PACKRAT and Clinical year

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I had blogged.  I started the clinical year in August 2012.  I've been through 3 rotations so far.... internal med outpatient, internal med inpatient, and mental health.  I'm about to head into my elective rotation... advanced mental health.  So far, the rotations have been tough at times, but very enjoyable at times.  Patients have touched my heart and I hopefully have touched some of theirs.

We took the PACKRAT (Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool) a few days ago.  It's supposed to have a correlation on how we will do on the certifying exam, the PANCE.  This time was our first time taking the PACKRAT, and I believe we take it again a little further on in the year as well. You basically get a raw score number, and then there is some formula that translates to what you would get on the PANCE.  For instance, I got a 161 this time, which apparently converts to a 636 on the PANCE.  Passing score on the PANCE is a 350, which is around a 111 on the PACKRAT.  Anyway, this time doesn't mean so much... it's more for us to know which areas we are weak in and should concentrate on.  My highest was GI and my lowest was neurology, so I especially need to be studying neuro in my spare time.  And then hopefully on the next PACKRAT I can bring up my neuro area, and also be better able to answer the questions on the PANCE after I graduate.  :)

Two weeks of first year left!

I got my first choice on order of rotations! I will be starting internal medicine (hospital clinic first, then on the floors) on August 20th!!! 

Last Didactic Semester!

So, we are a week into our summer semester.  It's a bit more laid back, but also is integrating us more with the hospital.  We are also learning clinical skills like how to dress for the OR, gyne exams, suturing, etc.

I want this fall to get here soon, but I'm a little anxious too.  Fear of the unknown... not knowing how rough the pimping will be from the docs, etc.  We should be requesting our rotations soon, then I will find out which one I will be starting with.

A year and 2 months from now, I'll (hopefully) be done with the program!!!!  Time dragged on some days, but overall it seems to have flown.

Summer is coming!

Wow, time really is flying!  We are nearing the end of spring semester... our finals are just a couple of weeks away!  We had oral exams (rubrics) the other day.  We were all pretty scared, as we had been told that many people do not pass them.  This year, though, they provided us with rubric workshops, so hopefully that will give us a better result than previous years.  We don't have our grades back yet, so I can't really say.

Summer is supposed to be a bit different, with more practical skills included like suturing, IVs, etc.  We also have pediatrics and ob/gyn, nutrition, ER and geriatrics.  Should be interesting!  Crazy to think I'm only a semester away from rotations!!!

I also applied to Saint Francis University for their MMS online program.  Got my acceptance letter the other day.  I hope I can handle doing both it and my 2nd year at PA school!  It's a program made for this kind of situation, though, so many people have done it before I have.  It will be really nice to get my Masters at the same time as my PA-C next year, especially if we move to states that require it.

Fun day with ophthalmology

Today we had a lecture from a local ophthalmologist, then we went to his office.  At his office, we each had an eye dilated and were allowed to look into each other's dilated eyes with our ophthalmoscopes and with the slit lamps, as well as checking each other's vision.  This was really neat, because we have been trying to use our ophthalmoscopes with undilated eyes up until now, and the pupils have been so small we had a hard time seeing much at a time.

One of the other ophthalmologists in the office invited us to come watch an upper eyelid repair on a patient who had droopy (ptotic) lids, so several of us took turns watching.  That was pretty neat as well.

Spring semester

We indeed got spoiled over winter semester!  I feel so busy this semester that I have a hard time finding time to actually study!  The first section was not as bad... endocrinology... because there was no physical exam to learn along with it.  Neurology is tough in itself, but trying to remember all the parts of a neuro physical exam is hard! Add to that the fact that we are in class longer, and it makes my free time nil.  We now have pharmacology added to our Tuesday schedule in the evening, making for some very long days when we start class at 8 am and end at 9 pm.  Pharmacology is interesting, though.... we have some pharmacists from the hospital teaching us what we need to know.  That is nice that not only are they directing us towards how we can best do rotations later, but also giving us a few more familiar friendly faces when we do our rotations!

So, today I have my neuro physical exam.  Then Monday we have the neuro anatomy exam and neuro medicine science exam.  Monday we also start ophthalmology!  Of course, ophthalmology will also have a physical exam component to it.

I've also been warned to be afraid of rubrics... also known as orals.  Those will be coming soon as well.  The best I understand, they give you a case and you walk through it to the diagnosis and treatment, but you get points for certain things...asking about this symptom, doing this kind of exam, listing these as a differential diagnosis, etc.  Supposedly many students fail the first mock rubric. Yikes.

We also need community service hours.  We had only a few events last semester so we are all scrambling to get our hours in.  We have 2 events coming up on March 31st, so that's good.

Okay, back to studying for that physical exam.

End of winter semester

So, we are nearing the end of winter mini-semester.  We had 6 weeks of EKG interpretation and radiology.  It has been interesting and fun, and kind of relaxing.  We have had short days, and no class on Fridays.  I've gotten so used to it; it will be hard to get back to a normal semester when spring starts (February 13th).  In the spring, we will have the same classes as the fall, plus add in pharmacology and genetics.  Whew.  Anyway, that will be our last "normal" didactic semester.  Summer will be practical: learning procedures, etc.  Then in the fall, we will be in our clinical year in the hospital!  I can't believe it is coming so soon!  Exciting and scary!