Do you remember the first year of PA school? You might have been the student who only wanted to focus on the books, and every other commitment would take a backseat. You felt like the best thing was to kiss your world goodbye and be a single-track-minded individual. Or you might have been the kind of student who came in wanting to have a balanced ...

Last weekend and into early this week, I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta for the AAPA annual PA Conference with my classmates and a few of my professors. Aside from getting the chance to bond with my peers and connect with my mentors on a personal level outside of the classroom, I was able to attend several seminars and conference events ...

No matter what I do, I seem like I'm always on the run. Balancing work, teaching, writing, running to my daughter's softball games, working out and tackling the long laundry list of daily activities provides little time for anything else. Finding a few minutes to refresh my knowledge of a medical topic is a difficult task. Or it was, until ...

This weekend, several of my classmates and I are making the trip down to Atlanta, Geor., for the start of the AAPA's 38th Annual PA Conference. As Saturday approaches, I'm finding myself more and more excited to have the opportunity to get out of the classroom and learn about so many different and interesting topics from a variety of knowledgeable ...

A degree in physician assistant studies was named No. 1 in a list of master's degrees that would provide the best opportunities, based on salary and employment, over the next decade, according to ABC News. The report, posted yesterday, focuses on Shane Tysinger, a former high school science teacher who decided to pursue a full-time career in ...

Physician assistants are increasingly more likely to head into specialties such as surgery and emergency medicine rather than primary care, according to the News & Observer. Researchers at the Duke University PA program studied the job choices of PAs from 1997 to 2006 and found that the number of PAs going into primary care declined to 41% ...

Physician assistant students at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., received recognition in the New Haven Register this month for their volunteer work in the Dominican Republic. In January and March, the students volunteered with Health Horizons International, an organization that focuses on expanding health care access to the Puerto Plata ...

In the past week, several news stories--including blog entries and videos--have reported on an incident involving University of New Mexico physician assistant students. The students, who were performing complimentary blood sugar tests at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center on Saturday, April 24, used a device meant for single patient use only on up ...

In a letter to the editor on May 3, AAPA president Stephen Hanson responded to an opinion piece published on April 10 in The Bakersfield Californian called ''Doctor shortage is first ObamaCare issue.'' The author, Dr. Robert S. Hooker, made a strong case about the looming physician shortage, but failed to mention PAs as a critical part of the ...

Included in the health care reform bill that President Obama signed into law on March 23 is an incentive that could encourage health care professionals to practice in underserved rural areas. In Nebraska, a 2004 law mandated that participants in a program that repays the student loans of health professionals who agree to work in underserved ...