The First Month of PA School

Orientation Week - University of Manitoba 

University of Manitoba Physician Assistant Class of 2014 - Our class after taking individual identification pictures for our professors

The first week of school was very exciting for me. I had prepared with an expensive shopping trip in the states, buying "professional clothes" which should be added into your budget when you're accepted. The whole week we had presentations from multiple groups within the university and from different health care organizations. We were all registered with the Physicians & Surgeons of Manitoba and were taught about professionalism and privacy laws (PHIA). We met with Manitoba Health and with the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants (CAPA). 

During the whole week I had mixed emotions. I went from being excited, ancy, scared and nervous. We also found out that week that we have our first midterm in biochemistry in less then 10 days and we haven't had our first class.

Inauguration ceremony

I admit I was choked up when we read the Hippocratic Oath. I was so thrilled that I will be able to help people through medicine. This is what I've always wanted to do.

Class picture - (You can't see me in this one :P)

 
ASUS Transformer Update

Something unexpected happened before classes started. I accidentally spilled water on my 6 year old MacBook so now the Asus has been my only "computer". I must admit after the first week of school I couldn't break out of my old ways of printing notes and didn't end up using the Asus as much as I wanted to. It does have alot of nice features which I've only begun learning. So in the aspect of writing notes on the Asus I haven't used it enough to form a good opinion.

Because my laptop died, the main problem I have with the Asus tablet is the lack of Microsoft word. At this point I am debating on whether to buy a new laptop, but to be fair I bought the Asus to be a secondary device with my laptop. The purpose of the Asus was for note taking from power points and lectures not for writing papers and running programs. 

Biochemistry Finished! 

We had our final exam in biochemistry last Friday. This course went by fast and we learned alot. It was intense and set the pace for what is expected in this program.

 

What I've learned from the first month of the program is aside from time allotted for school you need to plan time for yourself. As each day goes by it all begins to blur together. Time seems to be against you. It's best to take PA school one day at a time. Do what you need to do now and worry about things as they come. As for me I love school. I am finally starting to learn about medicine and every subject and topic I come across is another step closer to becoming a working PA. I do become frightened with the expectations they have for us. It is always mentioned in every class that by the end of the didactic year you will know this. Here's hoping :)