits have been sent back on the publication. Probably won't have much to report on until after a few rotations. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 Update: Totally forgot I should post whether or not I passed Step 1. And I am pleased to announce that I did indeed Pass Step 1. Seeing that PASS on the screen was a weight off my shoulders. Also, our revisions on the paper about APPs were accepted and will be hitting the press in around 2 months time. Now, I really have nothing to report until after a few rotations. Psychiatry here I come. 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoMD Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 Wanted to check back in now that I am halfway through my third year. My first three rotations were psychiatry, surgery, and pediatrics. Overall, all these experiences were excellent. They all provided something different that I wasn't afforded during PA school. My psychiatry rotation had me seeing more acute psychiatric conditions than I was exposed in during PA school. I was a student at a very large and one of the busiest level 1 trauma centers in the country. Lastly, I was able to work on in patient pediatric units which is something my PA school didn't offer. I really enjoyed being back out in the hospital and seeing patients. I forgotten how much I enjoyed it after being in the "classroom" (my basement) for the last two years. One thing that has really surprised me is how little is expected out of medical students. Or at least that is my perspective and its probably Monday morning quarterbacking from me given my experience. I feel like all is expected of us is the knowing the bare minimum but to be fair I don't even remember what I knew during PA school clinicals at that time. As far as career development I am beginning to plan for away/audition rotations this summer. Residency applications will go out later this summer as well. I just had another paper (small case report) accepted for publication and another study submitted yesterday. Time is flying by and I have really enjoyed this. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted December 19, 2023 Administrator Share Posted December 19, 2023 4 hours ago, PAtoMD said: I just had another paper (small case report) accepted for publication and another study submitted yesterday. Make sure they cite your credentials as "PA-C, MS-3." upon publication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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