Olivia emailed me asking if she could come on and talk about her path, and I'm glad she did.

She's an ortho trauma PA and a Duke grad - our first guest from that program. Ortho trauma is exactly what it sounds like: fractures, ORs, and a lot of urgency. It's a specialty people either love immediately or know right away isn't for them.

We get into what her application looked like, what Duke's program was like from the inside, and how much her life experience outside of medicine mattered when she was applying. That last part comes up constantly and people underestimate it. Programs are building a class of humans, not a spreadsheet of stats.

What we talk about:

• Getting into and going through Duke's PA program
• What ortho trauma looks like as a new grad
• The hardest parts of her application process
• How life experience shaped her candidacy
• Adjusting to a fast, procedure-heavy specialty
• Her advice for students applying to top-ranked programs

Resources:

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

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

Free resume download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

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

Today in episode 63, we're interviewing Olivia, an Orthotrauma PA who recently graduated from Duke.

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.

Hello.

Hello.

How is everyone doing?

Thank you so much for tuning in.

This is Savannah, the host of the Pre PA Club podcast, a dermatology PA during the day, a mom all the time, wife to a resident physician, and the founder of the PA platform.

I do a little bit of things.

Just kidding.

I am way too busy for my own good, but I love it, so here I am.

Thank you so much for tuning in to episode 63.

Oh, my gosh.

So in today's episode, I'm very, very excited about our guest.

Her name is Olivia, and she reached out to me and she just wanted to help other Pre PA students.

So she recently finished her PA journey and wanted to share her knowledge.

Now, Olivia went to a little school called Duke.

Have you ever heard of it?

So Duke is historically ranked the number one PA program in the country, and it was also the first PA program in the country, which is so, so cool.

This will be the first time that I'm having anyone who went from Duke went to Duke on the podcast, and I'm really excited about it.

Olivia has great advice, and I think you're all really going to enjoy this episode.

So today, our episode is sponsored by PA School Prep, which is an online course for PA students or incoming PA students to refresh your knowledge on anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology.

All of the basics that you need to know and need to really excel in to do well during your didactic year of PA school.

Check that [email protected] and make sure you use the code futurepa for $35 off of your registration.

Definitely a great review if you are getting ready to start school and need something to go over that material.

All right, let's jump in to our interview with Olivia, and I think you're really, really going to enjoy it.

Thank you for tuning in.

My name's Olivia.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm gonna be looking at the question.

The questions, like, as we go, just so I can throw those in.

All right.

All right.

So my name's Olivia and I'm a physician assistant now.

So my background.

I always knew I wanted to go into medicine and wasn't really sure whether I wanted to go to medical school or do more of the science side.

And the Biomedical engineering and all of those things.

And then, sure enough, I had a sports injury and tore my acl.

And that's really when I got interested in orthopedics, sports medicine, and learned about a physician assistant and what that does and how in orthopedics especially, they do a lot.

They're in the operating rooms, they see patients in clinic, they do all this stuff.

And I was like, wow, this is awesome.

This is really cool.

And then I started talking to more of these PAs as well as the physical therapists, because I worked a lot with physical therapy through my acls.

And so I was really on the fence between, you know, do I like the physical therapy, do I want to be a physician, or do I want to be a pa?

And it was just through talking to a couple of good family friends who were PAs and realizing that the balance, which, it's funny because I don't really think that there is much balance necessarily that you can find in life, but the opportunities that they had to not only have their families and things outside of work, as well as being able to see patients and take care of them, is really what led me down the path of being a pa.

So then I figured out, well, where do I want to go to PA school?

Once I knew that that's what I wanted to do, and I started looking and found out that Duke was the top program in the country.

So that's where I set my sights, was, hey, I want to go to Duke.

And so, come and behold, I finished up my undergrad and started my patient care hours and all of that.

And then I went through the whole application cycle kind of pretty quickly after I graduated from my undergrad.

And then I got an interview at Duke, which I was pretty excited about, because that was my long shot.

I didn't think it was going to happen.

And then I was actually wait listed at Duke, which actually, I would say for those who are in that same boat of being waitlisted, it is not the end of the world.

You do get in.

It does happen.

And so I got that phone call and decided that, yep, I want to go to Duke.

And so now it's two years later, and I just finished school in August at Duke, and now I am working as an orthopedic trauma paper.

