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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!