Jamie is deep into clinical rotations in Michigan, and she came on to talk about what actually got her here.

We start with how she found out the PA profession existed, what applying looked like for her, and then get into the part nobody can really prepare you for. Didactic year. Rotations. Trying to keep a life while doing both.

What we talk about:

• How Jamie first learned about the PA profession
• What her application and acceptance looked like
• The real workload of didactic year
• What clinical rotations are actually like
• Balancing PA school with a personal life
• What she'd tell her pre-PA self if she could

Resources:

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

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

One-on-one pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

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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.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Are you ready for another interview?

That's what we have today.

And so I'm really excited about this one because it's an interview with someone that I would call a friend, even though I've never actually met her.

Her name is Jamie and she is a PA student in Michigan.

So this is just where the Internet is so cool, and it's such a small world and we get to connect with people and get to know people that we never would have known otherwise.

So I think Jamie and I connected first on Instagram and she was kind of chronicling her journey through PA school, and now she's in rotations and we ended up kind of talking over a Skype session.

We have very similar kind of outlooks and I would say personalities.

And so, yeah, I've loved talking with Jamie just on Instagram, texting, whatever.

And Jamie actually helps with the pre physician assistant Reddit, which I'll link to in the description.

If you don't know what Reddit is, it's kind of this really awesome online forum where you can get information about really any subject.

There are what they are called subreddits.

I know what this is because my husband introduced me to it a long time ago.

And each subreddit is about something very specific.

So there's one for pre physician assistant penns and physician assistants.

There's one for medicine.

There's all kinds.

I mean, any interest you have, you can definitely find information about it on Reddit.

So Jamie is a big part of the pre physician assistant one.

And so, yeah, I'm excited.

This is a little bit of a longer episode because we really like to talk, apparently, but I think you'll get a lot out of it.

A lot of great information about where she's at and kind of her experience getting into PA school, what PA school has been like and now in rotations and what that's like because it's completely different.

So I'm really excited about that.

Before we get started, I just wanted to quickly mention a sponsor of the podcast, MyPA Resource.

If you've never heard of MyPA Resource, it's a website, www.myparesource.com.

And while I offer services like mock interviews, I work with mypa Resource as a personal statement editor.

So mypa Resource has been around for a while now, and I would say just based on Everything that's out there.

They are the most trusted and most thorough pre PA personal statement editing service.

So with MyPA resource, like I said, I'm an editor, so I help them edit proofread personal statements for PA school applicants.

We'll talk more about personal statements in the future, but I cannot stress the importance of having your essay proofread by a PA. And that's what makes my PA resource different, is that they only use PAs to do their editing.

And so you want a PA who's familiar with the interview process and the application process before you submit to caspa.

So all the editors, we've been trained, we do a lot of essays, and we know what to look for, and we know what the admissions committees are looking for.

And so I know when I edit, it's very thorough.

I mean, you're going to get a lot of read back, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

So you can use actually a discount code that they have provided to the Pre Pa Club podcast listeners exclusively.

And you can get $15 off any service when you use the code Pre Pa Club, all in lowercase.

So I'll put that in the description as well.

And if you have any questions about that, please feel free to reach out to me.

You can send them an email too.

But, yeah, a great resource that I want you guys to know about, so.

All right, let's jump into our interview with Jamie.

All right, guys, today I'm interviewing a PA student that you may have seen on Instagram or Reddit, and her name is Jamie.

So I'm gonna let her introduce herself, and then we're gonna talk all about PA school and where she's at in her journey to becoming a pa.

Hi, guys.

My name is Jamie Murofsky.

I am a PA student at Detroit Mercy in Michigan.

Awesome.

Where'd you go to undergrad?

On the other side of Michigan.

I got a Bachelor of Biomedical Science.

Okay, cool.

So talk to me a little bit about your journey to becoming a pa. Did you always want to be a PA or did that decision kind of come later on?

So I'm pretty young, and I would call myself a traditional medical school.

Can we cut that out?

Medical school applicant.

I started out my undergrad degree being like, I'm gonna be a doctor, and I'm gonna be the best doctor that there ever has been.

So I, like, pushed myself to get good grades.

And I started out pre med and I went to all the clubs and all that jazz and I just honestly had no idea what a PA was.

I'd never gone to a PA before.

I'd never met a PA before.

Vaguely that nurse practitioner was a thing, but I didn't know what it was either.

I just thought it was like, either you were a nurse and you were a doctor.

And I knew I wanted to treat patients.

I knew I didn't necessarily just want to be involved in patient care.

So that was kind of what pushed me away from nurse and towards doctor.

And then I finally met a PA for the first time.

When I actually started nannying, I was just like desperate for cash over the summer.

So I started nannying for this family and their neighbor was a pa.

So I just like was talking to her at the pool about her job and I was like, wow, that sounds perfect.

And lo and behold, here we are.

Awesome.

So at what point was that in your college career?

Sophomore year.

And it was summer after sophomore year.

So at that point I was like, you know what?

I've been too deep into pre med, so I just stayed on that track.

Because at my school there's two different degrees for medical.

You can do allied health science and you can do biomedical science.