So that's basically the basics of my background.

But, yeah, I love that you added that about the wait list, because that is where so many people are right now, and they are struggling with that waiting.

Yes.

Yeah.

I always tell them, like, being on a wait list is better Than being rejected, just being in there.

Yes, it is tough being on that wait list.

It definitely was.

The thing is, I had no idea, I think, until about March was when I finally found out that I had been accepted.

So it's not.

And I waste.

I was waitlisted in January, February.

So it was about a month or so that I was, like, waiting and trying to figure out, okay, reassessing also because it was March.

So that meant, all right, am I going to go through this all again or not?

Did you apply to other programs, too?

I had applied to.

I applied to seven in total.

I ended up with four interviews.

I had been accepted at one other school in Pennsylvania.

Lockhaven University was the name of that one.

And so I was going to go there.

But it was also kind of that reassessing of, well, I almost got into Duke, so was I going to wait and decide to decline the Lockhaven one or go to it?

And so I was going to go there, but then when I got into Duke, I decided that, hey, that's really where I was wanting to go and felt like it was going to be a better fit for me too, in the long run.

You applied to seven programs, got interviews at four, accepted at two.

What about those other three?

Did you ever hear back from them?

So I ended up turning down.

I ended up turning down two different interview.

So I turned down two.

So I only ended up going to two interviews.

The one at Lockhaven, because I interviewed there very early.

I interviewed there in August and was accepted in August there.

So I already kind of knew that was one of my backup schools.

So I was like, hey, I'm already in.

And just because the expense, it's so, so expensive, as I'm sure everybody knows with the flights and going for these interviews and everything, that I was like, okay, well, if I've already got my backup school and then one of them, like the timing of that weekend, I had a wedding or some other obligation, so I was going to have to ask them to move it when I really wasn't sure if I wanted to go to that school anyways, so I decided not to.

But also because I had just found out about my Duke interview.

So I think had I not had the opportunity to interview at Duke, I may have changed the way that I was doing some things.

And then also one of the other schools, it was like they didn't have any more.

They couldn't offer me a seat.

It would have been a waitlist seat.

So.

And at that point that I found out about that, I was Already on, like, had interviewed at Duke and was waiting to hear back about, you know, whether or not I was gonna go.

And I hadn't been waitlisted right away at Duke.

I was.

Because some schools will put you in that limbo phase of, we want to interview everybody first before we decide.

Because at Duke, the way that they do it is a third will be accepted right away.

A third will kind of be told, hang on, we are struggling making up our mind.

And then the other third is told, sorry, you're not quite what we're looking for, you know, or we don't think this would be a good fit for you.

So I was still in that third of.

They hadn't made up their mind and didn't find out until February whether that I was waitlisted.

And then those other three schools, I did finally hear back from them, but it was like months.

It was like February or so by the time that I got a thank you for applying.

But, you know, we found our class and you can apply again.

Basically, like a rejection.

Yeah, basically your rejection letter of thanks, but we've already got our class.

So that actually was hoping that you had gotten some rejections because I just feel like it's important for people to realize, like, you.

You can interview and get accepted at Duke and have other programs reject you.

Like.

Yes.

It is such a random process and sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to why you get an interview or not.

So my rule of thumb is if you meet the requirements, apply, apply to your reach school and apply to your safe schools.

Because you just don't know.

Yeah, no, that's exactly it.

And I think.

Cause big part of it was too.

Is that like, even, like the school schools in my state, like, I couldn't apply to them because their requirement, like, I didn't meet the minimum number of patient hours or I need to take, like another psychology class, or there was something that I was missing that I knew that my application would get thrown out right away and it would be a waste of money, but I could apply to Duke.

So it was just kind of crazy because you just can't.

You can't necessarily count one rhyme or reason why you'll get an interview one place, but you can't even apply at another.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

Crazy.

Okay, so speaking of kind of stats, a lot of people from Instagram want to kind of know some of your stats.

If you remember them or feel like sharing, at least give us kind of an idea.

Yeah.

So stats.

Let's see.

I'm trying to Think so.

I was a biochem major from my college, um, which I think also added a little bit of diversity for me because I wasn't just a regular biology major and I wasn't a straight up chemistry major.

And so that also meant I took a lot more chemistry classes than a lot of other people did.

But that's also because that's what I liked.

