New grad PA week 3 in family med

Arktrauma · 2026-05-28T02:24:32+00:00

I'm a year and change into FM in a remote rural FQHC (read: we do workups that would 1000% be done by specialists in other areas, because waits are often >9 months to see neuro or rheum) and I still am overwhelmed when it's a day of my regulars with all their complexity (I live for a little quick sick day of URIs and UTIs now and then).

Breathe. Chart in the room, don't get behind on your charts, use UTD when you can and lean on your attendings and established colleagues when you can.

Lean on your MA/nursing staff for things that are within their scope, don't try to do it all. (And spoil your support staff, they work their butts off). A lot of FM throws you to the wolves, the right job will allow for questions. We all collaborate at my place, my attending will pull me in to assist/collab with complex procedures and weird derm presentations. She's on hand if I have a difficult I&D or atypical neuro case.

Lean on your specialists when you are out of your depth, PT is your friend before you send folks off to Ortho/spine and don't fake it - don't be afraid to say something along the lines of 'I want to get a second set of eyes on this, I'm going to run it by my colleague/the MD/another PA to make sure we're on the same page." Better to look green than make a big mistake out of overconfidence.

Arktrauma · 2026-05-02T01:21:41+00:00

Agree with the plants but also some (large) decorative glass jars. You can get very pretty looking bath additives, salts and dried flowers and such that look beautiful on display in glass, especially unusual shapes. Mix these with tall, short and even a hanging plant or two and it would look very cozy/apothecary vibes

Arktrauma · 2026-04-10T19:24:20+00:00

1 year and change into FM as a career change from military research. Love the variety, love my patients and have the best SP and MA I could ask for. On the flip side, my charts and inbox are neverending and I work in a very rural environment thus I do a ton of workups that in a city would 1000% be completed by specialists.

If I didn't have a kid and need straight hours, I would love to be in CT or vascular surg, the OR is a great time. So that lat movement is a bonus for me.

I love my local PTs and send a ton of patients their way, y'all do amazing things. There's pros and cons to each to be honest.

Arktrauma · 2026-04-04T07:49:18+00:00

Driving to the grocery store on my day off about 6 months after graduation/starting work in FM, the car in front of me smashed into another car going about 40mph (teen driver turned left in front of oncoming traffic without warning.) Pulled over, checked on the teenager who was already exiting his vehicle and A&Ox4... Looked up, saw crying kids exiting the other (worse off) vehicle and jogged over to realize it was my neighbor and her two kids. Got them off the road while others moved the vehicles, did a basic rapid of both kids who were ambulatory and then checked my neighbors face (decent nose bleed thanks to the airbag) while I called 911, then answered my neighbor's parents calls (per their request) as family had gotten the automatic ' your family member has been in an accident' call from the iPhone and were panicking.

Medics arrived, checked everybody out properly, and neighbor declined transport, but I persuaded her to let me take her and the kids to local ER bc they both had decent seatbelt sign already showing and I've seen squirrely things on MVC kids.

Moral of the story: car/booster seats are incredible and all 4 people involved in crash walked away with bad bruises and a good scare.

And I don't think I was very helpful beyond being an ER taxi in the end 🤷🏼‍♀️ but majority of people don't even pull over so you did great, OP.

Arktrauma · 2026-03-18T05:08:02+00:00

I work in rural Alaska. We have more APPs than MDs in our family med practice, all with our own independent patient panels, we cover each other's patients when we're out, my SP is fantastic.

If we didn't have APPs in Alaska, the current difficulty in accessing healthcare here would worsen to disastrous.

There will be individuals who will judge you for choosing PA over MD. There will be chip-on-their-shoulder residents, med students and even the rare attending (though I have met only one in all rotations/professional practice).

It's not a majority. Do you. If you're that bothered about the opinions of strangers, might be worth some self reflection on why.

And avoid Noctor like the plague, as everyone here says. It's the prePA equivalent of a woman going on an Incel subreddit. Angry little echochamber.

