Pursuing careers blindly based only on financial gains was a major mistake that only brought unhappiness and felt hollow and unreal to me until I discovered the existence of a physician assistant (PA) profession. Various reasons led me to a career path of a PA, but the reasons that stand out the most are a patient I encountered while volunteering at a hospital, summer I shadowed and assisted PAs, and the PA students that I met. Initially I was preparing for pharmacy school, but I realized that it was not an active profession and the only way I could work with patients is to distribute prescribed drugs to them. I was young and immature and chose a profession based on financial benefit. After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in biology, I decided to explore the medical field by applying for a volunteer position supporting direct patient care at a hospital. My shift was over in the orthopedic clinic and I was ready to …show more content…
V, a PA from the general surgery clinic at a hospital. When she taught the PA students, she taught me along with them. The love students had for learning about various diseases and how it affects the physiological functions of body systems is a thing I had in common with them. When I was volunteering in orthopedic clinic, I saw Mrs. V examining a patient. I asked her how she is working in orthopedic clinic if she is a general surgery PA and she told me that she is covering another PA that called in sick and she works in multiple clinics not just general surgery. I knew that PAs can choose any specialty but did not realize that they can work in a variety of clinics during the day. When volunteering at a hospital, I felt like I was one of the PA students that were doing their clinical rotations in the surgery clinic. When the PA students had conversations about interesting surgical cases, I always joined them. Every time they went to the operating room, I felt left out because I was just a volunteer and was not allowed in the
I always had interest in a clinical research career that serves a large number of people by emphasizing more on research studies by exploring whether a medical strategy, treatment or device is safe and effective for humans. As a graduate in medicine, my strong base in the medical field continually challenged and motivated me to expand my skills in patient care. My coursework has allowed me to develop a keen understanding of how disruption in biological systems can influence one’s health.
From a personal standpoint, the history of the physician assistant profession is remarkable, especially in regard to how established the profession became in such a rapid time. Ultimately, the profession was designed with the goal to benefit patients, and as a physician assistant, the approaches to accomplish this goal are infinite. Anyone would be honored to be a part of such an established profession and contribute to such a noble
I am drawn to the PAs ability to not only treat and diagnose independently but to work in a team environment. I relish the idea of working alongside nurses and physicians in choosing the best path of treatment for my patients. I am also attracted to the flexibility of the PA program, which will allow me to change specialties if I desire. Being a team player and having a passion for medicine, I have concluded that a career in the health care field, and more specifically as a physician assistant, is the right path for
A medical professional essential role always boils down to serving other people faithfully. For me, I have always found great joy in serving the community in any capacity, but found a special joy in health care. I have found my desire to serve is what continually motivates me to become a Physician Assistant. This drive has help me maintain a 3.80 GPA, while leading my college soccer team as a captain for the past three seasons. All while establishing myself as a chemistry lab assistant and tutor. The balance between the three is great preparation for the future as I prepare to face the challenges ahead. I am aware of the value of education and gaining as much knowledge as possible, however I equally value establishing relationships with people.
However, I was uncertain of which career path I wished to pursue. I was given the privilege to shadow various healthcare physicians around the area, which could help determine which field of medicine was for me. Of the specialties I had observed, I found that anesthesiology was the most intriguing and I was immediately attracted to it. In order to acquire more information about the speciality, I applied to volunteer at East Georgia Regional Medical Center in the anesthesia department. I began assisting the anesthesia technician with her daily responsibilities. She eventually introduced me to many anesthetists there. After shadowing many anesthetists, I quickly learned that much of the patient interaction was with the anesthesiologist assistant or the certified registered nurse anesthetist rather than the anesthesiologist. I was thrilled to see the anesthetist comfort the patient as well as his family before the surgery. I, then, realized that I did not want to become a physician but rather an anesthesiologist assistant because I wanted to provide that administrative and comforting experience for the patients and their loved
I have had the opportunity to work with many health professionals, but my experience with PAs has solidified my path to becoming a PA. Devoting over 200 hours to shadow PAs of various specialties had allowed me to learn about pulmonary diseases and read CT scans in pulmonary, watch in awe at an ingrown toenail removal in urgent care, and observe patience and individual care in pediatrics. Although I was at the clinics for observation, I eagerly wanted to assist the PAs and care for the patients. I was fully immersed in the topics that were taught to me and found myself lusting for the knowledge and skills to become a PA.
In my time volunteering at the hospital, I hope to gain many different experiences. However, there are a few main ones: adaptation through enrichment and dependability. First of all, I want to get to know and adapt to the environment of the hospital and learn how different processes work. This is a crucial part of being in the atmosphere of a clinic. Also, the experiences that I will have at the hospital will help me to understand the routines and entailments of the career I would like to pursue. I hope to become a Physician’s Assistant in the future and this will be the best way to know if it is the right position for me. This enrichment of my understanding will help guide my passion for this career path and hopefully strengthen it.
