The way you studied for orgo will not work in PA school. Ask anyone.

Professor Moini is a clinical PA and educator who helped build a PA program at Charles Drew University, and she's worked on Sketchy PA, the visual learning platform. So she thinks about how people actually retain information, not just how to deliver content at them.

Her background is in oncology and nutrition, which shapes how she teaches. She's big on training PAs as whole clinicians rather than walking flashcard decks, and that comes through in how she talks about curriculum.

If you're pre-PA, the useful part is this: start building study systems now. Prereqs are your practice run. Figure out what actually sticks for you before the firehose turns on.

What we cover:

• Why undergrad study habits break down in PA school
• How visual and story-based learning helps with retention
• What Sketchy PA is and how students use it
• Building a PA program around the whole clinician
• How oncology and nutrition shape her teaching
• Study advice you can start using before you're accepted

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

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This month we've been talking about studying a lot on social media, and I'm bringing on a guest today who is an expert and a pa.

So Professor Moini is awesome and I can't wait to tell you about her and let you meet her in this interview.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, guys, thanks so much for listening to the Prepa Club podcast.

I love today's guest.

So Professor Moini, who you are about to meet, is a pa and of course she is, but she's really cool.

She has so many cool experiences.

Like, this is a very impressive cv.

So she practices as a clinical PA in oncology, which is a tough specialty and takes a very special person.

She also founded the PA program at Charles Drew University, and then she now teaches for different PA programs, including Yale's online PA program.

With her history as a dietitian and background in nutrition, she helps with those courses.

And you, you'll hear her talk about how such an important part of creating the PA program at Charles Drew University was creating a holistic program that focuses on incorporating things outside of just the traditional medicine that really focus on a patient's wellness and how she emphasized that for her students as well.

So we're going to hear about that.

But one of the coolest things.

So I love when PAs pursue their passions outside of medicine as well.

Clearly, that's what I do with blogging.

You know, it's my creative outlet.

But Professor Moini is the PA Director at Sketchy.

Sketchy PA is an online visual learning platform that helps students and professionals effortlessly learn and recall information by taking advantage of art, story and the method of loci.

So this is really cool.

This is basically like, you know, you watch a story and you see all these different characters so that you're using different types parts of your brain to do different types of learning and make the information stick a little bit more than maybe just reading it in a book.

A lot of this stuff wasn't out when I was in PA school, but my husband actually used Sketchy for med school.

So I'm so excited that they have a PA division and we talk about it in the interview.

Kind of what goes into creating these videos, deciding what's important and what PA students and PAs need to know.

I'm up for restarting my boards in about a year and a half, so I've really started looking into study resources to figure out what is going to be the best for me because being in dermatology for seven years, I have lost a lot of my clinical knowledge.

So Sketchy is really fun and a fun way to reinforce your learning.

We'll have links in the description to all of the social media to how you need to find out more about Professor Moini and to Sketchy PA so you can check it out.

They have a free trial just so you can play with it and kind of see if it's something that would work for you.

So highly recommend trying that trial out and just giving it a shot because this is what I know a lot of PA students are using.

All right, let's hear from Professor Moiny and get the inside scoop and hear all about her background.

Also, we didn't talk about this, but she put in her bio, which I love, that she was a member of the U.S. inline Hockey Team and competed at several world inline hockey tournaments.

So cool.

And she also has a registered therapy dog named Lucy who's an American Staffordshire pit bull terrier who works with children with learning disabilities.

I just love this.

Like, I feel like she would be so cool to hang out with.

So I'm hoping we get to meet one day at a conference.

All right, let's hear from Professor Moyni.

So a little bit about me.

I actually began my career as a dietitian and work with bone marrow transplant patients and critically ill patients and incorporated a lot of nutrition therapy into their medical care.

After a few years realized, wow, medical care is really lacking this nutrition component and I want to be a stronger advocate for that.

I decided to advance my medical education and became a pain.

And then as a pa right away I started working again in oncology and bone marrow transplant, which was outstanding.

From there I kind of transitioned into academics because I also realized during this time that I absolutely love teaching and being part of the creation of medical providers that want to go out and provide holistic care to patients.

And I absolutely love the PA profession because it's so broad and even though I was very specialized in oncology and bone marrow transplant, even more specialized, those patients and every patient has every system affected.

And so because PAs have such a broad training, I was able to address all these issues and then obviously the nutrition experience allowed me to address the vast number of nutrition issues that these patients also had.

