A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

THE CHANGE

Hello everyone! It has been a long time.

This year has been focused on giving other parts of my life attention, while in PA school had been ignored. It was a realization after completing an intensive program that I began to look at other areas of my life. I began to reignite relationships with my friends and family. I had to re-connect with myself and learn who I was as a person who was not in school anymore. Now I have the time to return to the activities that I’ve once enjoyed and coming to terms to people, goals and emotions that I've ignored. I always will be interested in expanding and promoting the physician assistant career in Canada. But now when I think about the past, from entering the program in 2012 at age 25 and now at 2016 turning 29 the focus on academics has changed in a holistic way. To include not only my physician assistant role/studies but now to encompass all areas of my life including friends, family, interests and love.

I’m hoping to continue to write about interesting cases. I have worked as a hospitalist physician assistant for almost 2 years. My supervising physicians have become more to me than just colleagues but have now transitioned to friendships. I have created meaningful relationships at my work and able to go out for lunch without being stressed and truly enjoy working, thinking of long term goals instead of short term. As for the day to day work, I can say I love my job. I have great autonomy and have the opportunity to learn more from my awesome teachers. I feel a good balance between being challenged,  having autonomy and continuous learning. It is inspiring to be part of a great team of physicians, nurses and allied health providers.

MYSELF AS A PRECEPTOR

I had the opportunity to have one student for 2 weeks on an elective rotation. I was excited to have a student. I had prepared topics and bedside teachings. Having a student was an enriching experience. Not only do you find how much you have grown as a physician assistant but you begin to feel pride when your student begins to grow and understand concepts. You also begin to think back of when you were a student and realize how much you didn’t really know at the time :P. There is a lot you learn from experience and experience is very valuable. I didn’t realize how much work my preceptors had done when having students. Now I have a great sense of appreciation. Not only did you want your student to learn and have good teaching experiences but in the end you are still working and ensuring your patients are safe, properly cared after and that the flow of the hospital continues.  I recommend anyone who has the opportunity to have a student to take it. It requires extra work and dedication but it is truly rewarding to see new PAs learn and to realize how far you have come as a PA.

Until next time... 

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 :) :)