OSCE

I had my first OSCE today. (OSCE = Objective Structured Clinical Exams - basically a simulated doctor/pt. appointment)

I have some pretty awesome parents, if I do say so myself, who spent an hour last night going over practive OSCEs with me! My dad gave me some tricky ones that I didn't know... but I know them now!! It was fun, funny, and informational. They make me happy and smarter. 
We've been through 2 modules - the eye and dermatology. Therefore, our OSCEs were either derm or eye. We did the eye a little over a week ago, so I had to refresh last night just in case I got the eye.

My partner decided to go first.  I woke up feeling sick. So I was glad to just sit there and be a patient until it was my turn. Anyways, he went first, so he got to pick which paper he wanted (we didn't get to see what was on the paper). It ended up that his was derm, which means that I got the eye. Glad I looked over that! I knew was his was almost immediately (unfortunately he didn't pick on the big hint.. but he eventually went with his original instincts instead of overthinking it (which we ALL do) and got it right... Fungal infection. Fun...
I had the eye.  I originally thought it was viral conjunctivitis, but ruled that out after some history and physical and concluded that it was bacterial conjunctivitis. I forgot some obvious questions, but that's okay. I passed.

As I've previously mentioned, I'm not doing well on the test-taking aspect of PA school, but it makes me feel MUCH better to know that although I can't for the life of me get it right on a test, I can get it right in (pretend) real-life, which is all that matters. 

I like OSCEs way better than I like practicals!! Just gotta through these next 10 months. I can do this.

Only 77 more days until I'm CRUISING!!

Drowning...

I am drowning in information, and it's just gonna get worse, and worse, and worse some more..  In my CMS class, we go by modules. Fortunately, most of the classes run together. For instance, our last module was dermatology.  We learned derm in PD2, CMS, and Pharm.  It's good that it's all there and overlapping, but it is information overload... Most of our lectures had ~150 slides (some only had ~60) but we had 10 lectures for derm. That's A LOT of information.  Derm is pretty straight forward to memorize, so I can only imagine, and honestly don't really want to imagine, how it will be so much harder when it's not staring at your face (you can actually SEE the skin.. you can't see your heart :-/ )....

I'm on an emotional rollercoaster... I am definitely not doing as well as I'd like.  It's incredibly difficult to sit next to people who do so well even though I studied the exact same things for the same amount of time.  It's discouraging and overwhelming and to be completely honest, i'm just run down and feel like people keep giving me a car, but then running me over with it. 

This is not me complaining.  I am incredibly blessed with his opportunity and I'm glad I'm here... I just want to be doing better and nothing seems to work.  I really wish I had something awesome to post following this, but I don't.. Life is just at an extremely rough patch... Hopefully it'll smooth out soon...

Prayer would be nice. Thanks in advance :)

Life goes on...

Here's the thing about PA school.... You are so wrapped up in studying and getting good grades and passing and learning everything that you completely forget that life outside of our little classroom STILL GOES ON!!

Sometimes it's hard to remember that people are suffering, people are celebrating, people are still being who they are... they're not PA students!!

It's been a bit of a difficult semester for our whole class with reality hitting when you just can't afford it to... There have been deaths where funerals can't be attended, there have been weddings when you couldn't celebrate, and then, in the middle of it all, you get sick..

This is our lives for 27 months. You just have to take it or leave it... Welcome to PA school.

Behind the Scenes...

I had a difficult semester last semester... I struggled. A lot. It was hard, I broke down, I cried, I lost it, but I kept going. But there is NO question in my mind how I succeeded. Yes, I do have to take some credit (because, you know, I was actually taking the classes), but the success really came from the people behind the scenes: my mom, my dad, Mary, and of course, the person I put ALL my trust into, God.

To begin, my mother.  She was my solid rock.  She listened on the phone when I just a hot mess, she had anxiety when I had anxiety (sorry!), she gave me encouraging words and she kept me going. She fed me, literally.  My WONDERFUL mother drove 3 hours to come to Ft. Myers to go grocery shopping for me because I just didn't have the time.  She drove 3 hours to sit in a chair with her iPad and watch me study.  No selfish person could do that.  She is the most beautiful, self-less, and amazing woman and I wish to be just like her with my children. I thank God for her every.single.day.

