Our country is blessed to have medical regulatory boards that serve to protect patients and their providers. Some other parts of the world do not require a license or special privileges. Those countries just want help from anyone willing, and it does not always end well. So, the United States has a blessing and a curse. Since ...

Today my head is full from the past week. With only one shift left, my ED rotation is coming to an end. I will be sad to leave the excitement and variety but glad to have somewhat of a consistent schedule. I am recovering from a string of four night shifts. I'm feeling a little dazed and confused, actually. This morning I showed up for an eye ...

With nine shifts down and six to go, it's hard to believe that my emergency medicine rotation is more than halfway complete. (You may remember that I was originally scheduled to work just 12 shifts this month. Through a change of events, I was fortunate enough to pick up three extra days in the ED.) This month I am given 150 hours on the job to ...

You've probably been here before: You're asking your patient social history questions related to smoking, alcohol and illicit drug use, and the patient responds with a twinkle in his or her eye, ''Oh yea, I drink a few glasses of red wine every day because it's good for me, it's protecting my heart.'' I won't even get into the number of people ...

Wow! The first week in the ED was an eye-opener! I walked in on Monday and the preceptor said, ''Pick up a chart and go.'' For a moment I thought she was joking or I was in some sort of dream. I opened the chart and read the chief complaint, ''Right side pain.'' As I walked toward the patient's room, my mental rolodex of differential diagnoses was ...

      My friends know that I'm a geek. I love all types of technology and I'm usually the first to have all the new cool toys. So, with the recent announcements about 3D television, I've been excited to add this cool new technology to my collection. There is one little problem however--I get motion sick whenever I watch ...

In recent lectures, it seems like we always end up discussing the importance of ''covering your back,'' so to speak, in medicine. Time and time again I've heard from clinically practicing PAs how important it is to ''document, document, document'' or ''check and recheck'' when treating patients. With so many resources at their fingertips, ...

This week, I've been thinking about the presence and importance of honesty in medicine. As health care providers, we are expected to be open and honest with our patients even when that is difficult to do. I'm realistic enough to know that this moral isn't always upheld when it should be. Still, we are expected to follow through and even take an ...

After reading the recent poorly written articles on the PA and NP professions that have caused such a stir in the medical world, I think it can be easy as a student to get discouraged about the fact that so many people still misinterpret our role in modern medicine even some 40 years after the profession started. Just being in PA school, I ...

Last week my classmates and I began a clinical skills course. The professor described the course as a time for students to ''put away your laptops and notebooks and simply use your eyes, ears and hands.'' Topics and workshops covered include aseptic technique and surgical scrubbing, casting and splints, injections and phlebotomy, suturing and ...