I'm a dermatology PA. Here's what that actually looks like.

Derm gets romanticized a lot, so I wanted to give you the honest version. My background, how I landed in this specialty, who I see all day, and the parts I love and the parts I don't.

What I cover:

• My path from a biology degree to PA school to dermatology
• The range of patients I see, from infants to elderly
• What I treat on a normal day, including skin cancer
• The procedures and the pace of a derm clinic
• What's rewarding and what wears on you
• How to get real exposure to derm before you commit to it

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

Welcome to episode 42 of the Pre Pa Club podcast.

Today I'm talking about my job as a dermatology PA and giving you a little insight.

Enjoy.

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, my name is Savannah.

I am the host of the Prepa Club Podcast.

Thank you so much for joining me on episode 40.

So we made it this far.

And if you aren't already subscribed to the podcast, if you want to get episodes downloaded straight to your phone, you can subscribe on itunes.

They also upload each week to the.

PA platform,.

So make sure you don't miss that.

And if you've enjoyed the podcast, go ahead, give us a review on itunes.

It helps more people find it, but I'm really excited for what we have coming up for the next few weeks.

If you're just tuning in, then I should inform you that I am very pregnant.

If you've been following me on Instagram, you have probably seen that.

But in the next few weeks, I.

I will be having a baby girl.

And going on maternity leave.

But I don't want to leave you guys hanging because you guys need information.

And luckily, I have some really cool stuff for you.

So for the next few weeks, as I am preparing for this baby, I am going to share some content with you that I've actually created over the last year.

I did some webinars on YouTube and they're still there.

The links will be in the descriptions for each of these, but.

And if you've listened to other ones, you can probably jump ahead a little bit.

But I've done different topics ranging from pre PA stuff, talking about PA school, talking about being a dermatology pa, and there's some really good Q and A's at the end and just great information.

So I wanted to integrate that into the podcast.

So for these next few weeks, you're going to hear those webinars, and if you'd rather watch them on YouTube, you can do that.

Like I said, it's in the description.

But they're a little bit long.

They're longer than normal episodes.

They're about an hour.

I say that, but a lot of my interviews are an hour or two.

But anyway, I try to keep it at 30 minutes.

I know that doesn't really happen.

If y' all need me to do.

Better, let me know.

But if you need to break it up, just know they are A little.

Bit longer and yeah.

So I just wanted to share these.

With you and I felt like it.

Was a good time to introduce them since I'm going to be a little preoccupied.

But I hope you enjoy and we'll just jump right in and then I'll still hopefully be around on social media and reachable by email and those types of things.

So if you need me, I'm there.

And I hope that y' all get a lot out of these webinar episodes and then we'll be back with interviews and all kinds of stuff.

Really actually fun stuff this summer.

So I'm excited, but let's jump in.

Basically, I'm Savannah.

I'm a dermatology pa.

I started working three years ago after I graduated PA school.

A couple disclaimers before we get started is I will not be giving any type of clinical or medical advice.

I may, if anybody's interested, I can share some of my favorite products and talk generally about dermatology things, but I will not be giving any, like, personal medical advice.

So just.

We'll go forward from there and then just feel free to ask questions throughout.

I'll be watching the chat box and if you have a question about something I talk about or want more details, I'll make sure we get to that either throughout the talk or afterwards.

This is something that I get asked about a lot.

So either on Instagram, Facebook, wherever.

I'm always getting asked about being a dermatology pa and it's something that I think people are interested in because they want to know more about what it looks like on a daily basis.

Why I chose derm, how I got a job in Derm because it is a very desirable field for PAs.

And so I'll be answering all those questions tonight.

So.

So to get started, I guess I won't show these since they're backwards.

Can I share my stats?

Healthcare?

Okay, yeah, I can do that real quick.

So for PA school, I believe my overall GPA was like a 3.68.

And then my science GPA was around a 3.5.

Patient care experience, I had around 250 hours.

I think that's about it.

My GRE was fine.

I was on the old scale, though.

But the schools, the two schools that I interviewed at and was accepted at, one of them had a requirement of 100 healthcare hours.

And one of them had no requirement.

I kind of look towards programs that I met the minimum requirements for.

So why dermatology?

Why did I choose this?

That's kind of the first thing.

When I was in undergrad, I spent a good amount of time shadowing in dermatology.

I. Shadowing is a very hard thing to find people who are willing and can let you do that.

But I went down the phone book, the actual paper phone book in college, and I called every single office.

And the one that called me back was a dermatology office.

So I went there.

I met the pa. She was so sweet, and I was able to shadow.

I went there once a week for almost a year, sometimes every other week, just depending on my schedule.

But she was great.

The clinic was pretty small, not too busy, and so it was easy for her to have students, and she just was very welcoming.

She helped me prepare for interviews, and it was cool to be able to email her later on and say, hey, I'm working in dermatology, too.

And so it was just kind of a neat thing.

But she was really sweet.

And so that first experience is what I would say made me interested in dermatology.

Oh, they aren't backwards.

Good.

Thank you for letting me know.

I was feeling down.

They look backwards to me, but.

So I'll show those from now on.

But I.

When I went into derm to shadow, I was expecting to.

I was expecting that it would just be, like, acne and naked old people and that it would be gross and boring, but.

But it was not that at all.

It was so interesting.

There was such a cool variety of things, and I got to see really cool rashes, and I got to see kids and adults, and I got to see skin cancer, and I saw biopsies.

I will be completely honest.

The first time I saw a punch biopsy, I almost passed out.