And if you're urge you to go the allied health science route, if you're pre med, they urge you to go the BMS route.

And that's because BMS is a lot more in depth.

They do like physics based calc, the based physics, it's two semesters.

You do full two semesters of gen chem, two semesters of orgo, a full semester of graduate level biochem, things like that.

And then the allied health science, you still do gen chem, but it's only one semester.

And then the second semester is orgo and biochem combined.

And then physics is still two semesters, but it's taught in a different way.

It's not calc based anymore, it's just general physics.

So you're still getting all the same classes, all the same content route is meant to prepare you for the mcat.

And at this point I didn't want to be a doctor, but I was just like, let's just keep going.

So I ended up graduating with biomedical science.

Okay, so at that point I'm assuming you didn't have any healthcare experience?

None.

I had never talked to a patient before unless it was in the waiting room at my own doctor's appointments.

What, what did you do to fix that or did you.

What steps did you take to switch from pre med to pre pa?

So first I started frantically searching PA programs and figuring out, like, what do you even need to do to get into PA school?

And I quickly learned that I needed to write a personal statement.

I needed to get healthcare.

And with the healthcare experience, I was like, I do not understand all these differences.

Like, what is a patient care versus healthcare?

How are they different?

I don't understand.

And so my academic advisor just told me, like, everyone's a cna.

Like, just go be a cna.

Then he gave me the information for a local course and I was just like, okay.

So I ended up going to a two week course, and then within like two weeks after that, I took the little national certification exam, which was honestly quite stupid.

And then I worked at subacute rehab called Sunset Manor.

Community itself is called Sunset.

And then there are a bunch of different little facilities that fall under that spectrum.

And I worked at two different locations.

And in those locations there is subacute rehab, long term care, and Alzheimer's dementia care.

And I worked kind of all of them doing ADLs, mostly helping people with their activities of daily living, but we also did vitals and we helped the nurses with patient care.

Okay, do you think your experience as a CNA not only helped you in a PA school, but has helped you just on rotations and with patient care?

I would say from a bedside manner standpoint, absolutely.

It helped me learn how to talk to people and not even talk to them, but how to listen.

You'll probably notice throughout this podcast that I talk a lot, so that was one thing that I needed to learn was like, how to sit back and just listen.

So that was probably the biggest thing I learned was just like, when someone's really upset because of their health, like as a CIA, you're the person that they're crying to.

So that was probably my first exposure to like, that aspect of healthcare.

But you also got to see people like, rebound because in rehab they do go home and so they recover and it's really cool to like, watch them heal.

So that was staying too, because I was like, wow, these treatment plans are working great for these people.

Look at these guys go.

Yeah, I worked at a rehab place as a CNA too, so we have very similar experiences there.

When it came time for the application process, did you apply while you were still in undergrad or did you take a gap year?

I applied while I was still an undergrad.

I was at the end of my junior year Very similar to how you are in high school when you're applying for colleges.

I timed it specifically so that by the time I had interviewed and been accepted, if I was, I would be starting the following year with no gaps.

Okay, were there any weak parts of your application or anything that made you think you wouldn't get in the first time?

I would say definitely.

My shadowing experience was lackluster, and if you really dug deep into it, it was a little sponge.

I shadowed at an electrophysiology PA's office, and I guess technically not office.

She worked at a hospital, so in her group of cardiology, there was also a cardiovascular surgeon.

And between the two, I bounced back and forth all day long for a couple different visits, but I put them down each for the same day.

But I didn't date them, if that makes sense.

So I said, like, oh, I did 10 hours with this person and 10 hours with this person, but technically that was the same 10 hours.

Gotcha.

So don't tell my school that.

But probably not a deal breaker otherwise.

Experience wise, I just don't think I had a lot of hours.

My experience was pretty lacking.

I only basically met the minimum for both.

For most schools, I had about a thousand hours.

And I was working other jobs too, so I like a heart into it.

I was kind of just checking off the boxes because I just desperately wanted to be in PA school.

So I figured, you know what?

Like, if I don't get in, then I'll, like, really work on revamping it.

But for now, I'm just gonna see if I can do it from where I'm at.

Gotcha.

Okay, so what do you think made you stand out on your application?

Was there anything that you feel like just was awesome.

So I must have had something going for me because I got it.

Exactly.

I would say my two biggest ones are probably academics and my work ethic.

I think one thing that's pretty unique to me is that I have always worked from the moment I was able to at 16 and even before that.

I started babysitting when I was 11, but at 16, I started working at Taco Bell, and I worked there as much as they would legally let me.

And then I got a job at Applebee's when I turned 18, because that was when you were allowed to start handing out alcohol.

You weren't allowed to bartend.

Still.

You can't do that till you're 21, but you're able to serve liquor, so then you were able to get tips.

So I started working at Applebee's and then I was also tutoring.

I was the whole PA journey and working full time while going to school full time.

And I think a lot of students, especially students my age, they don't work and go to school.

Most of them party and go to school.

So when I talk about, like, oh, like, how did you spend your free time?

I was always like, oh, how's that work?

That was really unique to me.