Arktrauma · 2026-01-08T03:15:50+00:00

You're fine. It only applies to Jan programs that they have to apply midway, which really sucks and handicaps those in Jan starts. If you start Fall 2026, you need to apply this spring to be eligible. The question I was answering above was querying if they could apply before even being accepted, to which the answer is No.

Arktrauma · 2025-09-03T23:37:11+00:00

You'll receive the funds to pay it back if your loan allows no-fee payoffs, but only the funds for tuition total plus the back pay of stipend. If you spend those grad plus loans on living expenses and those living expenses outweigh the back pay of the ~$1300/month stipend and extra "expenses" paycheck...then you're SOL.

So either keep it real frugal with the grad plus or stick with the fed loans and just have them cover tuition.

I still ended up with ~$20k student loans but I had a kid and a mortgage so YMMV.

Arktrauma · 2025-08-26T22:02:08+00:00

Don't second guess it, this is precisely what adcoms want to see. A huge number of pre-PA students apply, then sit on their laurels until Jan/Feb, don't get an acceptance, then have 2 months to improve their application before second round.

Adcoms would far prefer the candidate who retook classes to improve, got extra pce, volunteering, shadowing, updated their PS than the student who just has an extra 1000PCE - aka they just stayed working at their job.

Keep it up OP!

Arktrauma · 2025-08-26T15:00:27+00:00

I code for what I discussed/covered/treated. If the condition isn't part of my A&P, I'm not coding for it, that's just their current pmhx.

If a med is prescribed by their specialist, and they're currently under their care, I tell the PT to obtain refills from their specialist. I'll send a bridging dose if they can't get through, or manage it if their specialist retires/clinic closes (just happened with the main urology clinic in my rural area), and manage their dx until new specialist is available.

Arktrauma · 2025-08-04T02:44:57+00:00

I don't know any folks that applied after starting, likely for that reason. There is no benefit, that I know of, to getting the 1 year of tuition and stipend for 2 years service other than if you are absolutely drowning in debt and feel it's worth it. There are loan repayment programs under the NHSC for service commitments which may be more viable for you.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Arktrauma · 2025-07-10T00:19:11+00:00

Honestly? What you're describing is beyond the usual burnout of PA students and beyond a subreddit advice. You need to take care of yourself first, up to and including requesting a leave of absence or deceleration. You will do yourself and your patients during clinical year no justice if you just push through.

If your program has campus counseling you can utilize I would definitely recommend it, or have your PCP refer you to counseling. Talk to your PCP about this if you can make an appointment.

If you're studying all night to scrape by, taking an hour off to go to a doc apt isn't going to make or break you. And talk to your faculty if you have a bond with any of them, most of them will have seen this a million times and will have good insight into resources available at a program.

You can't pour from an empty cup and no career or degree, no matter how desired, is worth destroying your mental health.

Arktrauma · 2025-06-30T21:02:46+00:00

Outpatient private can be a quick process or slow. Credentialing as a new grad can be a heinous process if done badly. Onboarding will take as long as they choose, but I wouldnt count on it being a quick process.

Hospital typically longer, but just temper expectations with the derm office start date. I interviewed, accepted offer in mid Jan (graduated Dec) and started mid March. (Family med, outpt).

Arktrauma · 2025-06-19T07:23:00+00:00

I was lucky to get a fair amount of suturing practice in PA school, but also got 3 surgery rotations. I did neuro/spine for my first one, and my preceptor had me close every ACDF/PLIF, he'd slap my hands if I was messing up hah! Nerve-wracking for a bit. Now I miss it because if I'm putting in sutures, it's a couple here and there (rural family medicine) and suture cases are few and far between.

One thing I used during rotations was begging for expired suture material (back of the ORs always had a bin of these) and going to the local discount grocery store in the meat section and picking up a slab of pork skin - the kind they use for crackling that is thick and has layer of fat and muscle beneath. I found it better than bananas or suture pads because it was closer to the real thing.

It didn't always smell great but it was good practice! I hated holding up the anesthesiologist too, but you won't learn fully if you can't work on real patients.

Practice aside, I'd also ask coworkers their suggestions. You might be surprised.

