Hilarity ensued

We're doing a lunchtime lecture course, and part of today's lecture involved what not to do when giving a powerpoint presentation. It involved our course director dressed as a pirate (more or less) giving an intentionally horrifically uninformative presentation that demonstrated all the things you shouldn't do while giving a presentation. It had sound effects, excessive animations, delightful color combinations like light lime green on a busy orange background, and the sort of disorganized rambling instruction you get from someone who isn't exactly prepared for the talk they are supposed to be giving. It was great, lots of smiles all around.

We also had some much more serious information imparted. I really feel that most people would benefit from a quick what not to do when it comes to powerpoint presentations. Some of it is common sense, but I think almost everyone is guilty (at one time or another) or putting way too much information on a single slide.

In other news, we got our fall portfolios back along with our evaluations from all of our rotation sites. I received some nice positive feedback, which is always a great way to start a new semester.

My first day back at North after the break was pretty good. We got a late start as always because of photography, but still managed a productive morning. It was funny though because even somewhere as busy as Duke can get things in waves. It was something I noticed where I worked before, all of a sudden, out of nowhere it would be spleen week or one digit amputation after another or massive sutured skin ellipses. Some days it seems like the tonsil folks are offering surgeries two for one and you have set after set, and other times you might go several days without any. Same thing today at Duke, although not with tonsils. I did several different specimens, but it seemed like there were only two types of surgeons working and they were either one type or the other. It was odd! But not bad, it was actually something I enjoyed practicing on.

The Next 10 Days

We have ten days until spring break! Of course we also have two tests before that happens as well. The one next Monday is going to be rough, but this is a good week for me and I'm done at noon tomorrow and Friday. Conceivably I should have enough time on those days to study a lot. And I'm planning to go in a couple hours early tomorrow and Thursday. Whatever downtime I can scrounge up I will try to fit something into, except for Thursday night. I'm giving myself Thursday night off to relax because school/life balance is necessary for sanity!

The other test will be strange since there will only be three days of classes between it and the previous test, but they can cram a lot of information into three days. At least everything will still be fresh in our minds and our actual scheduled class time is pretty minimal that week.

My spring break plans consist of hanging out with my dog who will be visiting for the week, updating the unofficial guide for new students*, writing my autopsy report, and trying to study ahead. My plans would be significantly more fun if my children's spring break matched up with mine instead of being the week after. :( It is okay though, I think the time spent catching up on sleep, movies and life in general will be more beneficial long term than going somewhere. And my husband and I have already started planning a trip for the break we'll have in the summer between first and second year (it is close enough to our ten year wedding anniversary that we're considering it our anniversary celebration) so I don't feel completely cheated on fun trips this year.

Anyway, lab was interesting today. Our instructor is great and he's trying to teach us the keywords that go along with describing different disease processes, like shortened, thickened chordae tendineae indicates rheumatic heart disease. Yesterday's Clinical Pathological Correlation was good too since it focused on the effects of HPV and goodness knows HPV generates a ton of specimens for pathological evaluation!

So that's all for now, not too exciting. Study, study, study, night off, study, study, study lol

*We should get the official mailing list soonish, which means that the incoming first years can expect the deluge of welcome/congratulations emails to start up this weekend or next week sometime. :-)  I, for one, am really curious about them all!

Studying for exams has eclipsed the rest of life

I haven't seen my kids in any meaningful way since Tuesday some time (and even then I was home but studying, so I'm not even sure that counts). I studied last night and tonight in the PA room until 9:15ish, which is well past their bedtime. I'm going home right after gross anatomy tomorrow and will stay home to study this weekend, so I'll see them off and on. I'll be holed up in my studying room in the apartment but I like to come out from time to time for hug breaks. My kids like hugging.

My dad has been in charge of feeding and tending the kids. He doesn't seem to be going crazy and they're still alive so that's a good sign.

Meanwhile, I'm so tired of studying but that's fine. It is only for another eight days, then it is a fabulous two and a half week break followed by January intersession. I'm so excited about January! We start with autopsy and surgical pathology rotations. But first I have to survive exams.

Everyone has to survive exams first. Med students are posting all over facebook with predictions of gloom and doom. Cumulative exams are horrific since after a couple months all you retain are concepts, not the level of detail you need for tests. There are a lot more lectures to study for this test.

I will write a real blog entry after exams.

State of the student...

I wrote about test anxiety/panic attacks back in September and then made the post private because I felt vulnerable having documentation of that experience out there while the situation was still fresh and I couldn't get an appointment with a counselor for a couple weeks.

In more recent news I've been prescribed a very useful anti-anxiety medication. It is immensely helpful. On Monday we had a Gross Anatomy test and there was a section on autonomics, which was both a weak area for me and a surprisingly long section of the test. It would have been a huge trigger for me if I hadn't gotten help, instead of moving on and doing the questions I felt better about I would have just stayed on that one section getting more anxious, changing my answers and constantly second guessing myself. Instead I went ahead to the other questions and then went back to that section and tried my best. Since the practical was immediately after the written, I'm particularly glad that I didn't get too stressed out over the written part.