My career in academics started as just teaching in a PA program and from there I thought, wow, these students are amazing and I really want to Develop my own program and incorporate a lot more holistic teaching approaches like art and music and dance and just things that enhance us as humans.

Also help retention and learning and the whole academic experience and I think make you more socially responsible as a person, which I just, I think as the years go by, it's very easy in a profession like this to become burned out and cynical and not realize why you started doing this in the first place.

So I started a PA program in South Central Los Angeles, created the curriculum, incorporated all these bright ideas that I had, graduated three cohorts of students, and just absolutely loved it from there.

I've always worked clinically.

I still work as an oncology PA at a really innovative, amazing oncology clinic.

We do clinical trials and really state of the art cancer care.

And then came upon Sketchy and thought, wow, this is a really cool platform to be able to incorporate these ideas into a different way of learning, because everybody learns differently.

And I think visual learning is really beneficial to everyone.

Students, faculty, medical providers.

And so that's kind of a little bit about me.

Oh, my gosh.

I love how you've had your hand in so many different things.

And I think that almost just kind of embodies the PA profession and PAs, because that tends to be a common theme where, you know, we have a lot of interest and we like to try different stuff and, you know, we want to make things better, and when we see a problem, we try to fix it.

So you are doing all of that.

I totally agree.

And especially, you know, being overseeing the admissions process and so thousands and thousands of students reading their backgrounds and seeing that, wow, you know, people don't become a PA through this, like, unilateral track.

It's like PAs are so multidimensional, and I don't think a lot of people realize that.

It's like, you know, a lot of PAs are also, you know, pharmacists, athletic trainers, dieticians.

We even had several students that were physicians that wanted to practice more broadly and not have to go back and redo residency.

So it's like you bring all of that to your patient and I just think it's so valuable.

Yeah, yeah, I love our profession too.

It's a good one.

So being that you were in that academic world and working with students, and it sounds like your classes were very successful as far as completing the program and passing boards.

What factors from the other side do you see that led students to either excel in PA school or struggle?

Savannah, that's such a good question.

The answer I Think is easy, but also complicated.

But I would say hands down, number one is time management and organization 100%.

If you don't have your time management and organizational skills like down to a T and your routine down, not just for studying, but also self care,.

You.

Come into PA school and that just blows it all apart.

It's very intense.

Most programs, classes are mandatory.

You don't get to just choose, oh, hey, I'll get up at noon, you're there at 7.

You leave sometimes 9 or 10 at night.

So if you don't take advantage of every minute of the day for yourself physically and mentally and the way that you study, it totally becomes overwhelming.

And I think that's the number one reason why students are not successful.

Yeah, I think, I think so.

And it's just you, you're used to having me.

Coming from me as an undergrad, going straight into PA school, I was used to having so much time.

Yes.

And I didn't realize that until I got into PA school and that was taken away.

I think the people who did a little bit better were the ones who had already had full time careers and, you know, had learned how to manage time a little bit better versus you're right.

You know, I would get there at five or six in the morning to study and then I wouldn't leave till 5 or 6, go home, eat dinner and study.

That was it.

That's so true.

I don't always think my studying was effective.

Exactly the point.

Yes.

And that was a problem.

And it took me too long.

It took me about the first two and a half semesters to learn what was effective for me.

Yes.

So that's something I'm really interested in now, is just helping students figure out their learning styles and their resources quickly so that hopefully they don't have quite as stressful of an experience as a lot of us have.

Yeah, for sure.

And I think repetition is key and it's easy to get overwhelmed and almost have too many resources.

I think sometimes I've noticed students will have like, you know, 50 different websites and 10 different books and 100 different charts that somebody else made and some of them then made.

And I'm like, no, wait a second.

Okay, let's just go down to the basics.

I mean, you wouldn't believe it.

The simplest things, you know, skim over your lecture before you go to class.

Literally 15 minutes.

It might be 200 slides, but just let your brain have seen them, then engage in class.

I know it's hard, right.

You're sitting there and it's hours and you're trying to fall asleep and you're on social media and messaging your friends.

Right.

Sometimes maybe shopping a little.

Making fun of the professor.

Yeah, exactly.

But, you know, it's like that time is important to really force.

You know, if you need to get up, I would tell them, get up and do some jumping jacks, whatever it is, to just keep yourself engaged.

And then after class, go back through your slides and fill in those blanks and just those three things, you know, that you've now had three repetitions.

And it's amazing.

Stuff just starts to click.

Especially because there's a lot of overlap between classes, too.