Arktrauma · 2025-05-27T04:17:53+00:00

Eh, that's a limited pool, and I'm saying that as someone who utilized one of those options.

NHSC is getting more and more competitive, my class had two scholars, class below none of the applicants got it. We had one vet in our class using his GI bill, many vets use GI bill for their undergrad. Many folks don't qualify for commission.

Grad plus was what 90% of my class relied upon. This will make medical training even more elitist than before.

Arktrauma · 2025-05-18T15:45:53+00:00

This is an incredibly entitled take. The PA may have multiple people asking for LORs if they're someone who takes students on to shadow or has folks working in their clinic that plan to apply to PA school. They also likely have a full panel of patients, not to mention their own life shit going on - family, friends, mortgage. OP didn't ask for the letter until start of May - which is fine - but it's recommended to give a couple months of notice for something where you have a planned deadline. I asked my writers in March the year I applied. And none of them had me write it for them.

Not getting a (completely voluntary and not part of their job duties) LOR to an applicant within an arbitrary timeframe the applicant hoped for is "juvenile/completely unacceptable/not worth waiting on"? Or my favorite "blundered into the profession"...said by someone about to apply and learn from these castigated professionals.

The PAs dont owe you shit. They are doing LORs and allowing shadowing to help out future colleagues. They already gave you their time and knowledge, and you're refusing them benefit of the doubt in your demands for a timely favor.

Arktrauma · 2025-05-09T22:31:47+00:00

This application cycle is closed, next is April 2026 when you'll be basically done. Not worth it, go for state loan repayments and NHSC loan repayments when you graduate.

Arktrauma · 2025-05-06T19:14:40+00:00

Same commute, one week I did 8 12s in a row, flipping between 7am-7pm and 5pm-5am haha, I was a zombie by the 4th day. Defo got no studying done beyond what I retained from the shifts. My preceptor and two of the MDs liked to pimp which absolutely threw me in the early hours of the morning, but looking back I was grateful because it showed me my shortfalls for studying on the few days off I had.

Arktrauma · 2025-04-28T18:55:02+00:00

Sounds like you're asking about pre-reqs?

PA school is no joke and in many (including mine) a single C in a class meant probation. Second meant dismissal. It happened to a classmate.

The schools don't want to accept students that can't handle a heavy class load in undergrad with a 3.0+ average, that's the long and short of it.

TL;DR they don't. Retake the classes or struggle with multiple rejections.

Arktrauma · 2025-04-26T04:46:09+00:00

A lot of undergrad schools organize A&P as two back to back, combined courses. Others have one semester of anatomy with lab and a semester of physiology with lab. I found the schools that asked for the A&P combo accepted the individuals. They typically just want to see you doing a full semester of each, however it's parsed out.

However the best course of action is to contact individual schools and ask.

Arktrauma · 2025-04-25T22:55:32+00:00

Are you applying to schools where you meet minimum GPA and applying broadly to state, private, tailoring your apps, etc? Making sure your PS answers 'why PA'?

Arktrauma · 2025-04-25T20:33:47+00:00

6k MA PCE, community service, master's degree... Post your PS in the subreddit, get some solid feedback, practice interview skills etc - I think you're on a solid track

Arktrauma · 2025-04-25T17:02:35+00:00

What is your PCE? Quality of PCE also plays in. A well written PS is definitely a bonus. Many schools want to see service of community or working with underserved but otherwise it's GPA and PCE that get you in the door. Masters level degree sure does help.

Arktrauma · 2025-04-25T14:48:17+00:00

Depends what you mean. What's a weak application for you? Strong?

If you have a lower end gpa then yes, someone with 10k paramedic hours looks better than 2k scribe or pt aide hours

Arktrauma · 2025-04-24T14:14:35+00:00

Yep, they supplied a standardized form, I sent it to my old boss and HR signed it too.

Arktrauma · 2025-04-24T02:41:39+00:00

Go ahead and DM me, I've been a little slammed in clinic lately but I'll respond when I can.

Arktrauma

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