It was on a patient's knee, and I just did not realize that skin was that thick.

And the PA looked over at me, and she could tell that I was white as a sheet.

And she said, you may want to sit down.

So I sat down, and I was fine.

But since then, I've gotten a lot better about that since I do them myself now.

But, yeah, it was just a really cool experience that sparked my interest.

But I still went into PA school.

Very open to seeing other fields and learning about other fields.

In PA school, the dermatology section is only two weeks, and so you don't get a ton of exposure.

Now, the.

They did bring in the residency director to Teach our derm section or parts of it.

And she was amazing.

I mean, so much knowledge, just really great lectures that I remember to this day.

You remember the really good ones, you remember the really bad ones.

I definitely remember hers as being so, so good and just informative and making Durham seem so interesting, because it is.

And so from there, I mean, I was still interested in Durham, but still open.

And then once I went onto my clinicals, I pretty much loved everything except for psych.

And I know there are people out there who love psych and who do great with it.

I just did not have a great experience.

My clinicals, I was on inpatient psych for four weeks at an academic center and they were just some really tough cases.

And it just, to be honest, it kind of messed with me and I felt depressed and it just, it wasn't, it just didn't work for me.

So maybe if I had different experience, I would feel differently.

But other than that, I did like pretty much everything else.

But the things that I liked the most on clinicals were the rotations where I was able to do procedures and be involved in surgery and really get involved with that side of things, get kind of hands on experience.

So on my surgery rotation, I, I really liked it.

I was with a breast surgeon and he did a lot of breast cancer surgeries.

And so that was really cool.

And I just loved being in the or.

And so at that point I kind of decided, I think I want to do either dermatology or surgery.

And I made that decision.

I would have been happy doing something else.

And I interviewed for other things and I'll talk about that.

But if I had my choice, those were the areas that I was going to move forward in.

So let's see if they're not backwards how I got my job.

So a lot of question or a question I get a lot is, did you go straight into dermatology?

Dermatology.

And I did.

How long I've been working.

I've been working as a dermatology PA since then, so almost three years.

But technically I kind of started in June.

I started looking and applying for jobs since I graduated in August.

I started applying and looking in January.

If you followed me for a while, you know that my husband was in medical school at the time.

He was busy.

A lot of my classmates were taking time off to go on vacations, but I would have gone on a vacation by myself.

So I didn't really need to do that.

I just was ready to work and go straight into it, start paying back my loans, and jump right in.

And so what I did was I started looking for jobs, just casually searching.

In January, February, I started applying, and then I was actually interviewing in March and April.

So the other jobs at this point, and I feel like this is a fear that a lot of people have.

I was just scared I wouldn't get a job at all or wouldn't have a job or wouldn't have a good job.

And so I was applying to whatever came across that was even somewhat surgical or interesting.

One thing that I did was I started sending out my resume, and that actually had very surprising results.

I just sent it to some of the surgical offices in town, to some of the dermatology offices, and people started knowing my name, and that was really cool.

So I remember being at the hospital on a rotation, and another surgery PA who I never met came up to me and introduced herself, and I said, I'm Savannah.

And she said, oh, I saw your resume the other day at our office, and we were going to call you.

So that was really cool.

And it just goes to show that putting yourself out there can have good results.

So I ended up getting a call from them.

I got a call from a urology office.

I applied for a neurosurgery position and a spine surgery position.

And so for both of those, I went and I kind of shadowed for a day and met the physician that I would be working with.

There wasn't anything wrong with those positions, but I couldn't say that I was necessarily super excited about them, but they would have been a job, and I think I would have been happy there.

But then I heard about a derm PA who was leaving and she had to move because her husband got a different job.

So I heard about that, and I decided that I wanted to apply to that job.

And so I sent in my resume to the office, and I talked to my surgery preceptor about it, and it was funny because he happened to know the doctor who was hiring, and he.

He basically was like, you need this job.

And he had gotten the PA before me, the job there.

And so this shows that connections are so important, and making a good impression with your preceptors is also important.

Now, to get a little personal.

One tip that I would have for anyone who's applying to PA jobs if you're in PA school would be to make a pact with your friends to not talk about where you're applying if you're applying in the same area.

We.

I ran into an issue with me and one of my best friends in the program.

Basically, I told her about this job.

She ended up applying too.

And then it got really awkward because we were both interviewing, we both wanted the job.

Long story short, everything's good now.

We both work in Durham, but it was just a really tough couple of months just having kind of those, those back and forth experiences.

So anyway, I applied to this job.

My surgery preceptor wrote me one of my letters of recommendation and put in a call to the physician.

I went and shadowed for a day.

I liked it.

I liked the PA who was already working there even though she was leaving.

I liked the physician a lot.

I liked the office.

And so I was really excited about it.

And then I went in for another interview and then they asked for my letters and I sent those in and then they offered me the position.

And so I was really, really excited about it.

It just really felt like a good fit.

It felt really comfortable.

And I could tell that the physician I was going to be working with was going to be awesome.

And when it comes to finding a job and deciding on a job, I mean, you have to decide what's important to you.

And there's a few different things to look at.

Location, specialty, hours, salary, and supervising physician.

And I think to me at this point, working with people that I enjoy working with is almost more important than what I'm, than what I would do.

Even though I love derm, I would rather be in a place where I'm working with people who are supportive and good teachers, then be in a position where I'm not supported as a pa. And I'm happy to have found both.

And I hope I don't have to leave, but if I ever did, it'd be okay.

Let's see where my other notes.