The next person who got me through was my dad.  He went through medical school, so he was able to give me support by telling me what he did and how he got through., while also being encouraging (he's a tough love kinda guy). It was VERY encouraging to hear that he wasn't at the top of his class either (but still the smartest man I know!).  It was also good to hear that his genius doesn't come naturally.  I guess I have lived in denial for 22 years to think that he was just naturally that smart.  It doesn't come naturally for me, but he made me believe in myself and know that if I just work hard, I can achieve anything. He really helped me feel better about myself and have someone to lean on that has been through the same thing. I thank God for him everyday too...

The last person who got me through this semester was Mary.  Mary has been my best friend since high school.  I HATE that I have to live 3 hours away from her.  Skype really got us through this semester though.  I was able to SEE her (which makes a h-u-g-e difference). She sent me cards. She sent me gifts. And she, along with my parents, prayed for me daily.  I love that Mary sees me as a brilliant and beautiful girl and she has helped me with my self-confidence in unbelievable amount, which is important for all aspects of life, including PA school.  She always finds time for me and on an daily basis sent me motivational quotes or pictures, or just something to make me laugh to make my day *that* much better.  She is truly a beautiful person, inside and out, and I feel that every person should have a Mary in their life. She really allows me to be myself and rant (often) and whine whenever I needed, without any judgement, and gives a witty comment to make me feel better.  I love her with all my heart and like my parents, I thank God she is in my life.

And lastly, I firmly believe that my faith got me through this semester.  There is NOTHING more comforting than having someone to pray to and know that HE will get you through.  My favorite verse, repeated VERY often:: John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be trouble and do not be afraid!" How encouraging. How wonderful.

I know that these people and my faith will get me through my next semester too. AND my mom and I got iPhone 4's, so FACETIME here we come (Thanks Dad!!)!! I am so very blessed.

CPS...

No... I don't mean CPR... I mean CPS, clinical problem solving!

Today we had our first CPS. Other than the extreme slight disorganization, it was really good! In fact, I like it so much that the every-hour-on-the-hour break that we didn't get, I didn't even notice!

So, you may be asking, "Um, Bethany... I'm an English Lit major... what in the world is a CPS?!" Well, I'll tell you!

As a class, we are given a chief complaint and it is our job to attempt to diagnose what this person has. This is very similar to our OSCE, which will take place individually.
Our problem was a "42 yr. old male with blurry vision for 3-4 months." Now, I'm not going to go through the whole entire process, because it took us almost 2 hours... But here's an overview.

First we went through the differential diagnosis (all possible problems that could cause blurry vision). We had about 15 or so...
Second, we then began to ask questions.  Unfortunately it was super disorganized and it wasn't how I would have done it.. but nonetheless, we got to where we wanted... This is one of the most important parts of an appointment.  It has been said that 90% of problems and be diagnosed with just a history.
Third, we began the physical examination.  We began with vitals, and then inspection, then we did some visual tests, and then we looked at the eye (hypothetically...) After the physical exam, we decided what tests we thought would be the most important to order.
Lastly, we can up with a treatment plan. 
In our case, we thought the guy had diabetic retinopathy (but we couldn't rule out hypertension either...).  It was narrowed down to about 5-6 before the physical examination just but asking questions for the history. After looking in his eyes and getting vitals, we ruled it down to about 2: diabetes and hypertension. Since nothing was confirmed (due to needing further tests), we DID know that he needed a lifestyle change...so a referral to an eye doctor and a nutritionist was our plan..

It was kinda fun and I'm looking forward to all this practical stuff... It also made me realize that I should probably go back over last semesters information just to freshen up...

I'm gonna go nap now... Class again from 5-7pm. Luckily it's our LAST 5-7 class. Thank goodness...
Until next time...

First week... Again.

Here I am, after the first week of my second semester of PA school... This week was particularly exhausting, but luckily we get Monday off for the holiday. 