Obviously lots of people have jobs, but I was kind of excessive about how much I was working.

Interesting.

Pre med track helped me a lot.

I think that the fact that I took such difficult classes made me stand out because how many PA applicants have taken calc?

Two have taken an advanced biochem graduate level class.

Just.

And I didn't just take them, I performed well in them.

Definitely aided my application a lot.

Yeah, I think academics are.

I mean, they are one of the most important parts.

And I had classes under my belt.

Pharmacology.

I took anatomy and physiology separately.

The physiology I took had a separate lab component.

I took microbiology and microbiology was two semesters each semester had a separate lab component.

Trying to, like, go as deep as possible into classes I thought would really prep me to be in medicine.

Do you think that has helped you do better in the A school?

Oh, absolutely.

By comparison, some of the people who have been in medicine longer and more experienced with meds, I think didn't struggle as much.

But some of the classmates who are comparable to me in age and like, life experience, I think having the farm class and the patho class definitely helped me because I was able to like, jump into pharm and be comfortable with it.

Like, I already had that basic understanding of beta blocker ends in olol and it works on the sympathetic nervous system.

So I think that definitely was.

But I wish I had retained more because there were many times I was like, oh my gosh, I can picture him telling me the side effects of this in undergrad and now it's on the test again.

I know it's important, but you just like your.

Your mind blanks and.

But it definitely helped.

Well, that's something I'm sure we'll talk about in a minute when we talk about clinicals.

But I felt like pharm is one of those things that until you're actually doing it, it's so difficult to really learn.

Absolutely agree with that.

Yeah.

Okay.

So when it came to application time, how many schools did you apply to?

6.

Okay.

What was the most difficult part of your application process?

Initially, I was going to answer this with writing my essay.

But now that I'm thinking about it, I had a hard time with all the little minuscule details.

Like some schools accept your prerequisites if they're still in progress.

Some of them don't.

Some of them want you to take an upper level class, which means it has to be greater than 300, so your 290 level class doesn't count.

There's all these little caveats and stuff.

Stupid fine print that you don't really.

You're doing just like looking from caspa, you really have to tease it out from their websites.

And I think that schools kind of do that because they think, oh well, if this person really, really wants to go to our school, they'll have looked at that.

And at the time, like I did want to go to PA school, but I was just trying to like up around Michigan or outside of Michigan, but still kind of close to home and just kind of go from there.

So I didn't fully, fully look in depth.

All four schools I was rejected from was because of details like that.

Like I didn't have a class completed that they wanted, but it was in progress.

Or I didn't have a 300 level class, but I had 290 level class.

So stupid stuff like that.

Yeah.

I mean, and that's what I think.

People get frustrated and they always want a list of programs that have this or that.

But it's so hard to keep up with it because they're constant changing too.

So you always have to look at the program websites to try to stay up to date because something you may be planning for could change tomorrow.

Unfortunately.

Yeah.

And it's really frustrating.

I just remember getting rejection letters and being like, what the heck?

I didn't even know that.

Yeah.

I got the two schools I was rejected from.

I didn't meet their qualifications either.

I didn't have enough hours.

I knew that when I applied, but just kind of wanted to see what happened.

Yeah.

So I kind of expected those.

What happened?

So the other two, did you get interviews?

I actually.

So I guess I didn't fully get rejected from four because I got 50.

50.

I got rejected from three and I got interviews for three.

Okay.

And at the time I had a lot going on, but had long standing afib, but was starting to have congestive heart failure.

And the AFIB was resistant to cardioversion chemically.

So we decided like, you know what, let's pursue surgery.

So we scheduled an ablation.

It Was right before interview season for me.

During the ablation, he actually had a stroke.

Multiple strokes, actually a bunch of small little ones.

And so when they woke him up, obviously after open heart surgery, they're not going to give TPA to stop the stroke, but he had thrown some clots, so he resulted in complete left side paralysis and was no longer able to things.

And so he got moved to the rehab unit on the hospital.

He spent a couple days in the ICU first, but then he moved to the rehab unit.

And at first he was rehabbing really good, but then he was rehabbing really poorly.

He got really depressed and he just like started going downhill really fast.

And so by the time I got my very first interview offer, I was like, I don't even think he's gonna live.

I think that he's gonna die.

And I don't mentally think I can handle that.

So I decided like, you know what?

This first interview is at my alma mater.

Like, I'm still currently attending here.

I don't have to travel for the interview.

So for my very first interview, I was just like, screw it.

I'm just gonna go and see how it goes.

I'm not gonna prepare for it, and whatever happens, happens.

I'm not really ready to go to school right now.

Like, I just need to.

I'll just see how it goes.

I did.

I got accepted.

Good job.

Still was in the boat of I don't know if I want to go.

So I applied to be deferred for a year and they rejected me.

So I made the ballsy decision to not only turn down my other interview, which was like offered at the time to Grand Valley, and that was like, after every single person on Reddit was like, don't do that.

Don't turn down your seat.

You don't know how competitive this is.

You're gonna, like, you're gonna.

And so of course I was like, scared to do it, but it ended up working out really well because over the course of the next several months, like from the October ish time to March, a lot better.