We have a multi-week gap before our next test and I am seriously looking forward to a weekend where it won't be 100% about studying. I'm still going to study some but it'll just be a few hours each day to go back over the material from this week.

Hopefully mine turns out something like this!

And since we don't have an upcoming test, I thought I'd invite everyone over for dinner and boardgames. Hooray! I invited the second years as well, and a handful of medical students and the evolutionary anthropology graduates students that two of the PA students were paired with for gross anatomy. They very nice and since they're just with us for this class they don't know any of the med students. Plus it is kind of weird for them to be thrown together with a bunch of strangers who all know each other. So we've tried to be friendly since we're friendly kind of folks :-) I don't have that many chairs but I think we'll all at least fit in the apartment.

The menu is mostly Filipino (I'm going to try to make Sinigang Na Baboy for the first time!) with some American food thrown in because one of my classmates has mentioned a couple times that she wants a corned beef brisket. One of our classmates is going to make a Vietnamese dessert that I'm excited about because it is pretty similar to Filipino dish called Halo halo that I don't make a lot because it requires a lot of ingredients. Someone is baking bread and someone's wife is making a pumpkin roll (yum!). Oh, and I will have a scaled down cheese plate because it just isn't the same without cheese (and cold weather just always makes me want a nice capricho de cabra).

It should be fun, maybe a bit loud but luckily I'm on the outside corner of my apartment building and my bedroom separates my living room from the neighbor most likely to be disturbed by noise. I'm not sure what games people are bringing but we should have several options and enough people that we can be doing different things.

Pretest mood: Surprisingly not stressed

Procrastination Horse is eating my note cards :-O  Bad Horse!

With the exception of one class last summer I've been out of school for a long time (I graduated in 2007), so getting back into studying has been strange--especially studying on this scale.

This is our third test and I'm feeling okay. I don't feel rushed or that I won't have enough time to study everything.  I managed to make it through the weekend without completely neglecting my family or driving myself crazy.

I have about 3 hours before I go to sleep and I have one last note set to look over. I also have the old tests printed off to go over, but my timeline is pretty good. I'll also have some time in the morning to look over my flashcards.

The silly thing is, having this ridiculous stuffed horse on my desk has helped. If I find myself slacking off he's staring me down (you have to admit it is a disquieting stare) and it reminds me to get back to work.

After my test tomorrow I have to take my youngest child to the doctor for a school physical and then it is time to study up on my histology slides. I feel pretty good about the histology exam, but that isn't an excuse to not study for it!

And then Tuesday night and Wednesday are going to be amazingly awesome!!!!!!!! Why? Because for the first time in six weeks I won't have to feel like any time I take for myself is time away from studying. We will have a day and a half of downtime. Delicious, delightful downtime! I'm going to catch up on laundry for the first time in a month (I have 4 Ikea bags full of clean but unsorted/unfolded clothes), deep clean my apartment, and on Wednesday night I'm having my classmates over for dinner and game night. Yay! I'm making Filipino food again, but different kinds of Filipino food because I polled everyone and that's how the votes fell. At some point I'm going to have to figure out how to feed the second years as well! I feel bad not including everyone, but I don't know that I could fit everyone into my apartment.

The kids are going to go insane, because there's nothing they love more than strangers in our house. Massive amounts of excited over stimulation!!  But hopefully they'll still be able to go to bed on a normalish schedule. I might have to set up a sleeping area for them in my study room which is more removed from the living room than their bedroom but we will see. :) I have to survive these upcoming tests first!!

More of the waiting and some progress

Still in waiting mode :-) 3 months and 1 day until classes start.

The good news is that I officially have an apartment in Hillsborough, NC. I ended up with a 3 bedroom ginormous 1443 sq apartment because they had one available on the first floor (which I absolutely have to have because my dad is living with us). I am leaning towards having my bed and the kids' bunkbed in one bedroom, my dad in the second and having the third bedroom as an office/reading room/quiet place my dad can get away from the kids.

Also, a couple weeks ago I finally sent an email out to the rest of the class so we could introduce ourselves. One person didn't respond but the rest of us all at least now know basic facts about each other. I've learned that Duke really likes PA students with clinical lab experience. I think at least 3 of us currently work in pathology.

I have to get the kids enrolled in school, I should call about that tomorrow-ish. And see about soccer and boyscouts for the fall... Of course I don't know what my schedule will really be like. I know my dad is on board for taking the kids places, but I would like to think I will get to be somewhat involved with their lives as well.

My sister made it through med school and still managed a social life. I think I would be less nervous if our classes weren't all the Duke medical student classes, but until I'm actually in class and can see how the material is presented and tested I think I'll just stay being nervous. I know I did well in my senior science classes, graduate biochemistry, and on the GRE so I should be able to handle this but I just worry because... well, I really want to do well at this.