So one thing about finding jobs in dermatology is you have to look at the area you're applying to.

So if you're applying in a smaller area, like a smaller town, you're more likely to find a job than if you're applying in a big area.

So if you're applying a big city like LA, that's gonna be a lot more saturated with experienced PAs.

And so it may be more difficult to get a job right out of school as a new grad.

So you may have to get some training, take a job that may not be your ideal job for a while, maybe even go in.

This is very debatable, but go in at a lower salary until you've learned and can prove yourself.

But if derm is really what you want to do.

I just wouldn't give up on it.

Now if you're somebody who's pre PA or a PA student, I would just keep your options open.

I have a lot of prepa students who will be like, I really want to do derm, but there's so much out there.

So don't close yourself off or bank on one specialty because it is sometimes hard to find those dermatology jobs.

But if it really is what you want to do at the end of the day, like, don't give up on it because you will be able to find those jobs.

So a lot of people ask about my training.

The way that I did my training for my job was I got hired in April and then I was able to set up my two four week elective rotations at my job, which was nice for them because it's basically two months of free training where they don't have to pay me.

So for my two electives I went and trained.

I was able to see a lot, just see patients all day long with them, do procedures, work on my biopsies, help with surgery, and just kind of get my feet wet in dermatology.

So I did that for two months, took two weeks off to study for boards, took boards, went back to work for a month, still training, waiting on my board scores and then my license.

And so I remember getting my board scores.

I was so nervous.

I got the email while I was at work training and so I just basically was like, I have to step out for a minute.

And so I went outside and in my mind I thought, okay, if I pass, I'm going to go in and tell them if I've failed, I'm just going to leave and never come back.

And I told them that after the fact, but thankfully I passed.

And then I was able to get my license and then move forward with that as far as working.

And so I basically trained for three months under my supervising position.

And then they kind of opened up my schedule a little bit and I started seeing simple couple things like warts and acne.

And then after a while it was kind of like the floodgates opened and I was exhausted for six months straight.

And now I'm kind of used to it.

That was kind of my training, training process.

Okay, let's talk a little bit about my daily life and what my schedule looks like.

So I work Monday through Thursday from.

I get there around 8.

Sometimes I'll try to get there like 7:45, 7:50.

And I do my pathology in the morning, go through all my path reports from previous biopsies and see what needs to be done.

And then I'm there from 8 until usually around between 4:30 and 5.

My last patient is at 4:15 and that's Monday through Thursday.

Fridays I work a half day, so I only work from 8 to 12.

And when I first started, it was me and just one supervising physician.

After a few months, the practice grew and now we have another physician full time, another part time physician and a full time pa.

So we more than doubled in size.

So we're a little bit busier.

But on a daily basis I see about 35 patients Monday through Thursday, Fridays, around 20 patients.

Does a lot.

I'm moving, I'm, I'm constantly going from room to room.

I have a dedicated medical assistant named Taylor who I love and we are best friends.

And now she's trying to go to PA school, which makes me sad.

But I don't think she's working watching right now because she's at Disney World.

But oh my gosh, I don't know if you can hear the wind blowing.

Apparently we're under a severe thunderstorm warning.

So if I just disappear, it's because I guess the power went out.

But anyway, back to the subject.

So I do have a dedicated medical assistant, which is awesome.

She rooms the patients for me, gets them in the room, gets some history, tells me what's going on.

And then while I'm in there, she kind of operates as a scribe and is just taking notes, putting in medications, sending prescriptions.

So we definitely collaborate in that way.

So out of my 35 patients, I see a really big variety, different conditions.

They can be simple things like one spot or they can be full body skin checks with a history of melanoma.

I have seen and found melanomas and lots of other skin cancers, basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers.

And then I see a lot of acne, eczema, warts, psoriasis, different kinds of rashes, all kinds of stuff, rosacea, and it's just a lot of different stuff.

And I see patients that are little babies, just like even two week old babies.

Just little, little babies all the way up to older, older patients.

And so that's kind of nice.

And I do a mixture of medical, cosmetic and surgical dermatology.

As far as just medical, that's just kind of seen rashes, surgical.

I do all my own procedures as far as biopsies go.

So if somebody comes in, I think they have a skin cancer.

I biopsy it Whether that's a shave biopsy or a punch biopsy.

If someone needs something treated with liquid nitrogen, I do it.

Taking out millium, treating molluscum, giving injections into scars, all.

All different kinds of stuff.

Oh, details about office procedures.

So, yeah, that's kind of what I do as far as procedures.

I mean, just really a lot of biopsies and a lot of treating with liquid nitrogen for procedures.

I do not first assist with my supervising physician unless she needs me.

Like, every once in a while, we'll have a hematoma or something, and we'll both go in and just work on it.

But as far as surgeries go, I have trained in surgery with my supervising physician, and I'm really lucky to be in a practice where they are very supportive of things I want to do and learn.

And so when I went to my supervising physician and said, I really want to learn how to do surgeries on my own, because I think that's a skill I need to have, she was supportive of that.

So I trained with her extra, and we blocked my schedule so I could do that.

At this point, I mean, I take out cysts by myself.

I take out skin cancers.

I would say mostly I do cyst skin cancers.

She'll do a lot of them.

We send some to plastics.

We send some to a Mohs surgeon.

It just depends on location and size.

But they.

She basically trusts me to choose to make decisions about what I can handle.

So just my personal preference is I avoid very large cysts.

I avoid patients on blood thinners.

Any, like, difficult locations.

I just kind of stick to the simple stuff unless I have to do something else.