And so because that's what I liked, I did well in it.

So my GPA was.

And my science GPA was pretty high.

So I think overall I had like a 3.8 or a 3.8.

Three was my overall GPA.

And I think even my science was like a 3.7 overall.

It was a good.

A good GPA.

But also one thing that I like to remind people is that.

And especially learning from Duke, because there was plenty of people in my class who they were like, no, I don't know how I got here because I was not the smartest person in the class.

My GPA wasn't super strong, all these things.

So don't be discouraged just because you have some, you know, blunders or your GPA isn't super strong.

I think even my GRE score was like, they were barely whatever the average was that Duke accepted.

I can't even remember what those were off the top of my head.

And then my patient hours.

I happened to start working kind of part time in an orthopedic office one summer when an internship fell through.

And so I started getting some of my.

Let's see here, just some of my clinical hours kind of throughout.

So I think by the time, like while I was still in school, I think I worked like one day a week where I was finishing up my last semester.

And then I graduated a semester early.

So that way I could start getting my clinical hours and work full time.

So I think by the time I applied in July, or.

Yeah, it was June.

July.

I think I had just over a thousand.

So it wasn't like I had a ton.

And again, this was.

Cause it's like this is my first year applying.

Wasn't necessarily expecting to get in, but knew I was going to keep working if it didn't work out.

So.

But a lot has changed since I applied.

I feel like that, yeah, it changes and gets more and more competitive.

I feel like every single year.

Okay, so you ended up at Duke, your dream school.

Yeah.

Was it everything you hoped it would be?

Yeah, I mean, I would say it definitely was.

And I think what you.

You'll find out at any school that you go to, there will always be things that you're like, oh, I wish we could have changed this, but I think I wouldn't change it.

I wouldn't have gone anywhere else again.

With them being ranked the top school in the country, which I know is always debatable, is kind of like, how do they come up with these rankings?

They definitely know what they're doing.

They have.

Everything is pretty set up because they were where it all started and so.

And then like the resources, because it is a big, you know, it's a level one trauma center.

They have the medical school, they have all these resources.

So, you know, we had like the full and you know, anatomy lab and you know, with the cadavers and everything.

And not every school does that.

And so I think that's also something that's pretty important when you are considering schools is what.

What things are important to you.

And I knew that I wanted the full dissection lab, not just, you know, not because some of them you do have anatomy lab, but it's not you actually working with a team and doing the dissections and things.

So I think that was important to keep in mind when I was deciding.

How long is their program?

Their program is only 24 months.

Okay, so it's just the two years.

Exactly.

It is quick, it is jam packed.

But again, they've got it down to an art form and so they know like how to make didactic ear work and get you everything that you need.

So that way you're prepared for clinicals.

So it moves pretty quick.

I think that was something getting used to is like having an exam, like two exams, most weeks or one exam at the minimum every single week of school during didactic year.

Yeah, same for me.

Yeah.

I'm also getting a lot of questions about paying for PA school.

Do you have any thoughts or tips there?

So I think something that I started doing before I went to PA school because I read, I think in how to get into PA School book or something was tips about paying for school.

So unfortunately, there's this thing called government loans, which that's really what I ended up doing a lot of.

But while I knew I was applying for PA school, I was really good about putting $50 a week or whatever money it was just.

We'll just use $50 as an example.

Every paycheck that I got, $50 went right into a special account that said PA school.

Because I was like, that's an extra 50 bucks.

That is sitting in there when I need it for school.

And so then by the time that I actually got into school and went to school, I had actually a substantial amount of money sitting in there that I didn't even think about.

And so, I mean, in between college and PA school, I did live at home, which helped save some money.

So it's kind of just being smart with it.

But at the end of the day, I did end up taking out most of the loans.

And again, that was because I just knew that it wasn't going to happen any other way.

But there are people who've made it work.

And I think also because I did go from pretty much undergrad straight into school was why I ended up taking out maybe more loans than some of my counterparts who didn't do what I did and took off a little bit more time or had more experience than I did.

I also think some of it was like people who were married because they obviously they had a second source of income.

So I think you just figure out what's going to work for you and because everybody's different.

But also I think I wish I would have tried a little bit harder to find some more scholarships and things, because they are out there.

You just really have to look for them.

Yeah, that's true.

That's why I always tell people to fill out FAFSA or whatever it is no matter what.

