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. =)