But for the most part, we do a lot of ED and sees, which is like a scrape and burn for skin cancers and different things.

So I am able to do a lot of procedures.

When it comes to the cosmetic side of things, I do the same cosmetics that they do.

The only thing they do that I don't is sclerotherapy.

I don't really mess with that.

But I do basically all of the chemical peels in our office, because that's something that I actually trained on right when I started.

And so just.

It just happened that that was, like, something I do.

And I enjoy them.

I do.

I try to do a lot of those on Fridays, So I do a lot of chemical peels.

When it comes to.

A lot of people have asked me about certification, so I am, I guess, certified to do chemical peels, but estheticians can do that too.

So we had a trainer come in who trained us?

And then I guess I got certified that way.

And then I do laser.

We only have one.

We have two lasers.

But the laser that we do is called a V beam laser.

And so I do that.

And I was just trained by one of the physicians.

There's no formal training for that.

And so you basically just learn how to do it by someone else who's been trained and then make sure that you're kind of licensed to do that.

So, laser.

What else do we do?

Toxin and filler, which are really, really fun.

I really love doing that.

I feel like it's really cool to watch people's faces change just from injections.

So with that we.

I do have training and there's no certificate, but we have a trainer come in once or twice a year.

When I first started, they brought a trainer in, so I was able to train and practice.

And I've gotten a lot better since I started.

I think with cosmetics, there's a big learning curve and a lot of people are really nervous at first.

And really with cosmetics, like, you just have to go for it and just.

It's going to be more painful for the patient and there's going to be more bruising and swelling if you're timid or if you have to stick them a lot.

So that's been really fun.

And we do have some, like, cosmetic products that I'll speak to patients about if they have questions about that type of thing.

But yeah, I do.

I do a lot of procedures.

My record number of biopsies on one patient, which was a little absurd, was 14 and all but one was a skin cancer.

So that was fun.

But yeah, so anyway, I think that touched on everything I wanted to touch on for my schedule.

But yeah, it's nice.

I mean, I technically take call, but call in dermatology really isn't a big deal.

I maybe get a few calls a month.

And me and the other PA sw, usually it's not anything major.

We don't take calls for like refills.

I mean, it has to be basically like someone is having a reaction to what we did or someone's bleeding.

So we don't get a ton of calls about that.

Let's see.

Okay, moving on.

I think.

I don't know if I've asked question or answering questions.

Do most PAs have a job before graduation?

It depends on if you want a job.

So some.

Some PAs want a job and some don't.

If you want a job before graduation, it's very possible, but there are a lot of PAs who want to wait until they pass boards to look for jobs.

I may come back to the pre PA questions afterwards.

Okay, so pros.

Good things about my job, and there.

Are a lot of them.

So a lot of people ask about my autonomy level.

So I see all of my patients myself.

If I have a question, my supervising physician is there, and she is always willing to pop in a room with me if I need her or answer a question.

Sometimes I feel like my questions are really dumb, or I'm like, I should totally know this, but I don't know.

It's nice.

And sometimes she'll ask me questions.

So if I've gone to a conference or there's something we've discussed, she'll come to me and ask me about things, too.

So we really have a great collaborative relationship.

She's awesome, a great teacher, and I could not ask for a better supervising physician at all.

So that's really nice, and I enjoy that.

There are some days I don't need her at all, and there are some days where I feel like I have to get her so much it's terrible.

So, yeah, it just depends on what walks in the door.

Some of my favorite cases are the ones where I walk in the room and I'm just like, I don't know what's going on.

And then I go get her, and she walks in, she's like, I don't know what's going on either.

And we just take a biopsy and find out what's going on.

Yeah, skin can do some crazy stuff.

I've seen some crazy rashes, and they always come to me because her schedule's so full of established patients who have all had melanoma that a lot of them.

I see a lot of new patients on my schedule, which I don't mind.

The other good thing I like about my schedule or my patients is that they're not sick.

They're not, like, have a cold, have strep throat sick.

And that was something that, when I was on clinicals, I decided I really didn't want to be dealing with sick patients the way that you do in pediatrics or primary care.

And so, yeah, that's a nice thing.

I mean, I do have to tell people they have melanoma and to give them bad news sometimes, which isn't the most fun.

But I feel like you have that in every specialty, no matter what.

And so that's just something that I liked.

I do get to know my patients, so I see the same patients for every year.

A few every few months.

So I do get to develop relationships with them and with their families and get to know them.

So that's fun.

I enjoy that part.

I get to see a good variety.

I have a great office and a great team.

I have my medical assistant, which is awesome.

I get to do my procedures.

I love my schedule.

When I actually started, I was only Monday through Thursday and they asked me if I would add on Friday afternoons.

And it was basically, well, if I'm not working and making money, I'm probably spending it.

So that's a good idea.

So I agreed to do that.

Okay, I will not share my salary, but I do well, I'm happy with my salary.

Dermatology is interesting because it is based on like how productive you are and how many patients you see and how many procedures you do.

And so it is.

You are rewarded for working hard.

So that's nice.

But yeah, I think I love everything about my job.

I don't have any.

Well, I'll tell you my cons actually, then we'll go from there.

So my conscious the bad things about my job and there aren't many.

So I would say what's tough about having a clinic type job is having a set schedule.

I'm scheduled and booked almost full at least one to two months in advance.

And then past that, I mean, I have people scheduling their yearly checks and so I have to plan vacations like really far ahead or it's not going to happen.

Like I can't just decide I'm not going to come in next week because we'd have to move 30 people and it would be a disaster.