So if you really just kind of incorporate those three things and are really ready, regimented by it, all of a sudden, you know, concepts start to click and make sense and.

And I think that's really important to understand the concepts, not trying to memorize them, because then it's just logical and.

And you get it.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's why I think it's different too, because you're learning things that are going to have an impact.

So it's different than your chemistry classes or things that you feel like are a waste of time, where you know what you're learning is going to help a patient potentially and have an impact.

So it is really important.

My program that I went to, they now have standing desk in the back of class.

So we'll go and stand, which I think is really cool.

Yeah.

Because, yeah, you're sitting there for eight hours.

Got to get up and move around a little bit.

And things have changed since I was in school.

So I went to PA school I started nine years ago, and we had, you know, our textbooks and lectures and there were two online kind of question bank things.

The one comprehensive review book and one or maybe two, like, question answer books.

Okay.

And so since then, now all the students have iPads and they take fancy notes and they have a lot more resources and options that I think can fit different learning styles a little bit better, which is great.

So that's why I'm really interested in Sketchy also, because my husband.

My husband went to medical school and him and all of his friends use Sketchy in med school.

So then I found out about Sketchy PA and I was like, okay, that's awesome.

You know, we love resources specifically for PAs.

Because I also remember one of those Qbanks I used was very clearly a med school Qbank bank that they just slapped a PA label on.

Yeah.

And it was not helpful.

And so I want to know a little bit about the background of Sketchy and then kind of how you got involved in that.

What's your official title?

So I'm the director of the PA content for Sketchy.

Perfect.

So I got, I got involved with Sketchy because A, you know, they were fantastic visual learning platform and B, they wanted to start this PA platform.

And like you said, a lot of med students are very familiar and I think like a fair number of PAs as well.

But I think because the product originally started with med students and kind of spread through that community, the familiarity with it was more.

And so they really wanted to break into the PA field because obviously the two curriculums completely overlap.

And so, you know, my vision was, let me, let me see, how can I make these videos more PA specific?

And by that I don't mean, you know, PA school, med school, it's the same.

However, I understand that the density of PA school is so much more.

So the length of time you watch the video is going to really impact whether the student wants to watch it or not.

So a one hour video may not be as appealing as something that's like five or ten minutes.

Particularly because these videos are meant to be a supplement.

I wouldn't want somebody to just the background behind me is different types of cardiomyopathies.

And this is a new video that was just made specifically for the PA platform for Sketchy.

And there's actually two videos.

One covers dilated and restrictive cardiomyopathy and the other one's hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

And to really have the videos be succinct, organized and structured, because I know from the teaching side and from the student side, you do want to be entertained and engaged.

But as a PA student, because your time is limited, if the entertainment goes too long, you're going to start to get annoyed because the time is so limited, right?

Yeah.

And you're thinking, okay, this is great, but like, I want to do these, I need to get all these other things done still, you know, so it's like, you know, how can we pare that down, make it much more targeted to the topics, the high yield topics, shorter to the point.

And it's a supplement.

So you already had your cardiology class, you already went over different types of cardiomyopathies.

You already, you probably had that lecture was what, one to three hours long.

Now you're going to watch this 10 minute video and it's going to bring it all together and it's going to incorporate symbols and memory components and review cards.

And ultimately, questions that's not on the platform yet, but we have questions to put up too.

And that just kind of solidifies, kind of reminds me of if you're an athlete and you're trying to learn a sport, if you're a basketball player, for example, you're going to go to your coach for fine tuning those skills.

You can't just show up not knowing how to dribble the ball.

It's just like a waste of everyone's time.

Right?

So it's the same thing if you're putting in the work as a student, you're going to your classes, you're staying engaged, you're reading, you're asking for help, and then you watch this video and it seals the deal, particularly, I think, as a nice way to kind of change things up, make it fun and enjoyable, stimulate a different part of your brain.

You know, you're waiting to get something done, get your oil changed, you're listening, you're watching like this video.

Yeah, well, that's what I mean.

We, we talk about, you know, wanting to apply it versus memorize, but there's some things you just need to know.

And that's where I feel like we do rely so heavily on memory devices and yes, all the, you know, abbreviations and funny little sayings.

Um, but having that visual to put with them is so helpful.

So, yeah, nothing like this was around when I was in school because I, I think I've learned that I am a more visual learner and because I've always wanted to write things out and like, see it.

And so by being able to, you know, see it in a different way, I think is so helpful.

What goes into creating one of these videos, because they're really cute and fun, but like, like, they look like they'd be fun to make.

I don't know.