I got some random scholarship, literally got a check for $2,000 in the mail,.

And I have no.

I still don't really understand why I got it, but it was.

I fit some kind of qualifications because I filled it out and I was talking about women in medicine or something.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It was really cool.

And really, I was like, this isn't real.

But then it was real.

Yeah.

Which was awesome.

What do you think?

What do you think Duke is looking for?

So I think this is like, when I see people's lists of schools, a lot of times Duke is on there.

What?

Like, yeah, top three things that they're looking for.

Oh, dear.

I mean, I think that what Duke is looking for, I guess.

And again, this is just my opinion.

This is not the opinion of Duke and the university by any means.

I think they are looking for people who.

They're not really just looking for just the good grades.

They're not just looking for the good GRE score.

They're looking for people who have life experience.

So I think that's the big thing is they're looking for somebody who's got.

And what I mean by life experience, you Know, they're looking for somebody who's whatever their clinical basis is or whatever.

I mean, heck, there was a kid in my class who was an architect before he decided that he wanted to go to PA school.

So, like, they're.

They're looking for, you know, a unique story or background, and they're not necessarily looking for just another straight A student.

You know, they're looking for passion.

I think is the biggest thing is what are you passionate about and why do you want to do this?

And then, like I said, they're looking for that life experience.

What is it in your life experiences, whether from your clinical background or just your upbringing in general?

Like, what is it that sets you apart from other people?

And I think the other big thing that Duke really emphasizes is also, like, in your interview, do you know the history of the program and that this is where it all started?

I think people sometimes forget that.

And then I guess also, like, they look into, why do you want to go to Duke?

And do you just say, because this is where it all started?

Or, like, what is it about Duke that you know?

Why do you think that you can go to Duke?

Like, what is it about their PA program that you know you want?

Because again, every PA program is a little different.

Like, ours is short.

It's only two years.

So it can be a little bit more intense.

You need to know, like, do you know yourself well enough that you can survive two years in PA school when it's really fast paced and, you know, there's a lot of, you know, like, I guess because they're always talking about how, like, oh, you're some of the top students in the country.

Well, now you're among the top of the top.

So it's just.

It can be very competitive.

And even though they really try to make sure that it's not super competitive, and our class, we were really lucky in that we weren't all super, super competitive with each other because we were all there.

And I think that was just.

It is.

It was.

Getting into PA school is very competitive, but once you're in, it is so not competitive.

Well, it can be, but most of the time everybody is super supportive and, like, trying to get everybody through it together.

So.

No, I completely agree.

I don't know if that helps.

No, it does.

Definitely what I was looking for.

Okay, so now you are newly graduated.

Yes.

Officially a pa.

I'm officially a pac.

Right.

That little C makes a big difference.

That.

So you already had an interest in ortho before going to school, but yeah, when Exactly.

Did you start looking for jobs and kind of applying or start that process?

So I knew again, mainly because I was like, hey, I have a lot of student loans and they are not going to pay for themselves.

And I also knew that I did not want to wait until the very end come graduation, when I'm going to be worrying about moving back.

So I went to school in North Carolina and Duke, and I'm from Colorado, so I knew I wanted to move back or that there was a good chance that I would be moving back here, even if it was temporary before I started my job.

So I knew I didn't want to add any more stress to that.

So I wanted to start applying for jobs early.

So I actually started applying in March, even though I graduated in August.

And that was just, again, just like testing the waters kind of.

Just.

Just applying just to see.

And I knew that I wanted to do surgery.

I knew.

And that was whether that was going to be cardiac surgery or orthopedic surgery or really neurosurgery, like literally any kind of surgery, because I knew I liked surgery.

It didn't necessarily have to be ortho, but I was like, hey, if I ended up in ortho, I'd be pretty happy.

So I started in March and really didn't hear tons.

I think I maybe had one interview in May, and then it wasn't until actually, like July once I started getting a little bit.

Well, June and July when I started getting a few more offers for phone interviews and different things.

So, I mean, I think I ended up applying to quite a few jobs before I finally got the interview for my current job.

I think I probably applied to like over a hundred because I had kept a big Excel spreadsheet of, like, what it was and what the position was.

Because after a while, all these jobs start to blur together.

And it's kind of helpful when that recruiter, whoever calls you up and is like, hey, you know, I'm from, you know, Nebraska, and this was a position.