We have class this week and next week from 5-7pm for our ophthalmology part of my CMS class... Getting home at 7 and still be expected to study is slightly unrealistic... and it's not just me! It's my whole class :)

My books are unbelievably heavy and carrying them to school is NOT fun... but alas, it is necessary. The books are pretty interesting for the most part... I'm surprised by the classes that I like and don't like, compared to what I was expecting before the start of school...

Our pharmacology teacher is new and she is AWESOME. She is down-to-earth, has the cutest clothes (one person compared her to Reese Witherspoon - accurate) but most importantly she is such a good teacher.  She makes sense, she tells us the important things, and she regularly asks us practical questions that will be useful for testing purposes, PANCE purposes, and real-life.  Of course, pharm is still difficult, but I don't dread her class, which by my standards, makes it a class that I like :)

Another class that I really enjoy is Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare.  To be completely honest, the teacher isn't my favorite for our practicals, therefore I was pretty worried that i wouldn't like his class. He also wrote the book for our class.  The last teacher I had that wrote the book for our class was a complete narcissist and I hated it... But alas, I LOVE the class!  He uses case studies and such to put the information to make sense in real-life situations.  You can tell that he really enjoys ethics and he isn't pushy about his book. And mainly I just like ethics. 

Surprisingly, the same ethics teacher teaches pathophysiology and I do not like this class.  I took patho at my undergrad school and had the best teacher EVER so I had pretty high standards, and unfortunately, his awesome ethics teaching doesn't pass over to patho... It's a one credit class so it's not too bad, just kinda boring...

As for microbiology, I thought I would like this class.  I have taken 2 microbio classes so I thought I'd enjoy this, but the teacher (who is also my adviser) doesn't really give you ANY hints/tips as to what to study and she expects you to read every chapter and know everything... Apparently the last class that had this teacher for microbio had to remediate 22 students.. that's A LOT. Needless to say, it's going to take about twice the studying for something that isn't that interesting... Can't wait....

My CMS and Clin Lab are interesting... I haven't quite formed an opinion about them yet... They have a lot of different teachers and none of the students can quite figure out exactly what the class is supposed to be teaching us.. Hopefully this will come throughout the semester... We'll see.

Physical Diagnosis is kinda in the same boat.. We've only had it once, and it was similar to last semester, but with less labs and such.  We are learning how to do an "OSCE" this semester. It's like a real-life patient/PA situation... Like for derm, we go in, they say "I have a rash for a wk" and then we have to do a history and pt physical, come up with a list of differential diagnosis and then determine what we think they have. (they have a paper that will give them the answers that we are supposed to be asking). Should be exciting, and incredibly nerve wracking...

I think that's all my classes.. Should be a difficult but good semester... And the best part?!?!! After this semester, I will halfway done with my first year of PA school... That's good stuff.

Stay tuned for an exhausting semester!!!

It's the little things...

Some things are in my control... like showing up an hour and half early to claim the seat I want.

Success. =)

Where, Oh Where..

I disappeared for a while. I'll try to be back now :)

Last semester was very difficult. I found that it was MUCH easier to blog when you are doing well and are proud of yourself.  I am (now) proud of myself for finishing and passing all my classes my first semester. Anatomy, for me, was EXTREMELY difficult, but I passed, and that's all that matters....

Somewhere in there I got my white coat!! They had a nice ceremony for us and my parents came down. It was fun and wonderful to see them right before the finals kicked off.  

Me saying the NSU-SWFL PA "Oath"

Me and my group of friends :)

I finished on a Tuesday morning, and then I got to go home. For like a week and a half. It was marvelous.  I got to see all of my friends and I got to go SHOPPPPPPING with my fantastic mother, and I got to eat out at real restaurants with company, and I got to go sailing with my brother Mark, among so other things.
I really had a fantastic vacation.  And in 104 days, I get to go on another vacation with my parents :)

So, on to the next semester.. I am taking 23 credit hours.
- Pathophysiology
- Clinical Lab Medicine 1
- Clinical Medicine and Surgery 1
- Electrocardiography
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Microbiology
- Pharmacology 1
- Physical Diagnosis 2

And this is what my schedule will look like for most of the semester...

The red are totally tests, btw...

