Posts

Dream speciality

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Hello! Tonight I am going to quickly discuss what it means for a physician assistant to pick a speciality and what kind of field I would like to hopefully pick to specialize in. Many PAs pick a specific area that they would like to work in, and this is usually acquired during the rotation process of their major (at least at Duquesne). This is a very convenient aspect of the physican assistant program at Duquesne because the ability to learn more about specialty areas of medicine is integrated right into a semester's curriculum. There are 7 rotations total (pediatrics, surgery, OBGYN, etc.) and the final rotation is chosen by the PA student. This part of the rotation set-up is another factor that attracted me to the program at Duquesne.   So in the end, if I am lucky, I will hopefully be picked up the hospital/practice that I am assigned for my last rotation. Growing up, I always wanted to specialize in surgery and try to work in an emergency room. Recently, however, I have be
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PA licensure?

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Good afternoon and welcome to another post! So earlier today was thinking about what happens when I graduate from Duquesne...hopefully I will find a job but, what will I have to do in order to maintain my degree? Today's post will talk answer this question and will talk about what physician assistants have to do in Pennsylvania in order to keep their licensure. The renewal requirements for PAs vary based on state, and the AAPA (American Academy of Physician Assistants) website lists the specifics for the state of Pennsylvania. It says that the PAs in Pennsylvania must initially pass the PANCE exam, which is the board exam for PAs that is set up by the NCCPA (National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants). Additionally, they must meet the yearly and biennial renewal requirements of the NCCPA once they have passed the PANCE exam. One interesting part about Pennsylvania is that it does not require any "CME" or continuing medical education hours. About half
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Continuing education for PAs

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Good evening! In tonight's post, I will breifly discuss some continuing education opportunities that I have/will consider after I achieve my physician assistant degree. These choices are pretty straight-forward, so the actual content of this post will be very minimal. Once I receive my masters degree and become certified as a PA, I will chose from the following options: 1.) continuing my career as a physician assistant 2.) applying to D.O. schools (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) 3.) applying to M.D. schools (Medical Doctor) While there are a lot more options of things I can pursue after my masters (working abroad, specializing in a field, etc.), I am leaning right now towards pursuing a D.O. degree. The program that I am most interested is through the Lake Erie College of Medicine. I would have to apply to the their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program and I would have to meet all of their requirements. The program is very open to accepting PAs, and I found the f
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Balancing school and sports

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Hello everyone and good morning! Today I am going to talk about how I balance my busy life of studying to become a physician assistant and division I swimming in college. I am also going to discuss how swimming contributes to my studies. This is a very interesting and easy topic for me to write about, so I am excited for today's post. Swimming has always been an outlet for me to relieve stress and my unwanted emotions. Whenever I feel upset about a tedious group project, sad about a bad grade on a test, or nervous about an upcoming class speech...I just jump in the water. Immediately, I feel relieved. This also helps me to clear my mind for work and studies that I have to do later on in the day, so it is very beneficial.  Swimming also helps provide me with a strict schedule, one that does not allow for activities that might get me into trouble. This helps keep me focus and eliminates distractions. I often succeed when I have a daily rhythm that I perfect, so I enjoy staying
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Why does the medical field need PAs?

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Good evening and happy Wednesday! Today's post is going to be short and sweet... and I am going to discuss three major reasons of why physician assistants are in high demand in the medical field. The first reason is because there is a large population of United States citizens who have recently entered the retired and elderly age category. These people were from the "baby boomer" generation, when the number of children being born in America skyrocketed, following World War II. With this increase of elderly Americans, there is also an increase Americans who are becoming ill or needing to go to the hospital. PAs help to meet that demand in seeing and treating the sick. Another reason why physician assistants are needed in the medical field today comes from the hardships that many people face in their journey of becoming a doctor. Since the road to a medical doctorate is timely and expensive, many people choose not to do it. Therefore, PAs are often needed in order t
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Disaster Diagnosis

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Hello! Tonight I have a little story about a mis-diagnosis that my mother recently had and the problems that it created with her health. A lesson that I have taken from this incident is that it is always important for health professionals to be very sure in their diagnoses and prognoses. One should not tell a patient that they have an illness or are sick with a certain disease unless they are 100% confident that they know what it is. A couple of months ago my mother had noticed a red rash that was starting to form on her left side, in the middle of her torso. More days went by, and small red bumps started to form and the rash seemed to have spread. Unsure of what it was, my mother went to MedExpress. There, the physician diagnosed her as having poison ivy. He diagnosed her almost immediately, however, which was surprising because he didn't run any medical tests or consult anyone on his team. He also didn't really take any time to explain his diagnosis. The physician gave he
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Nurse Practitioner vs. Physician Assistant?

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Good evening! Today's post is going to briefly discuss the similarities and differences between nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). Both jobs are extremely similar but it is important to understand the distinctions between the two. I learned a lot of information regarding two occupations in one of my PA classes that I took at Duquesne. Both occupations are generally able to, but not always: diagnose and treat patients  prescribe different medications  preform medical studies, screenings, and vaccinations have access to the medical histories of patients Additionally, both PAs and NPs work alongside different kinds of doctors. This is not always the case, however, because some PAs or NPs can work in their own independent businesses.  A large difference, however, between the two is that NPs usually pick a specific area of medicine in which they would like to work in. This may be pediatrics, oncology, geriatrics, cardiology, etc. They will theref
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