- Procedures- I was able to learn from two incredible MAs about venipuncture and EKGs and felt that by the end of the rotation i was more proficient in both of these skills. Although I wasn’t doing procedures from day 1, I felt they were happy to let me try procedures for my very first time after they gave me instructions and observed me which really helped me work on perfecting my skills. I realized it is important to ask to do procedures as it is better to be told they are not comfortable with it than you do not ask at all. I will be continuing to ask to do procedures in the future and use any resources available to me that I have.
- Patient interactions- I found it really interesting being able to see patients on my own at times until the doctor would observe my findings and discuss with me the plan. Something that I hope to work on is developing a plan before the doctor enters the room so that I can get feedback on my thoughts without having the provider guide me in the right direction first
- Physical Exam- What I found to appreciate about this rotation is how much I was able to do in terms of doing the physical exam and being able to report it back to the doctor to find out if she agreed. It was a great learning experience to be able to do the physical exam on my own and then learn afterwards based on what I found. Something I hope to do in future rotations is continue to see patients on my own if the provider allows and do the physical exam before coming back to report to the provider. It can seem obvious but sometimes I run out of time with the patient after speaking to them and the provider wants to speak already about what is going on so it is important for me to try to fit in a physical exam before recounting the patient interaction.
- Researching on off hours- something I would love to do is research some of my patients I saw that were interesting during lunch break and try to find out more about the patient and the condition. I would find that during the busy shift I didn’t always have the complete understanding of the diagnosis or treatment plan but by researching on my own I was able to get that for myself and advance my learning.
- Time management- something that I hope to learn while on rotations is how to manage my time so that I am efficient in my work so that I don’t miss out on my learning time. Working on time management in my future as a PA student can help me thrive in these next 8 rotations to come.
