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- So the program itself is about a year long.
We met as a group once a once a week.
So every Wednesday we'd come to Peoria.
There were different ways of learning.
So some of them involved talking about clinical cases
that we had come across and getting feedback
from other fellows or the medical directors
some of them were case studies presented
by the medical director who had experience
with some of those things.
And then asking us our input on that.
We had specialists come who obviously have
a very good knowledge base in certain areas.
And they shared their knowledge with us.
We spent time doing clinical scenarios
where we had standardized patients.
We would be able to come in
and see them come up with a plan
of care and then talk about whether that was appropriate
or what we would do differently next time.
So wide variety of things.
Everybody learns a little bit differently
but something that certainly you could take
from each of those types of learning
- I felt like it was very important
for me to go through the fellowship for a couple of reasons
because there's a period of transition
from student to provider.
Going through the fellowship, they provide support
and resources and it made the transition much easier.
You're in this fellowship
with other new practicing providers.
And so it's comforting to know that they are where you are
and the directors, they are very, very supportive
and they really, really want you to be the best provider
and to be able to practice at the top of your licensure.
So they are trying to give us the most diverse lectures
and hands on experiences.
- It takes somewhere between three to five years
for somebody like a nurse practitioner
or a physician assistant to become comfortable completely
with what they're doing in the clinical setting.
And the whole idea, in my opinion
behind the fellowship is to kind of shorten that timeframe
and make you more confident right up front.
- Yeah. They try to do different body systems.
So we had renal month, cardiology month, pulmonology month,
well care month because
in primary care you see all of that stuff
- Depending on the system that we were doing
we may spend one day that month shadowing a specialist
in that field and getting to ask them questions
or see how they approach treatment
for certain things in their practice.
And then it was very helpful to find out information
of what can I do in primary care prior to referring them
to this specialist in order to make the most of their time
and what they're gonna be doing for the patient.
- I think the APP fellowship was important
for me because I needed some transition
from being a nurse, to being a provider.
The APP fellowship gave me tools that made it possible
for me to do that.
Exposed me to specialists who do it all the time
who would share their tricks
their tips, their ideas,
so I could be more efficient and effective.
- The support was there, the resources were there
and it was also nice just
to kind of get out and meet other people.
Like I said,
I was in the fellowship with other new practicing providers.
So the support from them was quite great.
And I really like the friendships
that I've gained over the course of a year.
And it's a great place to bring your complicated cases
or ask questions or provide support or offer suggestions
or even just words of encouragement is nice.
- Looking back.
I'm very glad that I chose to do this again
as far as building my career and making connections
with some other people within the health care system
it really provided me a lot
of opportunities and a lot of confidence.
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