Hold On and Don't Let Go!

Some background stuff first: In my program we learn by body systems. For example, our first module was Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose and Throat (or HEENT), so all the diseases states, tests to run, labs to ask for, history questions to ask and physical exam skills, and anatomy lab/lecture all pertain to those portions of the body. At the end of the 'module' we take an exam that has all of our classes on it. (Well most of them at least) Which is anywhere from 110 to ~300 mulitple choice or T/F questions.

With that being said, PA School whips by like a flash of lightening!! I am finding it hard to believe that we are already about 2 wks into this module (Pulmonology) and we have 2 wks to the day to become "experts" enough to pass the module exam (more on passing later) .... At the current moment I feel completely lost, and frankly a little burnt out. I think one of the most difficult things for me is sorting out the different diseases. Sometimes the differences between one disease state and the next is simply the fact that one has a cough without mucous being coughed up (sputum production) and the other just has a cough without anything being coughed up. The problem is that things in medicine are rarely black and white, and the patients I will see will rarely, if ever, be textbook examples of a disease. Which basically means that symptoms will often blend in with other disease and often you have to use all that you have been taught to make the best possible diagnoses you can. (Or rather pick the correct diagnoses on the exam ... let's see is it A or B?)

Bottom-line: to all of you Pre-PAs, and PA-S that are maybe just starting out as well, start thinking clinically as soon as you can. Do your best to get out of the mode of just memorizing facts like you had/have in undergrad and start thinking more 'whole-picture'. Sometimes simply picking up the patients occupation in your history taking can make you pick one diagnoses over the other (which goes back to the "whole picture" approach). There is just not enough hours in the day or days in the week to read and swallow every bit of every class, so consolidate the best you can to make the most of your time. In the group I study with we will have one person pick a disease state, go up to the white board and make a 'fake' patient and we go through creating a differential diagnoses (possible diseases that present with the chief concern (ex.. "I have a cough that has lasted for 2 wks now."), asking questions that we would ask, perform PE exams like we would do (and what we are looking for in each), get labs/tests that we would run (and what we would expect them to come back as, or what we are looking for to rule-out a certain disease), commit to a diagnoses then how we would treat that and whether or not we would follow up, etc... In doing this we bascially hit Pharmacology, PE Lab/Lecture, Primary Care Medicine, Pathophysiology, History and Physical Exam, even some Anatomy in there.

Since I started writing this blog entry a couple of days ago and am now finishing it up, I can not recall what my point was in this one, so hopefully it made sense. I think I was just trying to give you a sense of how intense this program has been so far. Way more so than I had every imagined for sure. OK, well I have to get back to Acute Epiglottitis and the Pneumonias. Hope you guys are enjoying so far. If you have any questions go ahead and leave a comment and I will do my best to answer, them as I blog.

M-R

Beginning Credits

Well I am finally getting around to writing in this thing. I am starting this a little late (I am on week 6 of PA school, I think) because I was trying to get my page organized and looking good before I started letting the public see it. However, with the way school is keeping me busy I fear that if I wait until I actually have time to figure it all out I will have graduated from PA school. :-) So please bare with me as I get this page polished up a bit. ... Moving on, since I am going to be writing my intro in the "about" section I will just let you guys know why it is I am doing this and maybe what I will be posting.

The two main reasons why I am writing this blog are so: 1) My family and friends can keep up with what is going on with me since I have little time to actually sit and talk with them about everything, and 2) so that I have something to look back on at the end of all of this and can see where I was, and where I am. I think self reflection is a great tool for learning and growing. The other reason I wanted to write this is because I know that there are a lot of pre-PAs out there, or people who may be remotely interested in becoming a PA, that are wondering what it is like in PA school. I know I heard a lot of stories about it before I went to PA school, but sometimes having someone who I could watch (or rather - read) go through it and see them over-come the hardships was an invaluable resource.

Now on to what it is I will be posting. I have seen and read through other PA-S (Physician Assistant Student) blogs and all of them had a different purpose in mind, it seemed, as to why they were posting. Some were posting merely as what seemed to keep there relatives and friends up-to-date with their life, and yet some others seem to be posting as an educational resource for those wanting to pursue PA school solely. I plan on doing a bit of both. I just want to have fun with this, and hopefully post at least once a week (and maybe sometimes more).

Alright that is enough for now. If you have any questions or comments while I am writing this, please feel free! I hope this can be of benefit to others as other PA-S blogs had been for me.

M-R