And so like I have not taken a sick day since I have started because if I'm sick, I just come to work and push through it.

Maybe I take a nap at lunch and if anybody falls off the schedule, I'm like, please don't add anybody.

I'm so sick.

But yeah, it's.

It is tough to have.

Not really have that flexibility to be able.

Like in an emergency medicine job where you're doing shift work, you could always just switch shifts.

Like people aren't specifically coming to see you.

And so it's a lot easier to have a more flexible schedule.

But I don't work weekends.

So the other thing I would say that has been a disadvantage would be I feel like I've had somewhat of a loss of knowledge since I've started doing dermatology.

And because it was the first thing I did, so I went straight into derm.

And since being a PA is about Being a generalist, I feel like I've lost a lot of that knowledge.

When I study with my husband, who's an internal medicine resident, I feel so dumb sometimes because I feel like there are things that we're studying that I knew before and that I should still know, and I just don't because I don't do it every day.

And so if you're not studying it actively or seeing it every single day, you lose that knowledge.

And so when I have to take boards in seven years, it's going to be rough.

I am going to have to study like crazy if I want any chance of passing boards.

So, yeah, dermatology is about 4% of the certification exam, which is not very much.

So I will get 4% right on my test.

So I would say those are really the only disadvantages that I can think of as far as working in derm.

I guess sometimes it can be kind of nasty.

I mean, sometimes I have to drain these big old cysts.

If you watch Dr. Pimple Popper, that is my life.

But you, when you're watching it on YouTube, you don't smell it.

And sometimes these cysts can be so smelly, and the whole room smells all day long.

So that would also be, I would say, a disadvantage.

Okay, so I'm going to answer some questions that I was asked this week and then leading up to this, and if y' all have any questions, just put them in the chat and I will answer those.

I don't know if I showed this question.

Answer.

Okay, so I covered that one fellowship and residency program.

So for PAs, this isn't required, but there is one sort of fellowship program I know of in New York that I think it's a year where you go and you work as a pa, but you also are being trained in dermatology to learn more.

And so that would be an option if you want to try to gain experience and try to learn more about the field and really commit to it.

That's something you could look into to get more experience in the field.

Okay.

Shadowing tips for dermatology.

So in derm, it can be a little tricky because all the patients are naked.

Not all of them, but a lot of them.

And so you have to be respectful of that.

And if so, the patient says, you can't come in the room, don't be offended.

Like, it's okay.

They just are feeling embarrassed, which is natural.

And that's why it can be hard to find shadowing in dermatology.

Because of that reason, our office typically doesn't have people shadow unless we know the person personally or and if they are like an upper level college student, because it's just we already have myself and a medical assistant in the room, so it's hard to ask that person who's being examined to allow another person in the room.

But if you are able to shadow, if you've never seen a procedure, go.

I mean, make sure you're watching and paying attention and looking.

But if you feel faint in the least, if you feel, if you start feeling nauseous, if you start seeing stars, if your vision goes blurry, sit down, leave the room, sit down, find a chair, do something.

Because what the PA and the patient doesn't need is you falling out on the floor.

So that being said, this also happened to me.

The one thing I cannot handle is broken bones.

So when I was on my ER rotation, they asked me to help.

They wanted me to set a broken arm and I about passed out and I literally was like, excuse me, left the room and found the closest chair because I knew if I did not do that, I was going to fall on the floor.

If that is you, and if that starts to happen to you, do not feel like you have to be tough and tough it out because that is not going to be the best in the long run.

So if you feel faint at all, just bow out.

It's okay.

Other shadowing tips Just make sure you're attentive if you're shadowing.

So if you're shadowing a PA to learn about the PA profession, try to focus on what the PA is doing, what their responsibilities are, how they're interacting with patients more so than the medicine, because that's what you're really there to see.

The medicine part is interesting and feel free to ask questions, but just really focus on seeing what the PA is doing because that's what's important at this time.

If you're on clinicals as a PA student, learn everything.

You can ask questions.

I think it's hard as a PA having someone under you because I don't know what you know.

And so I don't want to tell you something that I think that I'm assuming that you already know.

But if you don't know it, I want you to ask me.

So just be really upfront with any questions you may have.

And I think clinicals too.

I've had some people ask about this, about not being able to do procedures on clinicals and having more of an observership role on a derm clinical.

And that is common because it is difficult to ask patients to trust a student to do something on them, especially if they've seen you for a long time.

And the trouble that I run into as a PA is that for some of these patients, I'm still establishing my own relationship with them or if they're a new patient, if I have a brand new patient who walks in, I can't ask them to let a student work on them because they don't even trust me yet.

And so until that level of trust is there, like when I was training and my supervising physician had been had, this patient that she's had for 10 years, and he's an elderly patient, he doesn't really care about the spot on his back.

Like, that's different.

He.

And I mean, at that point I was hired.

They basically had to let me train on them.

But yeah, so just don't be offended.

Don't be upset.

If you feel like comfortable enough to ask to do something, that's fine.

Just don't be upset if the answer is no.

And those are kind of the reasons behind that.

Also, when you're shadowing, just I would say don't be on your phone.

I've had a few people who sometimes are on their phone and it's just kind of like, be attentive, be paying attention even if nothing really exciting is going on.

Resources to practice suturing so suturing is tough because you can get a suture board like those SIM suture ones, and that's a good way to practice throwing your sutures.

I never really had luck with using like a banana or an orange peel or a pig's foot.

I just didn't really feel like that was realistic.

So the SIM suture board was my favorite way to practice.