 Starting up again is totally bittersweet.. I am very much looking forward to starting again so that I can get it over with and in December be halfway through the didactic year of PA school.. I am NOT looking forward to missing my mom and dad sooooo much and that awful pit-in-the-stomach feeling that doesn't seem to disappear during school....
On a different note, that is slightly (very) ridiculous of me... I am SERIOUSLY hoping I get the same seat as last semester.. Like, I need my seat. I loved my row, I loved where I sat, and I need that back. But it's not an early day tomorrow, which means I have no clue when people are getting there to try to get my awesome seat.. How early is too early? I guess we'll see tomorrow...

I shouldn't start worrying before I need to, and definitely shouldn't worry about things that don't matter, such as a seat..I have a hard time with worrying, but I'm working through it, as best as I can. Here's to another semester... wish me all the luck :)

Hard

I've said it before, I'll say it again... PA school is hard...

But, today was a good day, so I'll talk about that :) 

This weekend, I prepared for a physiology test. Here's part of my studying... Fun, right?!

 

I got a 90, so studying paid off. I'm not doing as well in Anatomy, and am having a hard time trying to find a good study method.  Whatever I did worked well for Physiology, so I'll try the same with Anatomy and see if it works out for me :) 

Today, we also got our white coats! We don't "officially" have them yet, we just were given them to make sure they are pressed and fitted for the actually White Coat Ceremony on August 5 (when I get to see my parents again and hopefully Mary - YAY)

I was going to show you pictures of me in my white coat, fresh out of the bag... but I think I'll hold out until the ceremony. Here's a little sneak peak (and the best part, if I do say so myself). 

I also got to see HARRY POTTER today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was good, but not even close to how awesome the books were. Still glad I got to see it, however.  Snape was BY FAR my favorite.

Other than my mental breakdowns, life is pretty uneventful. I got to see my mom this weekend, and it made all the difference. She is so good to me and I love her so much. 

After this week..

Only 4 weeks left...

I can do this.

I can do this.

I CAN do this. 

and I will. 

:)

500+

The best and definitely most accurate description of PA school would be trying to take a sip of water out of a fire hydrant.

The amount of information that they throw out at you is so overwhelming. For instance, we have an Anatomy test on Monday. There are 50 questions on the test. Guess how many slides there are.... 536. That's right OVER 500 slides for 50 questions. Absolutely outrageous. And because you really don't know what's going to be on it, you have to study of all.

Here is what is happening on a daily basis::

And here is what I am learning to do..

Practical.

I went in at 10am for physiology this morning and then we finished at noon. I went downstairs to eat outside with a couple of my friend, then about a half an hour later, we went upstairs to practice for the practice.

Today's practical was the Lung and Thorax exam.  For our practicals, we are randomly assigned a partner and an exam room.  We are usually given our partners ahead of time to be able to practice with them. I have been pretty fortunate to know all of my partners so far. Anyways, back to today. Today's was pretty simple, only 33 points that we need to memorize.

So, basically, this is what happens:: We have a lecture over that topic, and the same week we have a lab that we are shown the correct methods and have a teacher in there to help us and make sure we have the right technique.  Within the next week, we have our practicals.  For our practicals, we have a list of points that we need to make sure we SAY and DO.  Saying it is just as important as doing it. We have to perform the correct technique but we are not actually allowed to "diagnose." (As in when doing vitals, we can't actually find the BP or temp.. or when doing skin, we can't actually assess the skin - for legal reasons).  It isn't too hard, just making sure you get every point - saying and doing it correctly. I like it because it's hands on and practical -- it's easy to see the practicality of it. 

Anyways, I got a 97 today.. I said it, but I didn't quite do it correctly. Luckily I had a good proctor so she showed up the correct method and technique.

3 practicals down, 5 to go!
AND at the end of this week, I will be HALF WAY THRU MY FIRST SEMESTER IN PA SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life.

Life is not exciting.

I have accomplished so far...

• 1 Anatomy Test
• 1 Anatomy Quiz
• 1 Physiology Test
• 1 Lab Practical 
• 3 Physical Diagnosis Quizzes
• and HOURS AND HOURS of classes...