And I got an email from Detroit Mercy saying, your application is not fully complete.

We're missing this thing.

Can you send it to us?

And this kind of light bulb went off in my head, like, oh my God, there was one school left.

Didn't hear from them yet.

So I sent in the info that they asked for, waited to see if I was going to get an interview, and I did, and I got accepted.

And here we are working out.

Because by the time I was Accepted.

My grandpa was doing a lot, a lot better, but he's actually coming home tomorrow.

Oh, wow.

So it's been a journey.

Well, and that's where, I mean, you have to decide what works for you.

Which I think some people struggle with because, I mean, it is hard to turn down a seat.

I can't imagine doing that.

I mean, it would be extremely difficult to have that and turn it down.

But the shorter version, just in case we want to go with that one, is I was so basically rejected.

3 Interviews.

3.

They truly interviewed at 2.

Accepted to both chose Detroit Mercy, Grand Valley, but of my own personal just life.

Yeah.

And you're happy with your decision?

I mean, I have nothing to compare it to, so I'm happy.

There you go.

I don't know how other PA programs work, but I think I have a phenomenal education.

I've had a really good time in clinical so far.

My experiences have been just nothing but high quality, so I can't really complain.

Well, that works.

What has been most surprising to you about PA school?

That I could fail something and how easy it was to fail something and have it be so important.

I've never put effort into something and then not done well on it.

It not well on things, but only ever if I didn't put the work in.

So for the first time ever, like I was actually studying for things, but I was still failing.

I failed two exams the first semester.

And you can read that there's a post about that.

I'll link to it.

But yeah, so I think that was my biggest surprising thing was just like how horrible it would feel to fail.

Yeah, I failed a test my first semester too.

It was a farm test, the very first one.

And yeah, it wasn't very discouraging.

It wasn't fun.

Failing in the very, very beginning is even scarier.

Yeah, definitely.

I mean, I just, I realized that I was going to have to study differently and I just didn't really know how my teacher tested and he was a very interesting professor.

And from that point forward, I learned what to do to do well and how to study for his test.

But yeah, that first one and I barely failed.

You had to have a 75 to pass and I think I got like a 73.

So I have repeated and will repeat until the end of time that I would rather fail fail than miss it by a point or two.

Because there's no worse feeling than being like, I'm almost good enough, but I still suck.

Yeah, it was not fun.

And just having to like, own that Be like.

Because they would.

In my program, they would tell you that you, like, you'd get your score back, and then it was up to you to, like, go to your advisor and figure out how to remediate.

So then I'm doing, like, the walk of shame to go talk to her.

And it's like two weeks in, and I'm just like, obviously I'm already a failure, but I did better after that.

Here we are.

I made it out, so we're good.

Yeah.

That's the spirit.

Yeah, no big deal.

Is there anything that you think you could have done differently to prepare yourself more for PA school?

I think it would have been better to have more medical experience.

Something maybe higher quality, even just like, maintaining being a cna, but changing settings instead of working only in subacute care.

Typically hospitals, for patient text, they want you to have a year of experience.

So after working there for a year, what I should have done is probably move to the hospital so I could have seen, like, higher acuity stuff.

That is not the end of the world.

It's definitely doable.

Otherwise, I wish I would have tried more in my undergrad medical terminology class, because even now I'm like, I feel like I could figure out what this based on all of these little suffixes and prefixes, but I'm like, I don't know.

I'm gonna have to look it up.

And then the other thing would probably be, I wish I had taken a cadaver lab in undergrad, because when we did our first dissection, Very overwhelming.

I have never even, like, seen a.

Well, that's not true.

I had not seen a dead body before because we had done postmortem care at the nursing home, but I had never dissected anything before.

A whole different experience.

Yeah, it can be.

We had a cadaver lab too, and it can be.

It's a great experience.

And I mean, definitely one of the most unique things I've ever done.

But, yeah, it was a little overwhelming.

That's one thing that is so important is having a cadaver lab where you do the dissection and PA school.

And I would think that's one of my top things I would tell someone to look for when they look for a PA program is to make sure you have that experience.

Yeah, that's my advice.

Especially if someone wants to do surgery, I think.

And I mean, even, like, I'm in Durham, which is very minor surgery, but just being able to, like.

And it's different in a cadaver versus a living person, but seeing like the difference and feeling the difference in like nerves and arteries and veins and what that's really like.

I mean, yeah, I mean, I'll never forget,.

Like arteries are red and things are blue are yellow, but in the real body, like, you're not going to be able to tell them apart until you physically touch them with your hand.

Yeah, exactly.

But, yeah, no, I thought that was a really cool experience too.

How have you found it difficult to balance, like personal life and school life, or has that been easy for you?

It's definitely been a challenge in the first semester.

I think part of my problem, part of why I was failing things was I was trying too hard to maintain my social life and I was not giving enough to my schoolwork.

But that said, I think that you can't cut it out completely.

You do need that balance.

You do need that support system.

It's really important to not bail out of everything every once in a while.

Going out to dinner or like going to a movie or having a date night with your boyfriend or going to see your mom or just calling your grandma.

