Who would have thought that a little fish in a Disney movie could be so inspiring, right? "Just keep swimming" is probably a major theme in the hearts and minds of many of my classmates; it certainly is for me. We are nearing the end of our didactic year, and we are exactly one month away from clinical rotations. Tomorrow is our last final, and I just need a break from studying, so here I am.
The last few weeks have been rather exciting. As Taneisha mentioned, the class of 2010 (my class) just recently finished the Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool (PACKRAT), and pending a few more final grades and a couple clinical skills practicals, we will be set free from the confines of the classroom, and we will venture into the clinical world. For the past semester, we have periodically attended pre-clinical meetings, bought our PDAs to track our patients, and now all we have to do is wash our white coats. :-)
You may be thinking - that's a lot of talk about exams and practicals... Do you ever have fun? Well, the best part of passing any portion of the didactic year is the celebration that ensues afterward. Every major milestone in the PA program becomes a cohort birthday party. For our celebration, we, of course, had to start appropriately with food at a local restaurant. Then, we went to one of Winchester's finest new attractions: The Alamo Drafthouse. It's a movie theater and restaurant all in one, and we basically had an entire section of the theater taken up by a majority of our class. It was a great time. After the movie, we headed to the walking mall to dance and have drinks. We met up with even more members from our class and even some fellow physical therapy and pharmacy students. Never fear, where's there's an exam... there's a celebration for passing that exam.
Also, you may be relieved to know that the fall semester isn't all studying and clinical medicine. As you probably know, Shenandoah's program is a Master's degree program, and part of our curriculum includes a Humanities course where we talk about bioethics, debate hot topics and discuss alternative therapy as they relate to life, the PA profession, and clinical practice. The final project in the course is "Exploring Medicine through the Arts," where you are given the chance to display your artistic talent and explain how your creation, whatever it may be, will influence you as a physician assistant. A lot of times people stress about the project because everyone is afraid that they will be judged for their lack of artistic talent. Trust me when I tell you that I have absolutely zero talent when it comes to drawing, painting, or sculpture, but art has a very broad definition and many interpretations. One girl from our class actually sang while playing the guitar - very impressive. There were a number of very interesting projects and all of the interpretations were pertinent, and the project turned out to be very fun and in some cases, therapeutic. Just a little reminder for those of you who may be worried that everything in PA school is all business.
Well, pharmacology/therapeutics is calling my name, so I should get back to that. Next post, I will talk a little more about what kind of breaks you get in PA school, some general advice for success in the didactic year, and hopefully some pictures!
Almost time for the holidays!
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