And then you're like.

Or you get the email first is usually the way that it starts.

But then that way you can go back and find that job posting to remind yourself about it.

Because if you apply to a lot of jobs, if you have a lot of options, because that was what was unique about my situation, is that I was pretty open to moving anywhere in the country or doing that because I didn't necessarily have a specific location that I had to go back to or a specific job field that I was interested in and had to be in.

So I think that can also change how many jobs you're applying to when you start applying, all of those kind of things.

So.

Okay.

Yeah, I started applying really early, too.

So you end up.

I know tons of my classmates who also didn't start applying until August, right before we finished school.

Yeah, I know some of mine wait till they pass boards because I wanted to make sure, which might be wise, actually.

But anyway.

Yeah.

Okay.

So do you feel like it was hard to find a job or not too difficult?

I think it was hard to find a job mainly because of the fact that I was looking at surgical jobs and a lot of surgical fields, they want you to have prior experience, which, I mean, I guess it can be in any form of being a pa.

It usually says one to two years of experience is like the minimum.

And I think the other thing that made it hard for me to maybe find a job was also because I didn't go to school where I wanted to work.

Okay.

You know, at the end of the day, I decided after being in North Carolina, I loved it, I really enjoyed it, but I just wasn't finding the opportunities that I wanted there, mainly because it's a big teaching and academic area, and I knew that I didn't really.

I liked going to school there and thought it was great, but didn't think that being a licensed PA was going to be.

I just didn't.

The way that most PAs worked there wasn't how I wanted it to be for me.

And so I decided which I know plenty of my classmates who ended up staying there, which again, some of their rotation sites, those kind of things led to jobs.

But it just didn't work out for me that way because I wanted to be in surgery.

So I think that certain fields, it can be harder to.

And then I also think it depends on really how flexible you are with what kind of job and where it is too.

Because I think a lot of the jobs that people find posted are sometimes in the middle of nowhere or,.

You.

Know, they might have some other undesirable thing like the schedule, it's only nights or something like that.

So I think it really just kind of depends on how picky are you going to be about things.

Yeah, that's helpful.

Do you.

So this is a question I've gotten a lot lately about.

Does the program you go to affect your ability to get a job?

Like, I even had a specific.

I think it was an email that was basically like, I was accepted to my state school, which is significantly cheaper, or this Ivy League program that's gonna be $60,000 more.

Should I go to the one that's more expensive just because it'll help me get a job?

Do you feel like going to Duke, the number one program, was that ever brought up, do you think that helped you get a job maybe over someone else or didn't really play a huge role?

I mean, I think it can.

Yes.

People saying that Duke name can really help you to a certain degree.

But at the end of the day, being a PAC is the same.

It doesn't matter.

As long as you pass your boards, you are a pa and so therefore it doesn't really affect you.

I think the reason and one of the things is why I ended up choosing to go to Duke as opposed to that other school that I had been accepted to, was because of the fact that one of the doctors that I worked with and was very close with prior to going to PA school.

So he saw me go through that whole journey of applying and he wrote a letter for me and things.

But he told me, because of the fact that you might want to go end up in teaching or you might want to preceptor students, you know, you have different goals and objectives beyond just being a pa you may really want to go to Duke because that may offer.

Offer you more opportunities.

So I would say to somebody who.

Which had I applied to my state school, which, again, I just didn't end up applying there because I needed a bunch of extra classes and things in order for me to apply, I may have done so because again, I think that they.

Because that's.

I knew I wanted to come back to Colorado.

It may have opened the opportunity for jobs and things here because you do rotate with a lot of local things.

You know, like most of your rotation sites are going to be close to where you go to school because you have to come back for end of rotation exams.

All of these things.

Right.

So I think I may have done that instead of going to Duke, but because I wanted to, because I felt like there was going to be other opportunities later on in my life that I may need that big name behind me.

That's why I ended up doing it.

That's.

That's a good reasoning.

And Colorado does not have a ton of PA school options.

No, they're struggling there.

Yeah.

Okay, so you're an orthotrauma.

What exactly does that mean?

And how does it differ from just.

Like from regular orthopedics?

Okay, so I work for a big orthopedic group here in Colorado, or I Should say northern, the north Denver area.

And so we have 10 doctors and eight PAs currently.

So we take call from three hospitals.