Those things are so, so important for your mental health.

Underestimate that.

And they're like, well, I need to study.

And so they say no to a lot of things and I think that negatively affects you.

So I think I found my balance after Christmas break.

After Christmas break, I felt so burnt out that I knew I needed to make a change.

So I tried to make more time for me by going to the gym.

Sure, I was calling my mom, calling my grandma and like going to hang out with people, but not super often and not timed poorly, if that makes sense.

Like, I wouldn't go out the week before an exam anywhere at all.

Yeah, no, that makes complete sense.

And I, I did very similar.

I was like full time studying.

Well, I, I went in full time studying, like super intense the first two semesters and wouldn't go out.

I was living at home, but like, I wouldn't go out to eat with my parents.

Parents, like, wouldn't do anything.

And so then spring semester came and I kind of loosened up and I actually did better.

Like, my grades improved.

So.

And I think in grad school, I don't know if you have this mentality, but it gets to a point too where it's like, I could study for an hour and maybe get two or three points higher, but does it really matter?

Yes.

No, it doesn't.

So that is what I tell.

I have two mentees that I have.

Like, I'm a mentor for, for the class underneath Us.

And that was the first thing I ever told them.

I'm just like, don't study for an A when you can pass with the B. Yep.

Sounds bad when you say it, but it's true.

But if you study for an A, you'll kill yourself trying to get there.

If you study for a B, you'll maintain your sanity and people will still remember what you look like.

Yeah, no, I completely agree.

So now that you're on rotations, how do, how does clinical year compare to didactic year?

Do you.

Do you have one you like better?

If you had asked me that during my first rotation, I would have been like, oh my God.

I like didactic year better.

Because my first rotation was internal medicine and I was with two residents and a medical student.

And their schedule was like 80 to 90 hour weeks.

We had two days off total in the five weeks I was there.

And my commute was like 45 minutes to an hour.

So I was gone for probably 12 hours a day, every single day, the whole rotation.

And I would come home and sometimes not even eat dinner.

I would just go right to bed because I was so tired and I don't remember.

But then the next rotation, immediately after that, I didn't have to be there till night nine.

And I got to go home at 4:30.

So it was like.

And no weekends.

So it was like in the two, like all of a sudden I had so much free time, I didn't know what to do with it.

But now I feel like in this third rotation.

And so I would say now I'm like, oh, clinical year is amazing.

And didactic year was horrible.

That was.

Right?

Yeah, I remember I was talking on Instagram when you were in internal medicine, since that's what my husband's a resident in.

And I was like, yep, this is his life.

I know exactly what you're going through.

I didn't have to do it, but I've watched him do it.

So.

Yeah.

And the funny thing is one of my classmates was in internal medicine at the same time at the same hospital, but with a different doctor.

And her schedule was like 4:30 most days.

Sometimes she'd stay till 5:30, but she never worked weekends.

And so it's.

It's really funny how you can have the exact same rotation and have a completely different experience.

That's true.

And that I feel like.

And you'll probably see this more as you go on, but it kind of, I don't want to say it taints your opinion of things, but like, for example, I think you had a pretty good psych rotation.

I did not.

I. I did not have a good psych rotation.

I was on inpatient for four weeks.

It was just really intense.

And I came out of it, like, not liking psych at all.

But, like, some of my classmates had really great psych rotations, or, like, I had a great peds rotation, and they didn't.

And so it really, depending on what you see in your rotation, really affects how much you like it.

And it definitely is kind of what you make of it, too, because it's really funny that you have the impression that my psych rotation was great, because I was literally warned before I went in there that it was going to be the most horrible experience I had ever had.

Like, so scared because my classmate was telling me how horrible it was.

She's like, there's no providers there.

You're not going to get to do anything.

All you're going to do is sit around, make sure you bring stuff to study, because you're going to be bored out of your mind.

But I ended up doing a ton at that rotation.

I sat in on group therapies.

The admissions nurse called in, so I ended up doing admissions all day long.

Like, I'm.

I won't necessarily be doing that as a pa Like, I'm not going to do admissions for a substance abuse treatment center.

But, like, they asked me if I wanted to do it.

And my philosophy in clinicals is if they ask you if you want to do something, you say yes.

Even if it's like, can you replace the paper towel for us?

Yeah.

Just be very willing.

Yeah.

And very willing.

And I think it's made a good impression for me because my evaluations so far have been pretty good.

They're like, Jamie goes above and beyond to help us with whatever we need.

Yeah.

I think.

And I guess for me, too, like, I assume that's how everyone is, but I remember being on my internal medicine rotation, and it was like the third day, and I was halfway through clinicals, and the PA I was with and the doctor, they were like, you can start seeing patients on your own.

And they're like, we don't always do this, but you seem like you really want to be here.

And I was like, what?

Doesn't everyone want to be here?

And they're like, no.

Some people just stand there and they don't ask questions and they don't participate.

So, yeah, I was like, oh, well, I never thought about that.

But that's funny that you said that too, because I had the same Thing with my peds, they.

I had to.

Students warn me, like, it's a terrible rotation.

The doctor's hard to get along with.

He's very demanding.