That may not seem like much, but I feel like I never leave the school, and when I do, all I do is study.
I have lost all concept of what day it is and what day of the week it is and mental breakdowns are daily for most of the class, and I am no exception.

PA is school is hard and exhausting, but more importantly, it is rewarding.
All the time I spend upset and confused and unmotivated is completely wiped away the minute I use and opthalmascope and can actually see what I'm supposed to see, or the moment I do good on a quiz or understand a difficult concept and definitely in the moment that I can actually picture myself doing this one day.

I CAN do this. I just need to remind myself of that daily.

And for your viewing please, here are some pics of my daily reality..

Sometimes

Sometimes you just don't do as well as you want, and sometimes you do better than you expect....

I guess you just gotta roll with the punches, do better the next time, and be proud of your successes.

...a lesson I am learning daily.

Today in Cartoons.

Before the test...

During the test...

After the test... 

 (I passed!!!!!!!) 

Starting classes...

Later today... 

Tonight...

And tomorrow morning...

That's my life today. Exciting. LoL.

On a really fantastic note, I got a 90 on my first test.

:)

Jello

From the very first day, our professors told us that the schedule was set in jello. It would change constantly, and you had to continue to look at the schedule daily, because we were responsible for knowing the schedule changes, they would not alert us. 

Let me just say, they were definitely not kidding.

Alot of people in my class LOVE schedule.. they live by their planner. For them, this is a huge change and it's something they have to adjust to. For others, like me, you just show up and if there's a change.. just go with it, you were there anyways..

Today, we got another change, and a bit of a shock.  We were supposed to have our Cultural Diversity class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  We show up Monday and we were told that our CD class was cancelled, and so was Tuesday. We kinda just went with it, nothing really knowing what was happening. Today, during our class (which on the schedule now showed a professor change..) we had the original professor come in to make an announcement.  She briefly told us that she had an abnormal mammogram and it was biopsied, which showed her to have breast cancer. We all kinda just sat there with our mouths wide open (figuratively, not literally).  Fortunately, it was caught early and after the mastectomy, she won't need chemo or radiation! So, she'll be back in 6 weeks :)

She went on to say how in her 20+ years of being a doctor, she had told countless people that they had cancer, but now she was on the receiving end. I had honestly never thought about how one day I would have to tell people they have cancer! I mean, I've just been so excited about becoming a PA, that I forgot about the not-so-glamorous stuff that comes with the job.

I'm definitely learning something new and realizing things about the PA profession and about life every day.

Study, Study, Study.... and Study some more.

That's what I've been doing.

Seriously.

Nothing else to report. Except that PA school is hard. Like, unbelievably hard. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're either a genius (which we do have some in our class...), they're LYING, or they could be failing. 

Right now I'm enrolled in seven classes:
Anatomy
Physiology
History Taking and Communication Skills
Introduction to the PA profession
Physical Diagnosis 1
Fundamentals of Medical Imaging
Cultural Issues

We haven't started them all - in fact, we don't start Medical Imaging until about half way through the semester. And History Taking and Communication Skills is only once a week, and Cultural Issues and Intro to PA profession is really whenever they can fit it in.
Unfortunately we have Physiology THREE times a week and Anatomy THREE times a week regularly. Physical Diagnosis 1 has about two lectures a week and a Lab every week. We have our first lab tomorrow! We are learning the General Survey and Vital Signs (which seems so obvious, and yet more than half of us have never actually done them!)


I got my student ID yesterday, which was pretty cool. It has a giant, mean looking shark on it that looks like it's about to eat my head. Here's a picture:

Well, that's enough for today... I tend to do my best studying at night (I think that it has something to do with knowing that the day is about to end and I'll never get back those hours I just wasted so it's time to hit the books and feel useful. LoL.) But, nonetheless, PA school requires me to study day AND night. So, needless to say, I'm off to study :)

On a Saturday Afternoon...

I thought I could study. Ha.Ha.

I had great, grand, wonderful plans to study and "catch up" all day today. What a joke. Seriously. I slept in, which was great, I watched an episode of Covert Affairs, I had some lunch, I made a weekly meal plan, and I have BARELY studied.

