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Stethoscope & Sparkle

My journey through life as a PA-C

/ Future PA

Am I ready to apply?

This can be one of the hardest questions any pre-PA student has to answer. Applying is a HUGE undertaking, both in the time / energy it takes and the amount of money! It’s super important to have some method to try and gauge whether or not you’re actually ready to apply and hopefully be successful.

Since I applied during my junior year of undergrad – which meant I was trying to go into PA school without a gap year – I really want to make sure I actually had a chance of getting in! So I developed some steps that helped me figure out what kind of candidate I actually was, and I wanted to share them with you guys!

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/ Sparkle Sunday

Sparkle Sunday 1.13.2019

We’re only finishing up the second week of January, and I’m already a little behind on my New Years Resolutions – oops! But I’m trying to remind myself that even if I get a little behind / off track, as long as I actively strive to do better, I’m completing my main goal of a better me for 2019.

But anyways, here’s a peak back at this week

On medicine

  • This week I had to do a presentation on Epiglottitis and one of the biggest things that stuck out to me was how important and effective the HiB vaccine has been. Cases of Epiglottitis have gone from 5/100,000 to 0.6-0.8/100,000. Seriously amazing, right?
  • Hardest case of the week? Diagnosing cancer in a young, previously healthy patient. They weren’t expecting it, and honestly I wasn’t either. I wish I could say that it gets easier every time I have to break this kind of news to patients, but it definitely doesn’t.

On Stethoscope and Sparkle

  • On the blog: I shared some of my biggest fears as a new PA-C. Long overdue, and incredibly hard to write – but I try to keep it real with you guys!
  • On the instagram: My mom and I volunteered at the Disney Marathon this weekend! It was a great time and so different than working in the Emergency Department. I loved seeing everyone’s expressions as they crossed the finish line – it’s such a huge accomplishment. It also made me so excited for my own half marathon in April!

On cooking

  • I finally broke out my Instant Pot pressure cooker to try to make something. Granted it was only hard-boiled eggs, but I was so thrilled with how easy it was to use and how great my eggs turned out! I’m definitely planning on using it more and more.
    • I have the egg rack and I do think it made it easier – all the eggs stood up so nicely. I cooked them on “steam” for 6 minutes after adding 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot. I then did the quick release and transferred the eggs to an ice bath. They ended up being super easy to peel and perfectly done! So much easier than boiling them on the stove

On being healthier

  • Though I haven’t been the most successful at keeping my working out resolution (oops), I have been doing really well at eating healthier. It amazing how much better I already feel after just two weeks! I’m not following any specific diet, but rather just trying to make conscientious choices.
  • I’m also down 4 lbs since the first. This definitely reassures me that eating healthier can do a ton.

On something I’m grateful for

  • This week really reminded me how lucky I am to be able to complete an Emergency Medicine Fellowship, and how grateful I am for the opportunity. I talked to a friend who is also a fellow new grad, and who doesn’t feel as supported at her job. I am so grateful to have an amazing group of collaborating physicians and peers who go out of their way to support me!

/ Future PA

Making the Decision: What school should you go to?

At this point, the acceptances from schools should be coming in (woo!), and while this is SUCH an exciting time, it can also be incredibly stressful. How are you supposed to make the decision on where you want to spend the next 2-3 years of your life? What happens if you make the wrong decision? What should factor into your decision on where to go? I’m going to talk about the factors that helped influence my decision on where to attend PA school, and landed me at my school

Early on in my interview trail, there was one thing I was told that really stuck out to me.

I had a program director who stood up in front of all the interviewees and gave a speech on the “fit” of a program. She told us that while that day was about determining whether we were the right “fit” for school; it was as much about determining if the program was the right “fit” for us. This statement stuck with me through the rest of my interviews at different programs, and is still something that resonants with me today.

Bottom line: You want to choose a school that fits YOU

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/ PA-C

Fears as a new PA-C

Today is actually my 90 day evaluation, which makes it a fitting time to share this post! I started my APP Fellowship in Emergency Medicine in September, and let me tell you, I had a TON of fears starting out.

I still do.

But with every day, things do get just a little bit better. Every day I feel less overwhelmed and *slightly* less terrified. I feel a little bit more like I actually know what I’m doing and that I’m NOT going to kill someone.