He's gonna pimp you.

And I loved him.

Like, I had a great time.

So I just.

I don't know.

And that just goes to show you that you need to form your own opinions in life.

Take others opinions with a grain of salt because, yeah, I feel like there's gonna be negative Nancy's out there and people who think everything is terrible and it's what you make it like.

And especially on rotations, you have to ask to do things.

You have to be willing.

You have to let them know what you're willing to do and what you're ready to do.

And like you said, be willing to say yes.

Like, if they ask you to do something, I mean, obviously, if it's completely out of your scope of practice or you feel completely uncomfortable, don't do it.

But if it's something that is going to help you learn, even just about being part of a healthcare team, you need to do it.

Yes.

I love that.

That is so.

An example is on my family medicine rotation right now.

It's a small practice, so we don't have access to the computer charting.

And he doesn't like us to chart anyways because he sees the patients too.

So he just thinks it's a waste of time.

He'll let us like what we like because we go in there first and we do a physical exam and like whatever they're there for.

But then he goes in afterwards and he also does it for physical exam.

So he likes to let you give the spiel.

But then.

But he's also kind of slow.

So today I.

It clicked in my head.

I was like, I was thinking in my head, I really wish I could do more documentation.

Like, I just really wish I was able to practice with like charting.

And I was like, you know what I'm gonna see?

I'm gonna see if he'll let me do it.

So I asked him and I'm like, do you want me to scribe for you?

I'd be happy to learn your electronic shape charting system.

And he was like, actually, that'd be great.

You're here what, till December?

December 15th.

And I'm like, yeah.

So he's just like, okay, I'll teach you tomorrow how to do it and we'll see how it goes.

Yeah, so we're gonna see tomorrow how it goes.

But if it goes well, I'll be the first student that he's let chart.

And hopefully it'll speed us up a little bit because we're pretty slow.

Yeah.

I mean, you just have to be willing to do stuff and ask.

And the worst they can say is no.

Yeah.

If you ask a question and then they're like, no, you're just right back where you started.

Nothing bad happened.

Exactly.

Yeah.

No, I completely agree.

And that's what like.

And I think once they see you're willing, they are willing to let you do more and to let you participate more.

And they kind of just need to see that you really want to be there and really want to participate.

So again, I feel.

I feel like that to me, that should be most people's outlook and approach, but apparently it's not.

So.

Yeah.

When I was in internal meds, we had a medical student like an M3 who was doing her IM rotation, and she walked in the room immediately and said, I don't care about this rotation.

I want to be an orthopedic doctor.

I have no interest in being here.

I know for sure I'm going to end up in surgery.

And everyone just kind of stared at her was residents who chose internal medicine.

Yeah.

And then like, the rest of us have been there for a couple weeks and we're just like, this is our life now.

So for her to walk in and be so cocky like that, we were like, ah, but you're still here for your rotation and this is your day one, so, like, good luck digging yourself out of the hole you just dug.

Well, and to be honest, I think at that point, if you're still in rotations and you're that close flows to something, it's a disservice to your future patients.

Like, for me, even knowing I wanted to go into derm or surgery, like, it was even more important for me to learn as much as possible on my rotations because I knew I probably wasn't going to have that experience.

Have I retained a lot of that?

Probably not.

But it's still like, I can relate because I did an endocrine rotation.

When somebody's talking about their diabetes medications or testing they had done, like, I can relate to that.

And I know what they're talking about because I had that experience.

So I don't think any.

Any experience you have during clinicals is for nothing.

I mean, it all will play into the type of provider you are and the type of care you're able to give.

So, yeah, that's.

That's frustrating.

But I have a question for you.

I Just thought of a question for you.

So because you work in dermatology, and, like, you've seen yourself being in derm.

Do you.

So, number one, does your employer require you to have acls?

And if the answer to that is no, do you maintain it?

Anyways, so.

No, I don't.

I'm definitely not required to have ACLs.

We actually just had a big debate about whether we should have a defibrillator in our office, and I think we ended up getting one, but I could not tell you where it is.

Yeah, I'll ask about that tomorrow.

But.

And I have not maintained it, actually.

When I got there, my BLS was about to expire.

And it's actually interesting.

In Georgia, the medical staff have to maintain bls, but providers technically do not.

And so.

Or doctors don't.

Yeah.

So the doctors there, I mean, they hadn't read, redone their BLS in years.

And so because I was doing it, we actually brought someone in and all of the providers.

So me and the other.

Me and the three doctors did, like, a CPR BLS course.

And they.

I mean, obviously they wanted to do it for patients, but they have, like, little kids, and so they kind of felt like they needed it for that as well.

Well, so, yeah, so when I got there, I was.

Me and the nursing staff were the only ones who were BLS certified.

But, yeah, I have not.

I mean, at this point, I just.

I really don't have a reason to maintain my ACLs.

Like, even if someone was coding in our office, Like, I wouldn't have access to any of the med beds.

Like, I mean, I can run a defibrillator.

And that's basic bls.

Like, that's really all that I need.

Huh.

What'd you say?

Is that.

And you can call ems.

Just the most important part.

Yeah, exactly.