Yes, I did attempt to get SOME studying done, but it's already 2:35pm and I've gone through like 5 slides...Out of ~70 left I need to get to...

I decided that I just get super bored and distracted with nothing to listen to trying to solely focus on the cell membrane. B-O-R-I-N-G! So, I've taking a lesson from my BFF, who LOVES classical music, and put it on. Apparently it's supposed to help open your mind or something. I'm just hoping it works! We'll see what happens...maybe tomorrow will be better...Or maybe classical music will be the cure for distracting Saturdays.

Yesterday was good though. We only had one class (we got there at 10am and left at 11:50am... AWESOME!) Around 3ish, I went to the NSU BBQ they were having. My second year buddy didn't end up coming, or I missed her or something, but it was still relatively pleasant. I went for a walk on the beach and I saw a dolphin. I am not really making any new friends that I do stuff with. But fortunately, I have my best friend to continue to Skype with - and it makes my whole day.

Here's a picture of the BEAUTIFUL beach the BBQ was at and a couple of my classmates :)

I've got some classical music on now, so here's hoping I can get some studying done...

I have my first quiz on Monday, and my first test a week from Monday. Wish me some luck!

Almost...

Tomorrow, I will have finished WEEK 2 of PA SCHOOL!!!!!!! This is crazy. Just crazy. Mind-boggling. Almost as mind boggling as physiology. Almost.

This week as been pretty easy, schedule wise. Next week will NOT be as easy, although we have some late morning/early days. We are finishing week 2 tomorrow and we start having tests on week 4. Eep. I took some still shots of the schedule to show what it's like. These are "set in jello" as they like to call is, as it can and most likely will change.

 Here is week 3 (next week)

And here is week 4 - the week that we begin have MULTIPLE tests per week. Yes, that awful red color indicates test... Talk about scary looking!

 

Fun, yeah?? LoL.  Today was pretty good. I got to go in at about 9:10am and we started off with the Intro to PA "roundtable." It was pretty interesting. Some of our professors came in and told us about their journey throughout PA school and their life story. They definitely have some good stories and I can't wait to hear more.  Then we had a 2 hour physiology class. Ugh. This is gonna be my most difficult class, no doubt.  I tried (for like 2 days) a different method of studying, but I need to go back to my old way, cuz I just feel like I'm not learning it enough.  We then had lunch and had to stay for our public service announcement group project skit. We basically just had to do a PSA about what a PA is. They were pretty funny. Then we got out at 1:40pm. I came home,  relaxed a bit and then went to Target. 

Tomorrow I get to go in at 10am and leave at noon, with our only class as Anatomy. AWESOME. Tomorrow afternoon/evening there is a NSU BBQ. Both my class and the class before me are going to be there. Here's hoping the rain holds out. 

On a last note, I now have ALLLLLLL my supplies and finally got my scrubs!! Thanks mostly to my wonderful daddy. Here are some pictures of my scrubs and my supplies :) (I am like a little kid, I can't wait to learn how to actually use it all!!!) Alright.. I'm off to study... again.

Yes, I took a picture of myself. This is our color, we have to wear Caribbean blue :) 

My pretty bag and my stethoscope!!

 

 

 

ALL my supplies!!

Whew.

Well, I made it through my first two days of PA school, as well as GRADUATION!!!! Yay :)

So, the first day was a mixture of easy and overwhelming. Crazy, right. I got there at 7:30am (when the building opened, to make sure I got my good seat!), for an 8:10 class. It was good to get there early. I got my lunch in the fridge before everyone else, and I got my stuff in my locker, set up my computer at my seat and made sure everything was working good.  We had Physical Diagnosis 1 (PD1) for 2 hours, and it was pretty easy.
Then came anatomy.... My prof. doesn't believe in powerpoint, so he has like his own website that we have to download this stuff from. It is possible to make it into a powerpoint (which I did) but it took about 2 hours for him to introduce it to the class and then make sure it worked. It was so overwhelming and exhausting. 
As if it wasn't overwhelming enough, he then started physiology. I was SO lost. I was trying to type all the important stuff he was saying into the PPT, but by the time I did that, I had either forgot what I was writing or he had moved on to the next important thing he was saying. It was awful.
Since we got out at like 3:30ish, I took a short break and went to run some errands. I came back and studied from about 6-8pm and then went to run on the treadmill. (Everyone tells me I need to exercise to stay sane... and I am!) About 9, I started studying again. I was SOOOO exhausted. I don't remember the last time I was that tired. I couldn't keep my eyes open. So, I read the chapter again and then went to bed.