I’ve been asked a lot to share some of the fears I faced during the transition from PA-S to PA-C, and I honestly struggled with how to write this post for some time (which is why its being shared now – roughly 3 months after starting my job). I had SO MANY fears starting out that I was actually embarrassed to share them with all y’all. Would you guys think I was insane if I actually wrote down all the fears I had? I’d like to think that I seem on top of things, and I was worried that if I shared my fears I wouldn’t seem like I knew what I was doing. And then how could I possible have a blog were I posted tips?

So I put the post on the back burner and ignored the requests I got asking me to do this. It was the easy way out. And I’m disappointed in myself that I did it.

Part of my goals for 2019 is to be more active here on Stethoscope and Sparkle and impact others lives in a positive way. And so, I am finally doing this long over-due post because this is what all y’all have requested!

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/ Sparkle Sunday

Sparkle Sunday 1.06.2019

I started this back in 2017 and then stopped because I didn’t really know where to go with it. I wanted to create some sort of weekly recap post that gave all y’all a better idea of what was going on in my life during the week and what I was looking at. It never really got rolling. I was never sure what to talk about or what all y’all would be interested in reading. I also honestly felt silly doing it – I wasn’t a huge blogger (I’m still not) and why would anyone care about what I was looking at or doing that week. It got pushed to the wayside, I deleted the sad attempts, and focused instead on the posts I knew all y’all enjoyed – medicine.

In 2019, I have goals to become a better me. Part of that is by cultivating a better future for myself, something I feel is best done by helping others. Which means I am working towards being more active on Stethoscope and Sparkle. Part of how I’ll need to do that is to move outside of my comfort zone and to try new things.

And so Sparkle Sunday will be reborn. Please let me know what you think and what you would like to see for these little weekly thoughts!

On medicine:
  • I read a very interesting article on the number of Emergency Department visits by those with mental health concerns. The thing that stuck out the most to me was the boarding of mental health patients in the ED due to the lack of psychiatric beds. I saw it during my behavioral health rotation (at a hospital with a designated behavioral unit) and I see it now working the adult and pediatric emergency department. Its a real problem
  • Twice this week I was reminded the importance of reviewing my own scans. While radiologists are excellent and typically do a fantastic job, I am the person examining the patient and I know where their pain is. Sometimes very minute things can be missed – that’s why the radiologist reviews the scans, I review them, and my attending does as well. Medicine has fail-safes in place
On Stethoscope and Sparkle
  • on the instagram: I finally figured out the best way to share #FuturePAFriday with all yall! (Thanks Demi) Now every week will have the same simple, typing post and y’all will be able to find them better. Check it out!
  • on the blog: I shared my goals/resolutions for 2019 and TWENTY-FIVE
On people I love to follow
  • Dr. Crawford is an amazing, inspirational REI (infertility) physician who recently started a campaign #AsAWomen. I cannot recommend enough that you go check it out. Share your own story
  • Ashley just graduated and is getting ready to take the PANCE! Go show her some love and support – the pre/post-PANCE stage is awfully stressful
On shopping
  • I have finally, FINALLY found the perfect jumpsuit. I’m 5’9″ and most of my height comes from my torso. This makes finding rompers or jumpsuits very challenging because they all end up giving me awful cameltoe. This one is actually long enough and looks amazing. I got the navy, but I’m considering buying the red as well
  • I got new work shoes for Christmas and I am so in love with them. I hadn’t realized how worn out my old shoes were until I switched and no longer had any foot pain.
On something I’m grateful for
  • My shift on the 4th was the first one that I left on time and with all of my notes finished. Granted the next day I stayed an hour late to finish notes, but I’m finally starting to feel confident and like I know what I’m doing at work! Which means I’m well on the way of accomplishing my goal of feeling confident as a ED PA-C by the end of February 2019

/ Future PA

What kind of Patient Care Hours should I do?

This is the question that EVERY future PA asks at one point. How are you supposed to know what you want to do to get experience when so many of you have just started actively pursuing your future career of becoming a physician assistant?

Most schools require or strongly encourage that applicants have PCE. Originally, it started out as a requirement because PA school was so quick when compared to Medical school, and the admissions committee wanted to feel confident that applicants already had some medical knowledge and experience interacting with patients. This has kind of become outdated, but schools do still use it for these purposes!

To help all y’all figure out the best route to take, I’ve put together some information on the most common choices of what people like to do for Patient Care Experience. I even polled my classmates to give y’all an idea of the distribution from my PA school (keep in mind this was application cycle of 2015-2016).

At the end of the day, it is so important that you do your own research to determine what the best route for YOU is!

This is the distribution from my class! I did combine all the different aspects of research together as there were a few different kinds
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