But even that is still not realistic.

So it's not until you're able to be on like a real rotation and actually get those practice, get that practice in on a real patient that you'll feel comfortable.

Unfortunately, if anyone else has tips for that, please let me know.

Okay.

Resources for learning so I put a link in the description to a list of my resources that I like.

And as far as books and websites and different things that can help you to learn about dermatology, I just got a question.

I got to answer that question in a minute.

So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff in there.

The AAD training modules are great.

The SCPA training program is great.

The textbooks I've listed are the ones that I use most on a daily basis.

As far as journals, somebody asked about journals And CME and conferences.

SDPA's conferences are amazing.

They're very well organized.

They're really cool.

They have interactive questions.

They give you like a notebook to write in.

The nice thing about derm conferences is you get a ton of samples because you get to try stuff and that's really nice.

I love trying new products out.

But other resources.

Practical Dermatology is a website and they have a journal as well.

And that's probably my favorite one that I read a lot just because it really is practical.

It's kind of basics and so that's nice.

Someone asked would I ever go to med school and at this point, no.

I'm three years in.

I have all this experience and I just cannot even imagine taking all the classes and taking the MCAT and doing all that craziness to try to go to med school for seven to 12 years.

That is just not something I'm into at all.

So.

Yeah, not right now.

Okay, Those are all those.

Let me go back to the chat.

So according to the AAPA salary report, dermatology PAs report some of the highest earnings.

Without going into detail about your personal salary, why is dermatology at the top of the salary range for PAs?

So the reason that dermatology is at the top of the salary range is because it is production based.

So in dermatology there are a lot of procedures, so biopsies and other stuff, surgeries.

So you bring in more money to the practice.

And so as a result of that you're awarded with a commission based on how much you produce.

And so that's a little bit different than a practice where you base, you just see people for visits and you're not bringing as much revenue into the practice.

So some PAs actually have where they just get paid based on what they produce.

Some people have a salary and a production model.

But yeah, there's a lot of different ways to do it.

But yeah, that's why.

And it is a very fast paced specialty.

If you, if you can't keep up, you're not going to cut it in Durham because you do have to be able to like really stay on top of things and be very attentive to, to detail and also very quick.

So that's kind of the breakdown there.

Let me go back up here for a second.

Okay.

Right.

These are more pre PA questions, but I'll go ahead and answer.

Right now I'm a senior in high school trying to figure out a good major and then apply for PA school.

What do you think of a medical laboratory science major with anything like that, where you get more of like a certification.

You just have to make sure that the courses that are required are the same as the ones that are required for PA school.

And you may just have to take extra courses.

But anytime that you are looking like somebody asked me the other day about a cardiology technician and so you just have to look at what's required compared to PA school and see if it would be a good fit.

Do you think it's a good idea to do a five year PA program right after high school?

I think that's a great idea.

If you know what you want to do and you can get accepted, go for it.

There's no reason to not do that.

Okay.

How did you prepare for your PA school interview?

Any tips?

Mock interviews?

I did one with our advisor who wasn't as familiar with PA school stuff.

But then I also did one with the PA that I shadowed that I mentioned earlier.

And even though we just met at Chick Fil A and talked about questions, it was really helpful for me for just kind of giving me more insight to my answers, things I should say, shouldn't say.

Yeah, and I was gonna suggest what Andrew just did that you should watch the June webinar because I, I went over all my tips and tricks so it would be worth going back and I don't know, you should be able to find that just by clicking on my name and going to my videos.

So.

Great tip, Andrew.

We're on the same page.

Connor says, what experiences prior to PA school prepared you for the most success there?

What would you have done differently?

I think that I.

What prepared me the best was really just staying on top of things throughout PA school and I was pretty involved and busy.

So I was good at multitasking and I was able to kind of hone my study skills while I was in undergrad.

I do wish that I had started getting experience sooner, so.

Oh, they'll slender.

I don't know if y' all can hear that, but.

So I waited.

I had the opportunity to get my CNA license in high school and I did not do it, which was.

I don't know why.

That was just a terrible decision on my part.

But.

So what I end up having to do was go while I was in college and, and I would, I went for like three months.

Every weekend I would go to the CNA class and I just wish I had done that sooner.

So if you can get a certification ahead of time to get your experience, I think that would be helpful for getting into PA School.

As far as just doing well in PA school, really relying on your, like, making friends, relying on your support system, your family is very helpful.

And just knowing your study skills and what works best for you, which for me is making study guides.

I just put everything together, make a really long study guide, and then usually I don't even study it.

Other people do, but from there I just make another study guide.

So that's just kind of my study method.

Let's see, Tips for undergrad.

Straight into PA school without gap.

So that's basically what I did.

So I did have a few months there where I was off.

Not by design.

I just happened to.

I did not plan on graduating early.

It just kind of worked out where I had one more course I needed to take, so I took it online really quick and graduated.

But to go straight in to PA school, I don't know if you're asking, like, how to do it or what, like if it's a good idea.

I think it's a good idea if you're qualified and if you're able to do it, it can be difficult to get all the requirements before then.

So when I applied, I applied to four different programs.

Like I mentioned earlier, the two I was accepted at were the ones I was qualified for.

The other two, I knew I wasn't qualified qualified.

One of them wanted a thousand hours, one of them wanted 2,000 hours, and I had 250.

So the one that wanted a thousand hours actually contacted me and did say, hey, are you going to have a thousand hours by the time our program starts?

And I said no.

And then they sent me a rejection letter.