Get them to the hospital.

Yeah.

And so I.

If I was in a hospital setting, which I'm not, I feel like I would.

I would probably need to know it.

But, yeah, being.

And also, actually, I have a friend who works in surgical oncology.

She just had to redo her ACLs, and she does not work in the.

Or doesn't work with, like, ICU patients or anything.

Not even inpatient.

But because she's in a hospital setting, she did have to re.

Certify.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

So I'm not really sad about it, though, being honest.

What rotation are you looking forward to the most?

Probably OB GYN to see if I really, truly like it.

Okay.

Is that why you're mistaken?

I Mean, when we started school, I was die hard women's health.

I was like, of course I'm going to be an OB gynpa.

That's what I was going to go to medical school.

Like, I was just like, very, like, I love women's health, but now the more that we go through rotations, the more I'm realizing I really like cardiology.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of background with it because of my grandpa, and I just, like, really find it interesting.

Both of the people I've shadowed were in cardiology.

So I've just been like, it's just like that little voice in the back of my head is like, but what about the heart?

It's not all about the uterus.

Fun this week in Family Med because he knows that I really like women's health.

So a couple different times someone has said, like, oh, like, Jamie would love to talk to you about birth control, but be careful, you might not be able to leave today.

Because I hope about all the different brands, all the different styles, all the different ways you can use it, talk their ear off.

So I think I'm looking forward to that.

Just to see if it's what I picture it in my head and then otherwise.

I actually like family medicine a lot, and I really like cardiology, so I hope my elective ends up being in cardiology.

Okay, so you feel like you're not like a surgery person?

Oh, no.

If I do end up in cardiology, I'm not nowhere near the or.

I will follow up with patients all day long, but I don't think I could do surgery.

And not just like, I'm not feeling like.

I think it's cool.

I watch videos of surgeries a lot, but I don't think I could stand that long without passing out.

Like, I get faced with a bagel really easily.

I had.

I almost passed out today, and we weren't even doing anything.

We were just talking to a patient.

Like, not even about anything.

Gross.

I just had been standing for like an hour.

Yeah, I have those same experiences.

Luckily, not as often, but, yeah, the one I love.

I just love surgery.

Like, I love being in the or.

And I was with a breast surgeon, so our cases weren't super long.

I mean, I would say the most, maybe like two hours, three hours, which sounds kind of long, but there was one day that the air conditioning was out in the OR, and so, yeah, it was like 88 degrees.

And then you still had to wear, like, the gown and all of your sterile stuff and the mask all of our masks were fogging up.

People were having to like step out because it was so hot.

It was crazy.

So, yeah, that would be, I guess, a downside.

But yeah, I guess derm's a little in the middle.

I mean, the procedures I do are no longer than 30 minutes, but.

And I get to sit down for them, so it's not bad.

I used to think that I wanted to be in dermatology, and then I was like, eh, never mind.

Ah, no, it's so funny.

Fun.

You should, you should give it a shot.

All right, you can come.

Let me go to your derm office.

Yeah, you can come shout.

You got time over Christmas break?

I'm going to come.

Yeah, come to Georgia.

I'll take a little.

It's going to be a lot.

Probably warmer than Michigan, but no, I mean, D is a lot different than what people expect just because there's a lot to it.

I mean, it's a lot of variety.

And as a pa, I get to see a lot of cool cases because they come to me first.

Whereas my doctor sees a lot of follow ups.

I see most.

I see up to 10 new patients a day.

And so if like a funky rash or a funky lesion comes in, most of the time it's going to come to me or the other pa.

So what's your favorite rash?

My favorite rash, like, most interesting I've seen or like favorite thing to take care.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

I really like treating just like teenage acne because I feel like, yeah, you can, you can make a difference.

And it makes, makes a big difference.

And I think just kind of as somebody who like had breakouts and even still I have some breakouts.

Like being able to kind of just educate and make them better and like see the difference in self confidence.

Like, I really like that.

So that's one thing I really like.

And then I do like the procedures.

I mean, it's definitely satisfying to like take a mole off or take a cyst out and get the whole thing.

Like those things just.

I feel like a lot of what I do is instant gratification.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

But there, I mean, there's some tough cases.

Like psoriasis is hard.

We have some really tough eczema cases.

Yeah.

Skin can just do weird, weird stuff.

That is what I have discovered.

So, yeah, I never know what's gonna walk in the door.

But that's okay.

It's fun.

Now that I said I need to like, knock on wood, because something crazy is gonna walk.

Like, come in tomorrow, talk about it.

Better find out about the defibrillator.

You're gonna have a heart attack.

I know.

I need to go find it.

I had a girl pass out this week because I. I rarely have patients pass out, but I had one person pass out because we were talking about having blood work done and she was just out.

She didn't like blood works.

She was Errol.

Like.

Like straight up passed out.

So.

Yeah.

So mean.

How could you do that to her?

Yeah, it's.

I don't like it when they pass out.

It's not.

Not good.

So that wasn't fun.

Yeah.

I gave someone I am Phenergan for vomiting and they cried.

Like, this is worse than the vomiting.