That was Monday.

Today, we didn't have to be in until 10 and stayed until 4:30ish.  We started off with physiology, which I was better prepared for today after reading the chapter.  We went to lunch and I had some good conversation with ppl I hadnt had the chance to talk to yet.  We then met for our cultural diversity class. Then our Intro to PA class...
The good news: We don't have any tests for either class!!!!
The bad news: We have group projects for both classes....
I thought it would be easy to have a group project. I was wrong.  There are just so many opinions and preferences on how to do things that it gets absolutely crazy. I am a planner and I like to have a plan from start to finish, and that will just NOT happen with this class. I will have to be okay with just getting from A to B, then B to C and so on.  I just wish it could be simple. I am the captain for both groups, but that really isn't saying much. I just hope we can get this done nice and easy.

I wish I had the nerve to say this!!!!

 

Anyways. Tomorrow we go in at 8 and are finished at noon, but then have to stay for our group to meet. 

Going to study... and feeling 

Have a good day :)

I survived!!

I survived my first week as a PA-S1.

Today was by FAR the easiest. We got to school at 9:10ish and set up our computers for about 40 minutes. Then we went into the lecture room and we going over WebCT when suddenly the power goes off. After about 20 minutes of small talk, the announcer comes on saying it'll be about an hour minimum until the power comes back on. So, they let us leave... at 10:30. We then get told while we were all at lunch that we don't have to come back for the rest of the day! It was great.

We really just got all the information about PA school and such and will finally begin on Monday. Hard Core! I can't wait to begin, get into the swing of things.

I've met some reallly great people. I haven't met everyone yet, but I'm working on it. Most people have moved towards the people they are most like and formed little groups. The whole class is very friendly, some just get along better. I love the people I interact with the most. They are some truly awesome people, and I'm very thankful. It's nice to have something to do on a Friday night in Ft. Myers.

I graduate this weekend!!!!!!!!!!! My family will be coming down and I'm super excited. I also have a school picnic to go to tomorrow before they come. That'll be fun too. Can't wait.

COLLEGE DEGREE, HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!

Day 2!

So today was pretty relaxed. Apparently they want to ease us into it. We don't even have to be until 9:30 tomorrow! Very nice.

But, back to today. We had to take "standardized testing" as they called it. But it was really just a personality test. Want to freak me out?? Just tell me I have a test the second day of school. But really, it was nothing. We also got to try out some white coats to order and we bought our physical lab clothes. We also did a team building exercise - my team won! But absolutely NO thanks to me. I can honestly say that I would not survive in the mountains in Colorado during the winter. But that's okay :) We got out early, at 3:45ish. I then registered my car, got my decal, and checked out my financial aid stuff (it's all good!)

We got some FREE STUFF!!!!!

 

And some DEFINITELY NOT free stuff!! (Who knew gym clothes could be so expensive?!)

That's all for today. Easy so far - but not for long!!

PA-S(hark)

SoO, the first thing everyone always notices first is the name, so I'll explain :)

A PA-S is a Physician Assistant-Student. And I go to NSU, whose mascot is the Sharks.
I am a PA-S1, for about twelve months, when I will then become a PA-AD (Advanced Didactic) and then I will graduate, take the PANCE (certification exam) and become a PA-C (certified!!!!)

Cute, yeah?? LoL.

I decided to write a blog about being a PA student. This was the first day, so who knows how much I'll actually blog, but I'm going to try :)

Today was orientation. We met at a Holiday Inn with the other students and their families and were introduced to the faculty. Later in the day we met back up at school, where the family took a tour and the students then met for a few hours, introducing ourselves and being given our first project: to present a public service announcement on what a PA is. My group is doing a skit. It's kinda cute.

The rest of this week brings on some more orientation and then real classes being on Monday. Bring it on!