The other program that needed 2,000 hours just sent me a rejection letter.

So my thoughts there were that if I had to reapply, I would look better the next year and I would have the hours.

But yeah, if you qualify, I think if you go in not having a gap year, you're still kind of in the school mindset and you're ready to just jump right in.

But if you feel like you need the time to mature and prepare, that's fine too.

Okay.

How do you see the PA profession changing five to ten years from now?

That's an interesting question.

I feel like there's some.

What's the word?

Some kind of distress right now in the PA profession, or there's just some tension between the AAPA and the nccpa, and I feel like they're Gonna have to work that out.

The AAPA is the national society of PAS and the NCCPA is the National Licensing Board.

And so there's just a lot of disagreement about the testing for PAS and also how, how the PA profession should be developed compared to nurse practitioners.

And so AAPA just approved their optimal Team practice initiative.

And so it's gonna be up to the states to move forward with that and to put it into action.

And that basically tries to make it so there's more of a focus on the collaboration between PAS and supervising physicians and less regulation by the states, so.

Or by law.

So it's gonna be interesting.

I just hope that PAs are able to maintain their autonomy.

I don't necessarily feel like we need more autonomy.

I feel comfortable where I'm at, but I also feel like there could be a law passed tomorrow that takes all of that away and that would just be very detrimental to the profession.

And so unless there are things in place to help us maintain, it could kind of all go away.

It's going to continue to grow.

It's, it's still, I feel like the PA profession is still finding its place and so it's, it's interesting to, it's gonna be interesting to see how that all develops.

My thoughts on a five year PA program.

I think it's a great idea.

I think I mentioned that earlier, but if you are able to get accepted and you know that it's what you want to do, go for it.

I mean, if you're ready, no reason not to do it.

Can Durham PAs open their own private clinic or partner with dermatologists?

So this is a state based question and I'm in Georgia and so in Georgia PAS cannot own their own clinic.

But there are states out there that PAs can own the clinics and basically you're the owner or partner and then you hire a supervising physician on and so that is potentially an option.

And I've heard seen this more with primary care and urgent care.

But if you go on to PhysicianAssistantForum.com, there's a whole feed about that about PA owned practices.

So that is potentially an option that you could do, but again it just depends on the state.

Discuss the process of switching specialties.

So to be honest, most PAs don't switch around a ton or if they do, it's kind of at the beginning of their career where they're still trying to figure out what they want to do.

They may start in one specialty for a year or two and just not really have a good fit and switch to something else.

So it's not.

I feel like everyone thinks it's like super common, but it's not as common as it seems.

But it's really not hard.

I mean, if I wanted to switch jobs, I would just start applying other places, seeing my resume out, seeing if there was somebody that would hire me.

And I don't think I would have a problem finding another job.

And I think you have to think about your experience and whether or not it's helpful.

So like if I was going to something like nephrology, my experience probably wouldn't be very helpful.

But if I was going to something like urgent care, they would love my experience because people come there with skin stuff all the time and so it is beneficial to have experience in other areas.

I don't think it's a bad idea to do primary care for a few years just to help solidify the knowledge from PA school.

And I didn't do that because I had an awesome job waiting for me.

But I was open to doing that if I had to ahead of time.

I mean I would have worked like an urgent care or emergency medicine maybe beforehand.

And even now, I mean my husband is a resident.

There's a chance that we may have to move for a fellowship one day or for a job.

I hope I don't have to move, but if I did, I feel confident that I could get another job whether it's in dermatology or a different specialty.

But there's no like different licensing or testing.

Okay, what are some good undergrad majors for people looking to apply to PA school after college?

And I'm going to do your follow up too.

Do you think a nursing major would be a bad idea?

So for nursing major, A nursing major is not going to give you the courses that you need for PA school specifically.

So you would have to take some additional courses.

But it would give you great opportunity to get experience for PA school.

So it's not a bad idea.

You just have to know that you'd have to take other courses.

To be honest, your major for PA school does not matter.

All they care about is that you got the prerequisite courses.

If you're looking to do something where you'll get your degree and the courses, something in science is going to be best.

Biology, chemistry, psychology, something something science related.

But if you wanted to go be a business major or an English major and just take the courses, you could definitely do that.

If you want to be a derm, PA or any specialties, when is the best time in Clinicals to start looking for a job.

Okay, this is a really great question.

So especially if you're looking in the same area where you're doing the rotations, go ahead and start telling people what you want to do.

Your faculty members, fellow students, your preceptors going into rotations.

I had this idea in my head that I should tell all my preceptors that I wanted to do what they did.

So, like, if I was on OB gyn, I was like, oh, yeah, this is what I want to do, I guess.

So I thought I would get hired.

And so once I figured out that wasn't the best strategy and started actually telling my preceptors what I wanted to do, that's when I started finding out about the open jobs.

And so be upfront with them and just really let them know.

And as far as when to start, I mean, I started pretty early because I knew I wanted to work right after graduation, but that's up to you.

I mean, if you want to take a break, you can still let them know.

And then once you get the job, y' all can talk about when you'd want to start.

Start.

How long after graduating from PA school do you start looking for a job?

Did some of your classmates find difficulty finding a job?

So I talked about this a little bit earlier because I actually started looking for jobs before I graduated, and I was hired beforehand.

But some people did start looking afterwards, and I don't know of anyone that had terrible difficulty.

I mean, pretty much everyone who wanted a job got one.

I did have one friend who wanted a job in gi, and so she wanted to live in a big city, but because that's more of a saturated market with experienced PAs, she had to go to, like, a smaller city for a couple years, and then she was able to move to a bigger city once she had experience.

