1 year after PA school

   This year flew by. The summer came and went and I find myself celebrating my 1 year work anniversary. I’ve learned a lot this year and I still have lots to learn. Now I have good solid relationships with my supervising physicians and am now comfortable with the different styles they each have. I am more confident, thorough and precise in my history taking, physical exams, choosing what tests to order and determining a treatment plan. I still have to remind myself that I’ve only been exposed to medicine for 3 years and still have lots to learn and relearn. I recognize the patterns of the most common presentations that are admitted to hospital and course of treatment.

This last year was a big learning experience on how to work as a physician assistant as well as how to go back to things I did before entering PA school. This year was a balance of being comfortable in the work environment and starting to focus on other areas of my life. 

My goal for this year is to continually educate myself and hopefully create a Canadian study guide for the certification exam (I know I keep saying this). I would also like to advocate more for PAs in Canada and am hoping to get involved in more research related to PAs in Canada.

 

Class of 2014 - I miss you guys :) we need a reunion!

Class of 2015 Graduation

CONGRATS!!!

Class of 2015 Graduation Dinner - CONGRATS!!

Here is Dr. Bellas delivering one of his great speeches. Again, he has been chosen for the PA educator award.

“At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”

― Maya Angelou

Welcoming the Class of 2017

An impressive group of people. With a lot of education and experience. I would have not gotten into the program this year applying with these amazing candidates.

 I wish your class an awesome 2 years of learning, support and friendship. You won’t forget it!! 

How I prepared for the Canadian PA Cert Exam

Hello All, It has been a long time!

I have been asked by the graduating class on what I did to prepare for the Canadian physician assistant certification exam. My original plan (which I failed to do :P ) was to create exam preparation material specifically for the Canadian exam. Here I'll talk about what I did to study for the exam.

First take a look at the exam blueprint which is found at the CAPA website.

CCPA EXAM BLUEPRINT 

This will give you the general overview on the exam and what you need to focus on.

The PA Cert Exam is 4 hours in duration and consists of 250 multiple choice questions.


MATERIALS I USED

1. LANGE Q&A -I RECOMMEND the APP version so you can study anywhere. ie. waiting for the bus, waiting for at appointment, if your bored. That way you don't have to carry the book around. I got both :P first the book then the app. I used the APP consistently, the book maybe once.

 2. THIS GUY. Physician assistant boards - Andrew PA-C
 Since the exam is so comprehensive it was hard to narrow down the real important information that you NEED to know. I bought his review pdf file which includes organized system based notes and quick associations/facts which was good to jog my memory for daily review. If I need more information I would use my school notes or textbooks to go through it in more detail. **Keep in mind this is focused towards the PANCE the PA certification exam in the states so use the CCPA exam blueprint to keep you focused.

3. PODCASTS - again by Andrew PA-C
I've tried a few different ones but his worked well because the topics were in a simple and organized matter. This worked for me because I have a 50min - 1 hr commute to work. I was able to study while I was sitting/driving.

4. CLASS NOTES
 Again I primarily reviewed my adult medicine course notes. I tend to stick with most common presentations that you would see in family medicine and emergency. 





5. MY SUPERVISING DOCTOR - 
I was lucky to have this. I'm sure not everyone will be able to have a great resource such as the doc you worked with. With my supervising physician we reviewed different systems each week and correlated with the patients I saw. This was great as it was a good way for me to review for my exam plus orientate to my new job.

Overall I gave myself approximately 4-5weeks before the exam to study (keep in mind I was working during the time). I would listen to the podcasts daily, review my notes/practice questions daily and discuss topics with the doctor I worked with. There was of course breaks in the middle. 

I hope this helped. This might not work for everyone but this should give you a starting point. I still hope to create an exam guide. (Some day :P) 

Good luck to those writing the exam this year!! Don't worry school is almost over :) :)

My first NPPA conference

Hello y’all I’ve been quiet on the blog scene as of late. I’m thinking I’ve gotten comfortable not having deadlines (ie. studying for tests, papers) and have taken a bit of hiatus from writing and been relaxing at home :P. I recently went to an NPPA conference and I wanted to briefly write about my experience.

Inside Mayo Clinic

For PAs in Canada, there aren’t many conferences directed for PAs (except for the CAPA conference which I encourage everyone to attend this Oct. :P).  During work my supervising physician showed me the many conferences that are offered in the states. There is also a requirement as a Canadian Certified Physician Assistant (CCPA) to keep up with continuing professional development (CPD) credits, called Mainpro credits. There are three types of Main pro credits (Don’t worry I’m still very confused to what activity goes where but the tracking website offers explanation to where to add what) 

Mainpro M1 – Mainpro-Accredited Programs and Events (Incl. Quebec Category 1 credits and Hospital Rounds) 

Mainpro M2 – Non-Mainpro-Accredited Programs and Events (e.g. AMA, ACEP, RCPSC credits) – This is where American conferences go. 

Mainpro C – Pre-accredited Mainpro C credits and Self-directed learning

               

***Certified physician assistants are required to have a minimum of 25 CPD credits a year with a total of 250 CPD credits in a 5 year cycle.

I attended the 7^th Annual Hospital Medicine for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants (NPPAs) Ran by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. 

Day 1 – Drove 8.5 hours to Rochester, MN from Winnipeg

Day 2 – Skills Lab

Reviewed basic suturing – very well run and organized.

Reviewed how to use ultrasound and practiced procedures including, cardiac ultrasound, thoracentesis, LP, paracentesis and vascular ultrasound.

Day 3 – Attended Great lectures pertaining to hospital medicine.

Updates in VTE, Drug Disasters, Geriatric Pearls for the Hospitalist, Leukemia/Lemphoma Updates, Palliative Care Pearls 

Day 4 – More great lectures

Acute abdomen, Ebola epidemic Update, Neurology Pearls, Management of GI Bleeds, Antibiotics 101, Inpatient Heart Failure, Acute Renal Failure,

Attended appetizers /music/ art gallery

Day 5 – And more lectures..

Diabetes for the NPPA Hospitalist, Sepsis, 5 codes, Oncology for the non-oncologist, dermatology, lab medicine emergencies, Complications of Hospitalizations

Last day at the conference. Two more lectures left. Took pictures for my blog but looks like most people left :P

 

 

All the lectures were well organized and the lecturers were well spoken. They had an app (iphone, or adroid) which provided the PowerPoint lectures and allowed you to write notes. They also had interactive Q&As during the session. (Like the iclicker for those of you who went to U of M :P )

There was also copious amounts of food!!

The best part was networking and learning how hospitals incorporate PAs and NPs in the practice. There were about 200 PAs/NPs who attended the conference from all over the states. (I think I was the only Canadian) But it was great to see so many people doing the same thing as I do.

I encourage any Canadian PA who has the opportunity to attend a conference in the states. I’m hoping one day to attend the AAPA conference. It is great to learn what other PAs are doing. Conferences are also a great way to learn new things and to review the basics.