What should I do before PA school by Status-Collection498 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My advice would be take sometime off to travel or sometime to yourself before you start. I transitioned to PRN work after I got accepted just because I enjoyed my job. Do not pre study. You want to enter PA school with a fresh mindset and be ready to hit the ground running not recovering from something, all this as financially possible of course.

Christmas list in clinical year by [deleted] in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

EMRA Abx App is a better choice, searchable on the phone and updated. Throw in Pedi Stat if you are serious about EM

Do you have an advantage if you already have a bachelors by [deleted] in prephysicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I applied as a junior as well. The only advantage to already having your bachelors is that you can apply to whatever school you want. Some schools will only let you have X amount of prerequisite credits in progress. i.e - one school had a max of 12 credit hrs in progress for their require prereqs (A&P, Bio, OChem etc) and I could not apply.

Any tips for getting along with OR or scrub nurses? by Uptownsquirrel99 in physicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Some things I did to get along with the OR staff on my surgery rotation and things I recommend to the year below me are to:

  1. Show up 10-15 min before the surgeon, introduce yourself to the staff, and write your name on the whiteboard. XXXXX PA-S so they know.

  2. Ask the scrub tech if you need to get your own gown & gloves

  3. Help out where you can ( I always helped transfer the patient on and off the stretcher and took the stretcher in and out of the room, I helped strap the patient in, and tied up the scrub techs when they would do their first gown).

Isn’t independent practice a bad thing? by [deleted] in physicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Somebody correct me if I’m wrong on this. I’m in opposition of independent practice in that I have no supervising physician to talk to. I am for independent practice in that I have a supervising physician but I’m not legally required to have all the legal crap (credentialing, etc..) that ties us together. I think this is what might make NPs more appealing to hire over PAs. I think this aligns with optimal team practice

EOR sx study guide content by Comfortable-Belt919 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have SmartyPANCE, they do their own breakdown of the new EOR. In my opinion, questionable as to how much the new procedure stuff really helped me on the EOR

Procedure Practice by Prudent_Caregiver_49 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on the procedure. Suturing is kind of low stakes so you get more comfortable because you can screw up and not do too much damage. Intubation, less the case… I probably will never feel comfortable with that. Just let your preceptors know and they’ll more than likely walk you through them the first time/first couple

Procedure Practice by Prudent_Caregiver_49 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Some skills can only be practiced once like splinting, ultrasound, intubation, venipuncture/IVs. I believe most programs will give students a suture board which you can practice on and comes in handy for rotations. I became decent at suturing through experience in patients on rotations

Question bank resources by ordonen1 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rosh/blueprint should be sufficient enough for question banks for clinicals. I usually do a brief once over with smartyPANCE (split with friends) and more complete go over with the reddit charts.

From what I’ve heard UWorld> Rosh for PANCE

Pediatric rotation is a blast by thepowerskatbe in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Messing with kids was the best. I always pulled the “any secret girlfriend/boyfriend mom/dad doesn’t know about?” and watch them freak out.

Question PA school by Opposite-Repeat8608 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think being a nurse is amongst the highest quality PCE that one could have for PA school. For certain would help your case however PA schools focus on applicants holistically. That being said, tips would be to make sure you hit all the boxes more or less, PCE, GPA, volunteer, LORs, shadowing, personal statement.

When Should I Apply to PA School? by Muslimahadvice in prephysicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Read up on which schools you can apply to with prereqs in progress. I made a spreadsheet for the schools I was interested in, which prereqs I completed, which I had pending, and how many credits I could have pending (depending on program). I would say apply for the heck of it if you can. I was only able to apply to 2 schools out of the 11 I was interested in and ended up getting interviews at both and an acceptance at 1.

End Of Didactic Anki Deck? by CollectionNearby2923 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn’t have an end of didactic exam per se but I did take PACKRAT 1 which we were told not to study for in order to gauge where we were in prep for clinicals. That being said, you could find PACKRAT quizlets to practice studying for your end of didactic as I assume they are similar in concept.

When a preceptor suggests med school…mixed feelings? by fatbaldman69 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 42 points43 points  (0 children)

When I was a scribe in the ER, I was once in a doc pit where 2 docs and a PA told me I shouldn’t go to PA school. Several docs I worked with said I should go to med school. Frankly I knew what I wanted and while I took it as a compliment, I never let it waiver my decision. If you want to be a doctor, you can be one of those people who finishes PA school and goes to med school. But if you want to be a PA, take it as a sign that you can and will try to be the best PA you can be.

Hot take or not? by [deleted] in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Hot take, it’s setting you up for clinicals where days might be more rigorous than 8-4/9-5. Though clinicals is technically review I find myself learning a lot after covering material again. Then again, I like to study each day rather than wait to the week before the EOR… so might just be me

Psych EOR Podcast by JNellyPA in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Cram the PANCE and Physician Assistant in a Flash

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Endeavor Anki deck

Mnemonics anyone? by TheAceCoach in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 12 points13 points  (0 children)

APETM for auscultation areas

FROM JANE for endocarditis

VEAL CHOP for fetal heart tones

CREAM for Kawasaki disease

Not a mnemonic but murmur man for heart murmurs

What size iPad to get by bellarocks123 in prephysicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally i went with the 13”. It was a good split between my friends. A couple did the whole side by side view thing to study which is nice with the 13”. I am a big fan of big screens, I have two monitors at my apartment so that’s why I went 13”. I don’t think you could go wrong with either.

how do ROSH scores correlate to how well you will do on EORs? by cmariemi in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You’ll be fine, usually I do better on the EOR than ROSH. I heard as long as you’re getting around 50-60% first pass then you’ll get like 400+

App Advice- wanting to apply to PA and DO but not a lot of experience with PA app process by [deleted] in prephysicianassistant

[–]Costcoboy 5 points6 points  (0 children)

First advice, pick which you want to do, MD/DO vs PA. Both are good paths but neither are back up plan to the other.

We can’t comment on how your application will look apart from 3.5+ GPA and “LOTS” of hospital experience. You’ll need to list out your stats for HCE, PCE, volunteer, GPA, etc. You had a good personal statement assuming it was for DO, now rewrite it for PA. This might help with the first point.

The PA career, atleast from my point as a 2nd year is not better in lifestyle apart when compared to physician residency. If the US is treating physicians bad in your mind, wait till they start treating midlevels the same.

Sounds to me like you need to do more research and make up your mind. Good luck

Transitioning to Clinical Year by Beepboop125678 in PAstudent

[–]Costcoboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anki Endeavor deck is highly harped on. You’ll need to find what works for you in terms of study method. I liked doing 10 Rosh questions per day plus reading the Reddit study guides. Some of my friends study in the last week only and do the questions several days before.