You may have to just be flexible on location and what you're.

What you're wanting to do if you looking at a certain specialty.

I majored in biology, so I just asked what I majored in.

What is something you dislike about being a derm pa?

I talked about the cons a little bit earlier.

I think the biggest thing is having a schedule that is set in place that I have to plan my vacations really far in advance because my schedule is so far in advance.

And then.

And I'm kind of answering this for you too, Adam.

But yeah, so for.

Specifically for being a derm pa, I mean, I have to have my schedule far in advance.

If I did something like Urgent care or emergency medicine, where it was more like shift work.

I wouldn't have to do that as much because I could switch shifts or just take off whenever I wanted or work per diem.

But, yeah, so that's probably the worst part.

And then I do feel like I've lost a lot of the knowledge that I had in PA school, more general medicine, just because I'm not doing it every day.

And then as far as the good parts, I just.

I love my job and I. I love the people I work with.

I love getting to do procedures.

I love that I go to work and I come home and I'm able to leave work there and not bring it home with me.

So, yeah, I have a really fun job.

Have you ever served on admissions for a PA school?

So when I was in PA school, I was able to help out with admissions, which was really cool just because I was from the area and it was something I was interested in.

So I was able to help out with admissions groups while I was in school.

And then now that I'm working, it's harder because I have patience and a schedule.

So it doesn't really work out that I'm able to get over there too much.

Let's see.

What are the characteristics you have that make you a successful pa?

Oh, gosh, that's a tough question being interviewed.

You know, I think I. I feel like I'm confident when I go into patient rooms.

I feel like I try to almost not joke around my patients, but I try to make them feel comfortable and.

And be personable with them.

And I feel like my patients like that.

It kind of puts them at ease.

I'm very open with them.

And I. I mean, I'm very.

I'll tell them, like, hey, look, I have a pimple, too.

I know what you're going through it seeing, but I also am very.

I don't know.

I'm very.

I want them to ask me questions, so I'm.

I always make sure to ask, hey, like, anything else going on with your skin today?

Like, anything else?

Any other questions you want to ask?

So even if they want to ask about something like sunscreen or whatever, I'm willing to answer those questions.

Bye, Blaze.

You might.

Are you going to watch Game of Thrones?

Because that's what I'm about to do, but yeah, So I think just being kind to your patients and really showing genuine interest in them goes a long way.

Another pre PA question.

Most important advice for a high school student that wants to be a pa that is an awesome question.

So keep your GPA up as much as possible and don't do anything to jeopardize that.

So even if that means waiting to get healthcare experience, really just do your best to get that.

And yes, I have done a pre PA webinar, so just go back to my videos.

I've done prepa, pre personal statement, caspa, Healthcare Experience, patient care experience.

You could watch those for a while and also join.

I was going to mention just to everybody join, we have a new pre PA Facebook group.

So if you are pre pa, I put the link in the description and so definitely look at joining that.

And then the next webinar will be more prepa and it'll be August 20th at 8pm that's also a Sunday night and I'll be talking about overcoming GPA hurdles for PA schools.

So we'll be talking more about grades and gpa.

And also if you don't follow me on Instagram, that's the best way to keep up with what all is going on.

So you can find me on there at the PA platform.

All right, back to a couple questions.

Do you report to a single MD or is it more of a team aspect?

So I technically work more closely with one of the MDs and the other PA works more closely with the other one.

But if there's, if I ever have a question and my doctor's not available, I am free to go talk to the other one too.

So we definitely have a team aspect.

But as far as like the person who signs my notes and who like my patients follow up with if needed, it's one physician.

When the fierce competition among new grad PAs attempting to enter the dermatology field.

What did you do to set yourself apart from other applicants applicants in order to get hired in dermatology?

You know, I don't know that I daily to set myself apart.

I think I was just very honest about wanting to be in derm.

And so when it came to getting my name out there and actually after I was hired I got an email from another dermatologist in the area who was interested in interviewing me because I had been putting the word out that I wanted to do dermatology.

And so yeah, I just put it out there and then once I went to the interview, I mean I was very honest with what I wanted to do and my interest and I think if you're passionate about something, it shows through and me and my supervising position just clicked and that's, that's really important.

She actually gave me a really big compliment and she said that.

That if she.

What she say?

If there was anyone that could be as close as possible of a clone to her, it was me.

And I was like, that is so sweet.

Thank you.

Because she's just awesome.

But, yeah, so I think just find someone that you work well with, like, if it works.

Have I had a conflict with my MD since working there?

No, I don't think so.

We.

We get along very well, and I feel very.

I'm always fine to go with her if I don't, like, agree with something, which isn't very often.

I think there have been a couple times where I'm like, can I do this medicine instead?

Or something.

And she's really open to my ideas and thoughts and.

But yeah, we don't really have conflicts.

She's really nice.

We go to lunch.

Yeah.

Oh, gosh.

I'm gonna be doing a PA versus medical school video very soon, so stay tuned for that and then I am going to sign off.

But if y' all have any more questions, feel free to email me.

My email's on my website.

And then.

And I do have a blog post about that as well.

And Lee, there is.

There's a link in the description to my favorite resources for dermatology stuff, so.

You got it.

But thanks for all your questions, guys, and thanks for tuning in.

It is pouring outside and hopefully nothing.

No trees fall and we don't lose power.

Okay, everyone, have a good night and have a good week.

And yeah, I'm always here if you need me, but I hope to see you at the next webinar too.