They are so fun to make.

And actually a lot goes into making them.

Basically, it starts with, okay, I'm going to create a video for cardiomyopathy.

So let me sit down and do some research and put together just the educational text.

What do I want to cover?

Etiology, pathophys, presentation, diagnosis, management, whatever it may be, and get that put together.

And then you want to try and imagine what are some things about this particular disorder that can formulate this story for this one, I don't know.

If you see this guy over my right shoulder, he's got that huge dilated ball that represents dilated cardiomyopathy.

So in my head I was thinking a football.

If it's dilated it's dilated cardiomyopathy versus is like, if you see these guys here.

Yeah.

They look.

This one, this girl looks like she's, like, restricted by this guy for restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Okay.

You see the guy up there with the bagpipe that looks like he's the streaker?

That's.

That's hypertrophic cardiomyopathy because that's like a huge hypertrophied, like, bagpipe.

Yeah.

These things just start to kind of formulate in your head, so you start to create the story.

And then, you know, Sketchy has a lot of great symbology already, you know, So I already know that this floppy heart balloon in the stands represents heart failure.

You know, so.

Or I don't know if you can see there's like a trophy back there filled with rubies.

So that the rubies represent the drug doxorubicin, which is cardiotoxic, you know, so then you start to incorporate the symbols that are already made and exist into the story.

And then obviously, if there's something that needs a new symbol, you try to think, well, what symbol can I give this concept that will make it memorable and that will make your brain think of this disorder in a story type format.

Like the soccer ball over there, it represents sarcoidosis.

So the sarcoid soccer ball.

I was wondering about the soccer ball.

Yeah.

Or like, if you see the weights, the bench there.

So that's overload.

So iron.

Okay.

You know, so then you incorporate all those things together.

And then, you know, then you meet with art and you've actually got like an artist that sits and kind of sketches this out.

And then once the art is put together, you meet with your production team and you produce it.

Some of the elements in this video also animated.

The goal line, you can see is like an ekg.

Yeah.

So that animates across the screen, you know, so you just kind of come up with those different.

Those different things.

But it go, you know, every step is like a pretty in depth process until you get, like, this cool finished product.

Yeah, that's so cool.

And just so such a great way to use creativity and kind of exercise that part of your brain too, so.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I think, like, you know, that's a great way for students to learn to, you know, coming up with their own, you know.

Yeah, they need to draw something, draw it out.

If they need to make a chart, make a chart, do it themselves.

Because by doing it themselves, they teach themselves, you know, instead of, you Know, using somebody else's like notes or something, for example.

Well, I just think of this like on a test it would, you know, you'd see these images in your head.

Yes.

And be able to remember and recall kind of where things were and how they went together.

Because it's just, you know, we talk about all the time, but like, it's so crazy how you can remember a song from 10 years ago.

Every lyric.

I can't remember a fact from Monday that I learned.

You know, it's wild how our brains comprehend and cling on to different things.

Yes.

I think it's really important to exercise your right and left side of your brain.

And art and music, like you said, all those things do that.

And why not incorporate that into your learning?

I mean, we're all in medicine because we love it, but I think we forget to have fun with it.

I think this helps do that.

Yeah, that is really fun.

So I think you kind of went over how this is a great supplement to learning the material, having, you know, an understanding of it and then using this to kind of help solidify it.

But what feedback have you had from students as far as how they've used sketchy or kind of what they've seen as far as their studying and success and time management from incorporating this into their study regimen?

Yeah, it seems to me like, you know, most students are probably, you know, selecting topics that they maybe have a little bit more difficulty with or maybe don't have as much time to dedicate, or maybe it's something that, you know, they wish they would have had more time to delve into.

And they're picking, you know, those topics as far as the videos to look at.

So I mean, that's.

It seems like it's not necessarily replacing what they're doing, but they're picking things that they had trouble with before and using this as just another method.

Like maybe this will teach it to me, this will make it click.

So I think about our few lectures in PA school that I just sat there the whole time thinking like, this is way over my head.

This person, they consider their audience, what are they talking about specifically, like acid based stuff.

And some of those, those concepts, those like lab values that you don't get a good handle on until you're like seeing them in clinical practice and all that to where I was looking for any resource possible to try to understand it better because the way it was explained to me just wasn't working.

You know, those types of topics are definitely, I think, more difficult.

I totally Agree.

I totally agree.

And those topics really require someone to be able to break it down and teach it.

And because it's all teachable and it's none of it's.

I think that's important for students to remember too.

