The life of a Physician Assistant: October 2011

Rural Medicine

Im in my second rotation now. I am currently doing family medicine at a FL health clinic in a rural area.

My patients are very sick, poor, and most of the time have no insurance, or very little money. I mostly see patients that have diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), depression, and other various diseases.

Many patients will come in suffering from many issues, it is my job to sort out the most important ones. I wish I could spend an hour with every patient I see, but sadly it is not realistic when you have a schedule of 30+ patients.

The walmart and publix drug lists are becoming my best friend. If I need to prescribe anything, I try to go off the list so patients get their meds for free, 4$ or 10$. For you future students on rotation, put a list of these in your pocket. They are very useful and they are not just for the patients that have no insurance, everyone should put them to use.

I also recommend that you download some applications for your droid or Iphone. Some good ones are medscape, epocrates, ICD9 codes. Make sure you ask your preceptor in advance to use your phone. Some dont mind, and some mind a lot. I use medscape mostly especially for drug dosages. I'm getting to the point though where I keep using the same drugs over and over and I don't need the dosages at all...thank goodness! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall and everyone is counting their blessings. God is good...God is love, hope, and encouragement.

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Nordstrom memories

My dad and I went shopping today. It happened to be at a place where Cory and I were at near the end of our relationship. It flooded my brain with memories of him. This past Friday, the 21st, marks 5 months since he has passed away. There is still not a day that goes by that I don't think about him.

His death doesn't get any easier. Do I know he is in heaven? Absolutely. I know our heavenly father called him to come to heaven at the young age of 25. Lately, it has been hard for me to have any patient mention the word "cancer." I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes because my mind immediately goes towards memories of Cory and his cancer.

Today, I sat in Nordstroms trying on shoes. I could see Cory a couple years back sitting with me and shaking his head while I tried on shoes. Cory thinking, "this girl is crazy! She loves shoes way too much." I happened to buy the same brand of shoes today that I bought with him. Which I didn't think about until now...

Having someone pass away is hard. As I have said previously, I will never get over it but I will get through it. It doesn't matter that Cory and me have been broken up for two years, he still holds a very special place in my heart. He has taught me so many wonderful things that I hope to show and teach others. He is just that type of person that makes big impacts on a lot of peoples lives. I hope to do that too someday...

I miss you Cory

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What I learned on day 2 of my rotation

It was my second day on my rotation at SAH and I was still getting used to being around psychiatric patients. There are two units; southwest and northwest. The northwest unit holds the more chronic and aggressive psychiatric patients. The southwest unit holds the more acute patients. This particular day, I was in the southwest unit and was asked by my preceptor to join group therapy. Group therapy allows patients to see their own problems mirrored in and confronted by others. I was excited to see what I would learn, but at the same time I was nervous. Would a patient become psychotic in the room? Would I see behaviors that I wasn’t used to? A lot of questions flooded my mind as I entered the room.

A patient in a blue shirt came and sat down next to me. I had not yet heard his story and he was a new face to the unit. “Are you a medical student?” he asks. “No, I’m a physician assistant student.” I reply. “Where at?” he asks. “Here in St. Pete.” I say. Short and sweet I was thinking to myself.

I hadn’t really given much thought to our conversation until the next day. I was asked to go follow up with the patient in the blue shirt. I found out many things about him and as to why he was at SAH. Guilt started to set in because I didn’t have to be “short and sweet” with him. This patient was a normal guy but just going through some rough time in his life.

The lesson I learned on my rotation at SAH is that psychiatric patients, and any patient just want someone to talk to. They are scared and they want compassion and empathy. Patients are as curious about my life, as I am about theirs. Psychiatric patients may have manic episodes and even psychotic episodes but they are still people too—they are patients that need help. I learned to sit and be patient with them. I learned to be open with them and talk with them. It didn’t have to be about their problems, but it could be about their life in general.

In the future, I will make sure as a future physician assistant to see every patient as equal. I will not label them by their diagnosis. I will listen, be patient, demonstrate compassion and empathy and learn from my mistakes to become a better physician assistant for my future.

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About this Blog

If you are just curious about a Physician Assistant (PA), or looking to be a PA, then you were just like me in the past.

I always knew I wanted to be in the medical profession, but I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go with it. Did I want to be a doctor? Not really, I knew 8 more years of school was not for me.

I will be creating a blog for the every day life of a physician assistant. From studying, to stressing, to sleeping, to crying, to helping patients, to rotations, to every day life, and how I got there and through it.

I really look forward to this and can't wait to see what happens.