NP & PA Student Blog

Finishing My PA Education

Olga Trouskova — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:17:00 GMT

With snow still falling in Minnesota in May, my graduation on May 4 th was a memorable one! PA school has been a long journey for me and my classmates with its own share of challenges or "fires" as we called them. It consumed our lives. So, it is a bitter-sweet...(read more)

How to Grow Into a Full-Blown NP or PA

Caroline Pilgrim — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:10:00 GMT

If there's any lesson I've learned in PA school, it is that mistakes are the fertilizer to grow a healthy clinical year. This month is me versus the OR (operating room) and if I didn't contaminate my glove, then I accidently bumped my head into the surgeons...(read more)

Addressing Patient Psychosocial Issues

Olga Trouskova — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:56:00 GMT

My first encounter with homelessness was while living in Ecuador. Homelessness there is pervasive and hard to miss. It is present on most street corners and does not discriminate, affecting both old and young; it is quite merciless and ruthless. I remember...(read more)

Conference Craze

Caroline Pilgrim — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:36:00 GMT

For those of you just entering the healthcare world, you may have noticed that any and every field has a conference. Having lived in Orlando for 5 years, I know about conferences (Orlando is probably the conference capital of the east coast). So, why...(read more)

Lessons Learned in my Clinical Year

Olga Trouskova — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:26:00 GMT

Graduation day is just around the corner (but who is counting?), so I've decided to reflect back on the "lessons learned" during my clinical year of PA school. It has been a challenging and rewarding experience for me. There have been ups and downs; both...(read more)

The Real Price of Medical Education

Terrance Clarke — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:19:00 GMT

The real tragedy of getting a medical education is not the understanding of your own mortality or quantification of personal risk factors. It's not even the fact that friends and colleagues want you to look at something awful that is growing out of their...(read more)

Smells as a Diagnostic Clue

Caroline Pilgrim — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:48:00 GMT

Consider this post "part II" in response to faithful reader of our student blog, Mark Behar of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His comment challenged me to follow up on the use of odors and smells to diagnose, or at least give us clues to how best to treat our...(read more)

The Hardest Semester Ever

Stacey Snodgrass — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:04:00 GMT

This has been one of the hardest semesters ever. It isn't just that my clinical hours have doubled, but I am coordinating a couple of different clinical sites, and the work load seems overwhelming. I feel as if I am perpetually behind, behind in reading,...(read more)

Embracing Old Age

Olga Trouskova — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:10:00 GMT

The other day, I came across a poem that was written by an older man who was living in a nursing home. It is a touching poem, so I've decided to share it with you. Although the poem addresses nurses specifically, I believe that its message is to everyone,...(read more)

My First Job as an Accelerated NP Student

Terrance Clarke — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:26:00 GMT

It is tough for new nurses in accelerated nurse practitioner courses to find a first job. A lot of the places willing to hire new grads want them full time, which is impossible with the work load our training requires. There are some employers that require...(read more)

My "Smeducation" in Patient Smells

Caroline Pilgrim — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:30:00 GMT

If I could give any future medical student advice about the ER, my three most important words would be: Vicks Vapor Rub. When I first entered the ER, I was prepared to be jaded, but I was not prepared for the smells: abscesses, STDs, rotten teeth, body...(read more)

Becoming an NP Online

Stacey Snodgrass — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:21:00 GMT

Last month during the lull of winter break, I had a sudden fear that I would not be able to find a job after graduation. I guess it was because of the lull, no case studies to do, clinical hours completed for the semester, and final grade deemed passing,...(read more)

Patient Non-Compliance

Olga Trouskova — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:28:00 GMT

"Mr. Lee" is a 35-year old Asian male with HTN, HLP and DMII who had s/p stent placement in his LAD two years ago. He has stopped taking simvastatin, lisinopril, Metformin and aspirin, does not exercise, continues to smoke, and does not check his blood...(read more)

Ghost Stories

Terrance Clarke — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:36:00 GMT

I am sitting in a building erected in a decade when buildings were square and walls could never be thick enough. Brown ivy climbs a brick exterior white-washed so many times that it seems smooth. The old steel radiators chitter like a multitude of sparrows...(read more)

Become the Eight Percent

Caroline Pilgrim — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:01:00 GMT

Was it losing weight? Spending more time with your family? Dragging your body to the gym? Reading more books? When's the last year you set a new year's resolution? And how far did you get before you broke it? And why are you so discouraged about trying...(read more)