I know I can gross and do solid dictations, I do that all day at work. So the only thing left to be insecure about is being able to hack the classes. Which are still three months away...

Applying to the Duke Pathologists' Assistant Program

Duke University Medical Center

I thought I would write this because there is a severe lack of information about the application/interview process for the various PA programs. The only "resource" I've found is this thread which is long and doesn't have a ton of information about interviews but is a good read if you're interested in becoming a pathologists' assistant.

Duke is the only one I have experience with, but I will share what I know. First off, their website lists Pamela Vollmer's contact information and she really is the point person for admissions. She was very helpful when I was applying and was very prompt about replying to emails. She is also the one who notifies applicants about their status, which is mostly handled via email so use an address you check often.

The application isn't that long, there are two essays (one 250 words or less and the other is 500 words or less) and the application fee is a bargain ($55 currently). The academic requirements--if you don't want to read their page-- are GRE (they will accept MCAT scores but prefer GRE) and the college course prerequisites the NAACLS requires (biology, english, mathematics, organic or biochem, and microbiology). Competitive GRE scores are above the 50th percentile. Shadowing or work experience in pathology is strongly recommended (ie: you should really have this. The AAPA can help you find someone to shadow, info@pathassist.org,  but it may take them a while to get back to you). Applications are due January 31st of the year for which you are applying, but earlier is better since to get to Pam's office your application, transcripts and other mailed information has to make it through the Duke University mail system which make take a while. You do get an email when they have received all of your application materials, or if you mail your application in before January you get an email during the first week to let you know what you still need to send in.

The official time line to let people know when they are invited for an interview or not is by Feb. 15th  but both years I applied I knew earlier. I think I got my interview invitation on Feb. 8th. They offer you multiple interview dates (there are basically three weeks of interviews) and you rank them in order of preference. Replying quickly helps ensure you get the dates that work for you.

You are own your own for transportation costs but they put you up for the night and buy you lunch the day of your interview. Since you will be arriving the day before your interview, it is nice to allow yourself extra time the day before to tour the campus a bit and visit the Sarah P. Duke Botanical Gardens. You might be stressed out about your upcoming interview and taking a nice walk might help.

Part of the botanical gardens

The interview day starts at 8:30 and ends around 3:00 pm. There are two candidates per day but you are split up and on slightly different schedules. You meet with the program director, the assistant director, the surgical PAs, the autopsy PA's, the head of pathology at the VA where some of the clinical rotations are, the PA who is in charge of the off site clinical rotations, the financial aid office and finally you have lunch with the current batch of second year students. The financial aid presentation and the lunch are the only times you are with the other applicant. You get a good walking tour of the University Medical Center and nearby VA facilities when visiting various locations for your interviews, which is nice as well. You may also see the construction that will house the pathology department when it is completed in 2013.

Let me say this, the people who are interviewing you (other than the students--who do have input on who is invited to the next class) have all of your application materials and have read it all in depth. I was very impressed with their familiarity with the applicants' transcripts, essays, work experience, and even the people who wrote letters of recommendation. Be prepared to discuss any of it - good or bad. Unfortunately, this means that the interview questions are very tailored to the individual and I can't tell you what questions to expect to answer. No one asked me why I want to be a PA, but at the same time I am a grossing tech so PA is the next logical professional step. I was asked by a couple different people to give a brief biography, but that is good to have in any interview situation.

All in all, the interviewers are very nice, informative and easy to talk to. Read all of the instructions in the interview information Pam sends you, most importantly the part about having questions you can ask the people interviewing you. In addition to getting more information about the program itself, it shows them you have researched both the school and the profession enough to ask educated questions.

The second year student's lunch is also a great place to find out first hand experience about the program and also learn about the area- what to do, where to live, etc. The only information they have about applicants (I think anyway) is their current profession, where they are from and their name so be prepared to give another autobiographical summary.

After all the interviews are finished the admissions committee meets and invitations to the next class are issued. I interviewed during the second week of interviews, then there was a week with no interviews because a lot of faculty and PAs were at the annual AAPA meeting, then there was the final week of interviews. In hindsight I wish I had interviewed the last week possible because the waiting killed me! But in Duke's defense, from the time applications were due to the time they offered appointments to the next class was less than 6 weeks. It was an extremely short time frame from start to finish.

If you get an invitation to join the class you get a phone call from Pamela Vollmer with the good news and information about what happens from there (they mail you an official acceptance letter and a the technical standards which you sign and mail back along with a deposit check to secure your spot in the class. After everyone in the class has mailed in their stuff then a big packet of information gets mailed out, but I'm still waiting for that!). If you're waitlisted you get an email, and after everyone's deposit is received I assume you get an email telling you that the class is full. I know I read that you receive an email April 1st letting you know your standing and an official status as of April 30th, but I think Pam calls people as soon as she has an opening for them.

So that was my experience... One quick piece of advice when it comes to shadowing: Try to shadow a PA as opposed to a pathologist. Also, the PAs I have worked with have all mentioned that the various programs like to see letters of recommendation from PAs.