You know, if it's normal to feel that overwhelmed.

Right.

Because you don't have experience in it.

But it's, it's learnable.

You just like have to break it down and, and find whoever it is or whatever it is that can teach it to you in the way that you can learn it.

And once you do.

Right.

Acid base.

It's like, what.

This is so easy.

Why was this such a big problem?

But it just seems overwhelming because, you know, it hasn't been explained in that simplified manner.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, that's what I'm.

I'm two years out, well, about a year and a half now from my research.

So that's why I've started looking into more resources because I work in dermatology, which will consist of a total of 4% of that.

So I very much will need a significant amount of review in all other topics.

So that's where I'm at right now, like, and I'm so excited that there are more resources to use because I will need so much help.

The pa, you know, platform right now, that's on sketchy too.

The way I created it or the way we created it was, you know, really tried to choose the.

Again, like, it's quality, not quantity.

I know we always like think, you know, If I have 20 of these things, it's better.

But it's like, no, sometimes you just need three things.

So I've been really trying to pare the curriculum down to match PA curriculum without having it be too excessive.

And then right now we're in progress of also creating videos that are, like I mentioned, much shorter and more kind of targeted towards those high yield pants topics.

So the hope is, you know, in time.

I'm not sure how long, but let's say a year or so maybe, you know, that, that we will.

I can say to you.

Okay, click here and you can see like the list of videos that are more reflective of pants type topics without you having to kind of like search around.

Yeah, yeah.

I feel like I'll need it all, but it's okay.

No, but that's what I think.

I think it's, it's really cool.

And so that's where, you know, my advice to students is at the beginning of PA school, start with what worked for you in undergrad.

But if it's not working, recognize that very quickly and ask for help and explore other options to figure out what is going to work.

And once you identify a resource, a routine, stick with that.

Don't feel like you have to change it because of what someone else is doing.

But yeah, what would your advice be?

As far as you know, those it were kind of in the beginning, back to school season where everybody's freaking out.

So what would your advice be to those people who are like I don't know what to do right now.

I think like you said, number one, ask for help.

Find, you know, there's, there's your professors want to be your mentors and I think sometimes students are afraid like they may feel if I ask for help then I feel like I'm not being successful and that's totally not true.

Find the professor that you vibe with that can be your mentor and ask for help early and frequently.

Don't compare yourself to other people.

Grades aren't everything you need to pass.

But whether Your score is 85 or 88 doesn't determine your level of knowledge.

Right.

So understanding too that test taking is a skill and work on just those test taking skills as well.

Unfortunately we have to do exams.

Right.

And how else can you measure in that quick of an amount of time?

So realize that that's a separate skill, you know, and work on that as well.

And I think the time management and organization and the self care is huge.

I mean I always used to tell my students like there is no reason why you are not doing something active every day for an hour.

And if that, if you can't spend one hour outside of your studies doing something active to refresh your physical and mental being, then you're not studying correctly.

One extra hour shouldn't make you pass or fail the test, otherwise you're not prepared in the first place.

You just have to incorporate that into your regimen just to keep your mental sanity and, and stay grounded.

Yeah, that's, that's great, great advice.

I hope people go back and listen.

To.

Because that's what I would have told myself if I do so well.

Where can people just kind of find out more about Sketchy PA and follow along where's the best place?

And I'll put everything in the description too if you're listening or watching of.

Course, you know, just go to sketchy.com and you'll see right away at the top of the screen different options.

So you'll see, you know, sketchy pharmacy, sketchy medical, sketchy pa just click on Sketchy PA and you'll see some different pricing structures.

And right now we have a free trial.

So the free trial is, you know, you don't even need to enter your credit card.

You literally just click the free trial, enter your email address, and then you can see the entire platform.

But you only have access to certain videos within each.

You know, to kind of see, like, is this something for you?

Is this something that helps you learn and gets you.

Gets you excited?

And then obviously if you know you're enjoying that, then you can go ahead and sign up for a membership and then have full access.

Yeah, perfect.

Well, yeah, we'll put all the social and links and everything in the description for everybody.

But thank you so much for sharing.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, we're really excited to kind of, you know, get the.

Get the PA profession involved in this.

So, yeah, thank you for asking me to be part of this.

And don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything.

For sure.

Okay.

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did.

And I highly encourage you to reach out to Professor Moini and to Sketchy pa, see if it's something you're interested in, if it'll work for you.

I should have a discount code soon to share as I'm trying it out myself.

And yeah, look forward to next week's episode and I will see you guys there.

Bye.