So basically right now we have a trauma surgeon and then a PA and then I'm their second trauma PA because they're that busy with taking trauma call from three hospitals.

So what that means is basically say you're in a car accident or you fall on the ice and you break your ankle.

Well, typically you're going to be seen at the er, right?

And then you're going that the ER physician usually will call or pa, I should say they'll call the ortho team as like a consult of, hey, this is, you know, we have this patient and they broke their leg and sometimes if it's like an open fracture or whatnot, then they need to have surgery pretty quickly because that's an orthopedic emergency versus no, they just need to, you just need to talk to the emergency room and tell them, hey, just have them follow up in my clinic on Thursday, unless they're going to be staying in the hospital for other reasons or whatnot.

Right.

So that's kind of a little bit of understanding as like, so as a trauma pa, basically what that means is we deal with all the orthopedic trauma.

So a lot of the acute stuff, so your fractures, you know, the things that happen because somebody fell or was in a car accident.

Do you see a lot of skiing accidents?

Some skiing stuff because we're a little bit far from skiing.

So some of those skiing accidents, they don't realize it until later on.

It's like, yeah, I fell and hurt my knee.

And then they choose to just go to, you know, the urgent care or whatnot.

And so a lot of our other doctors who do the sports medicine, they do the total joints, they do all of those things.

They'll typically see, you know, the ACLs and the sports injuries as well as we do have like a hand, you know, hand or upper extremity doctor as well as, you know, foot and ankle, a little bit more specialized things.

But that's probably the biggest difference is that pretty much every single patient as a trauma person that you see, it's a fracture, it is, you know, something or dislocation, it's something more acute versus a chronic problem.

And then it also means that our schedule as trauma pas is a little bit different in terms of, yeah, we do have set clinic hours in which we do see a lot of our post op patients or like new patients to us are usually consults.

So meaning they were seen in an ER that we cover for and were told to they were just an ankle fracture that was stable and told, hey, follow up in clinic kind of thing, versus sometimes we do have those fractures and things that we do go to the hospital and see in the ER because they have so many other problems going on that they need to be seen in the hospital right then.

And then we're also doing surgery.

And a lot of our surgeries are not necessarily elective surgeries.

They're surgeries that, again, it's a fracture and it's something that has to be fixed and has to be fixed quickly.

But we also do have some elective things where, for example, when a patient's doing really well, like a year after they have their ankle plated or, you know, the screw's bothering them now and so they want it taken out.

So those are some of the elective things that we'll do when we're not on call.

And that's what's great.

Also about, like being in the practice with 10 docs is that there's enough of the doctors on call that the trauma doctor is not necessarily on call all the time.

He usually is a couple days a week, but there's still a couple of other days a week that one of the other orthopedic doctors is taking the lead call.

So then that allows our trauma doc to do some of those elective cases which are like the hardware removals or different revision things that are not a true emergency or something that has to be fixed quickly.

So are you.

So are you spending time in the or so.

Yes.

So typically, like, what is your, I.

Guess, level of autonomy?

Like, what do you.

What do.

Yeah.

So because I'm still in training, since I just started my job, it's a little bit different because I'm still waiting for hospital privileges.

So.

So that is something else for any new grad to remember or consider is that it can take months for your stuff to kind of come through, which can be a little frustrating.

But yeah, the trauma pa, she right now she is in the OR with the surgeon.

She will go see ER consults on her own.

She.

Because again, she's got quite a few years of experience too.

So that's.

She's able to work at that level of autonomy in terms of seeing patients in clinic, seeing them in the ER for consults, as well as assisting in these big trauma cases with the surgeon.

And then even in just our general orthopedic clinic, since that's really.

I've been working with all of the different doctors and a lot of the different PAs right now.

Yes, as a PA in this practice, you are in the OR, and typically what that looks like is you come in and you go ahead and you get the patient positioned, you help get them all draped and ready to go.

And then the surgeon will come in, typically around the time that things are ready to start.

And then even though the surgeon may be close by, he might be dictating on a computer or doing something, but he's typically right around the corner.

Then you'll go ahead and assist in whatever procedure you're doing.

And then typically at the end, we're the ones who close up and do all of that at the end.

And then we, you know, write the discharge orders, so that way the nurses know what patient follow up looks like, and then we're on to the next case when we're in the or.