Oh, I have patients cry a lot.

I make kids cry all the time.

Freezing warts and doing stuff.

Not even.

Sometimes I don't even do anything.

I just walk in the room and they start crying.

So it's.

Yeah, that's part of my feel.

Really good.

I know exactly.

I'm like, I'm not even doing anything to you.

It's.

I like my job.

It's really fun.

What other pieces of knowledge?

What.

What's like, one thing you would tell someone who thinks they want to be a PA or go to PA school.

Make sure you actually know what a PA is.

Because I was just helping someone on the Internet the other day and they were asking me like the most.

What's the word?

Elementary questions.

Like, they were just like, PA work in cardiology.

Can a PA do, like, medications gonna.

Like, they were asking questions like that.

I don't know that before you're talking to me.

Like, why did you message me?

And they were saying, hey, I just, like, got an interview for a five year PA program.

So I'm interested in starting like one of those bachelor masters combined.

And so as they're messaging me, I'm just like, five year program.

You don't even know what a PA is.

Like, you're gonna dedicate your whole entire college career to this and you don't even know what it is.

But yeah, there's a lot of, like, minuscule details involved in being an advanced practice provider versus a medical doctor.

And I think a lot of people don't realize the difference.

And so that would be my one piece of advice is like, as you start applying, especially if you're asking real human beings for advice, make sure that your questions are not easily found on Google, because otherwise you just look dumb, like you didn't do your research.

And that applies to almost everything in life.

When you ask a question, if it can be Googled.

You should do that first.

Totally agree.

That is awesome advice.

That's what.

Yeah, we had somebody call our office and leave a message for my medical assistant saying that they wanted to come, they wanted to go to PA school, and they wanted to know if they could come shadow Dr. Perry.

And I was like, wait, if you want to shadow me, you should know that I'm not a doctor.

Wait, what?

So I was.

I was very confused by that message.

That is exactly what I'm talking about.

Yeah, it was quite strange.

But yeah.

But anyway, where.

Where can we follow along with you?

I know Instagram.

You can tell people where to find you.

And then you're still doing Reddit stuff.

Yeah, I'm mostly behind the scenes now.

I just delete people's, like, rudeness.

Oh, okay.

Good day.

My Instagram is Jamie Nicole.

Underscore PA S. Jamie is J A M I E Reddit.

It's the Reddit.comr/pre position assistant.

And when I say, like, behind the scenes, I moderate more so than I post.

I'm not super active anymore.

Blog that features me in it.

I'll.

I'll post that like.

Like shamelessly and just be like, hey, look at this blog I was in, guys.

I've been kind of quiet on there because I've been putting a lot more focus on my Instagram, but I'm also trying to respond to things.

Like, I respond to my DMs and good messages on Reddit.

A lot of people asking me to read their personal statement or give them advice on their profile or whatever it may be.

So I. I spend a lot of time, like, more so individually talking to people.

So I'm really receptive to messages.

I may not post a picture that day, or it may not be on.

Like, I may not look like I've been active, but I check my stuff every single day.

Yeah, no, Instagram can take a lot of time, for sure.

And you answer some of the questions in our Facebook group, too.

Yeah, I'm on the Pre PA Club and I'm on Pre PA Rocks Stars.

And then I, like, sporadically get emails here and there too, from people who found my email.

However, sometimes my professor will give it to people.

My program director lately has been, if she gets a question from someone who's like, I'm a Pre PA student and I'm interested in your program, can you tell me more about it?

She started directing them to me.

Oh, there you go.

Which is fine, but it kind of obligates me me to answer them.

So I've been getting a lot of emails lately.

I'm going to be at Detroit Mercy next week.

Can you give me a tour?

And I'm like, no, but I need someone who can.

That's awesome.

Well, everyone should follow along with Jamie because she's really funny and really fun to follow, especially when we do Instagram Lives sometimes.

I'm probably due to do one of those sometime soon.

Yeah, now we can do them at the same time.

I know.

I was thinking we should, should do that.

I'm ready.

I'm in my best pajamas.

This has been helpful.

Thanks for taking your time to answer questions during your busy clinic schedule.

Not a problem.

Always a pleasure.

Yeah.

So that's Jamie.

I hope that you feel like you know Jamie better and you can follow along with her on Instagram or check out the Reddit and you may even feel like you know me better.

But as always, thank you so much for listening and feel free to reach out.

I love getting emails from you guys just about how you started listening to the podcast and what you're learning and how it's helping you.

And if there's anything you want to hear about in the future, please, please contact me.

You can still leave a voicemail message on the like, if you go to www.thepaplatform.com, you can leave a voicemail and we'll have some of those coming up on an upcoming episode.

I've got more interviews for you.

We have a pre PA student, a pt, a physical therapist, a pa, some more PA students.

We have all kinds of people coming up, but if there's someone you want to hear from, please let me know and I'll see if I can get them on.

But make sure you're following along on Instagram.

I have some giveaways this month which I'm really excited about, and also the Pre PA Club Facebook group.

You can join that.

That's where we have some great discussions going on there.

And I'm always here too.

So everyone have a great weekend and looking forward to seeing you next.