“Never be a doctor if you’re going to have any loans to pay back.” “Don’t do this to yourself.” “You’ll never have a family if you go to medical school.” “The two worst jobs in America belong to physicians and teachers.” Without even soliciting their advice, physicians noticed my “Pre-medical Volunteer” nametag, and immediately approached me with words of discouragement. I participated in a volunteer summer internship at St. Mary Hospital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, following my sophomore year of college, in an effort to gain more experience in the medical field and solidify my lifelong desire to become a physician. Throughout the eight weeks, I spent mandatory hours in both the Emergency Room and the Operating Room, made contacts with physicians in specific areas of interest, and spent time shadowing them. In addition, each of us in the program attended weekly business meetings in which administrators of the hospital and local physicians spoke to us about their particular positions and experiences. Unlike the many years of high school I spent volunteering at a hospital and a nursing home, where I was limited to carrying around food trays and refilling cups of water, I was able to gain hands-on and more intimate experience. Initially uneasy at the site of the blood gushing into plastic sheets draped around the orthopedic surgeon’s patient in the OR, it took only a few days to grow accustomed to the images on the television screen during a laparoscopic procedure and the
The career that I have decided to pursue is a physician assistant because this career seems like the right fit for me. A physician assistant, also known as a PA, practices medicine under a physician. Physicians assistants usually specialize in a certain area of medicine and they either work in private practices or hospitals. They partake in a wide range of jobs ranging from examining patients, ordering diagnostic tests, prescribing medicine, and many similar jobs that physicians do. In rural areas, PAs have the ability to be the primary physician because of the lack of physicians in the area. This career was located in my third top career cluster, health sciences, from the interest assessment and the career, was under the career pathway of therapeutic services. I feel like the I have the skills needed to fulfill this career because I enjoy helping people even though health sciences was not in my top five career clusters from the skills assessment.
As most kids grow up, their dream job changes all the time. One week they want to fly to the moon as an astronaut while the next week they want to rule the world as president. However, I’ve always wanted to help people by being a doctor. I would sit in front of the television mesmerized for hours by various trauma shows. I preformed surgery on my stuffed animals and diagnosed my friends and family with different fake illnesses. As I continued to grow up, I realized there is many types of jobs in the medical field that preform a variety of different services. After researching the different options, I fell in love with the idea of being a physician assistant (PA). A PA, supervised by a doctor, has the freedom to interpret tests, record progress, and diagnose patients. In order to become a PA, it takes a lot of schooling, but it is a rewarding job that I would be very good at. Ten years from now, I will be a great physician assistant due to the characteristics I already posses and the education that I will be receiving in the future.
The health care system is flawed, and I believe every individual who pursues a career in the health field has the ability to help fix it. During college, I was still exploring and researching potential career paths. The decision to pursue a career as a physician assistant (PA) came from a thirst to help others and to improve quality of life of individuals.
There are more than 100,000 certified Physician Assistants practicing medicine in the United States. PA’s have a very high starting salary and get to do a lot of hands on work. After just two years of schooling you can come out making an average of $94,000. Being stuck at a desk all day is dreadful, and physician assistants get to choose what they want their work environment to look like. Job opportunities for a PA are expected to go up by more than thirty percent between 2010 and 2020. When you are a PA you have a huge amount of flexibility to choose your specialization. I know that a PA is the best career choice for me because i love to work with people and enjoy social interaction, i love to have flexibility to be able to spend time with my family, and there are very good benefits and there will always be job openings.
The PA Platform is an online community targeted towards pre-physician assistants, physician assistants, as well as certified physician assistants.4 For certified physician assistants, there are many publications in this blog regarding topics such as: searching for a job in the physician assistant profession, tips for medical conferences, what to expect during your first year working as a physician assistant, how to properly respect patients and much more.5 All submissions for this blog are posted by Savanna Perry of Georgia.6 On this blog, there are posts on current news regarding the profession, tips to strive in the physician assistant profession, service opportunities, etc. The most current post on the blog was a volunteer opportunity the author of the blog participated in in Kenya, Africa providing health care services to the underserved population.7 This blog is an additional resource for physician assistant professionals to connect with other PA’s as well as learn what could be considered less formal information, such as tips. Although I am currently not a certified physician assistant, this blog also provides many resources for pre-physician assistant students such as mock interviews and even practice acceptance exams,8 which I intend to take advantage of these resources to prepare myself for my future as a physician
I started out my freshman year of undergraduate knowing that I wanted to be in the health care field. I started volunteering in hopes to find what I truly wanted to do. Exposing myself in the hospital setting allowed me to see what other health care professionals did and through this experience, I then realized that pharmacy was something I was drawn into. I first volunteered at Children’s hospital in their inpatient pharmacy and my main job was to pack and deliver medications to patients. Because my job was mainly in the back, I had little interactions with the pharmacists and the patients. This then led me to volunteer at Swedish Hospital as a pharmacy assistant for both of their inpatient and outpatient pharmacy. This time, I had more interactions with pharmacists and through this, I was able to communicate with pharmacist and I gained many valuable lessons. I began to shadow the different roles that pharmacists had in the hospital and how pharmacists can make a big impact toward patient’s life through medication choices, patient counseling, active interaction with other health care professionals and many more. I like the idea of preparing medications for specific patients,
My journey took many unexpected adventures before I discovered my purpose in life. Upon entering college, I contemplated pursuing a common healthcare profession due to my limited exposure. I took my first meandering path when I began studying towards a biochemistry degree with the intent of becoming a pharmacist. By self-studying, I became a licensed pharmacy technician at Target Pharmacy. Through patient interactions and preparing prescriptions, I developed interpersonal skills, patience, emphasis on details, and working creatively and efficiently. However, tasks soon became mundane and I felt a void as I yearned for a deeper interaction with patients.