So as an orthopa, you have a lot of autonomy.

Again, that's typically earned.

Since I've just started, I still have a little bit less autonomy than, you know, some of the guys who've been there for, like, seven or eight years, but I think that's what.

Yeah, it was just very reasonable and, you know, that's what I really wanted.

I wanted something in which I was gonna have a fair amount of autonomy and yet still get to be in surgery.

So.

Okay.

Yeah, it sounds like you're very hands on.

Anyone who has listened to this podcast for a while knows that ortho is, like, my worst nightmare.

And broken bones literally make me pass out.

So go.

You glad you could do that?

I'm like.

Like blood cutting someone open, like, whatever, I'm good.

But the broken bones.

Broken bones on the floor, like, no.

Yeah.

So not my thing, but I'm glad it's someone's.

Exactly.

Trust me.

Because you being in derm, there's certain rashes and things that just make my skin crawl, and I'm like, nope, can't do it.

Yeah, everybody has their thing, so.

Yeah.

Anyway, but I think you've shared a lot of really great advice.

Is there anything else that you just would like to share or cover or feel like would be helpful?

Not that I can really think of off the top of my head.

I think we talked about quite a few of the things that you emailed me about.

Were there any more questions that people had?

That is pretty much all of them.

They just really wanted to know a lot about your job, so.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Yeah, I think the other thing that I could share about, like, Being an orthopaedic is that so when I worked in orthopedics prior to going PA school, I was an MA.

And in that practice they were on call.

The PAs were sometimes on call, just taking call for the practice, which meant that they just were answering the phone calls.

So if a patient had surgery or had a question, you know, they would get sent from the answering service to that PA cell phone, basically, and they would answer any questions or tell them to go to the ER or whatnot.

In the practice that I'm in now, currently, the doctors take that call and we don't take it, which is interesting.

And then also like that one, prior to going to PA school, they didn't take any hospital calls.

So their PAs never worked in the hospital versus now.

A lot of my job will be in the hospital.

It will be rounding on patients.

It will be doing all those things.

And then also, like when I even did my rotation of my orthopedics rotation while I was in PA school, also the PA's, their call schedule kind of looked different as well as what their requirements were for rounding on patients and different things.

So I think that when people say they want to go into orthopedics, just like any field of medicine, I think it's really important to feel out what that job's really going to entail.

Because, yeah, I do see patients in the hospital, or I should say I will see patients in the hospital as well as in the outpatient side, which you need to find that stuff out for yourself or I guess when you're applying for jobs and whatnot, because it's going to look a little bit different for everybody.

And if you want to practice at the full of your license and see patients in all these different settings, then just knowing that about yourself, and especially when you're considering taking positions of what do you want from your job?

Yeah, you got to know your deal breakers and what you're willing to compromise on.

Like, I didn't want a position where I'm being called at all hours.

Yeah.

And I technically am on call some months, but I am also in Durham.

So we get like maybe one call a week, if that, and it's usually not an emergency.

So.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, definitely have to like, know your deal breakers.

And that goes back to kind of what we talked about at the beginning with balance.

Like, a lot of people say they want to become a PA because you have a better work life balance.

But to me, like, it's up to you to choose that no matter what your career is no matter if you're a physician or a PA like, you figure out what that means to you and find a position that fits with what you want.

Don't just become a P.A.

For that reason, because you can work just as much, if not more than.

A lot of physicians.

Yeah, because that's what I think had scared me away from applying to orthopedic jobs was because I felt like I wanted a little bit more of that call and wanted a little bit more of the hospital side.

And some orthopedic are not like that.

That's not how they work.

So I think that that was something.

Like you said, knowing what it is that you want is super important.

And I think that everybody needs to know that.

Hey, just because this one group does it this way doesn't mean that they all do it that way.

Definitely not.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for sharing.

I really appreciate it.

So there you have it.

I really hope that was helpful and inspiring to everyone.

And really, I feel like her story about coming off the wait list and also just kind of reaching for her goals and her goal school was really, really helpful and inspiring.

So I hope you guys liked it.

If there's anything else you want to hear about on the podcast, please let me know.

If there's anyone you want me to try to interview, I would love to hear from you.

So leave a review on itunes, reach out in the pre PA Club Facebook group, or shoot me an email or a message on Instagram.

And yeah, I look forward to hearing from you.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I will see you guys next week.