[Music]
Hey guys, my name is Shanice Watts and I'm a first-year Physician Assistant student
here at Stanford.
And so today we're gonna head to principles of clinical medicine.
Then we're gonna go to a lunch talk, and after that we're gonna do some clinical skills and
shadow at the hospital.
So, let's get started.
So, I'm about to head into lecture on principles of clinical medicine and this is a course
where we learn about different organ blocks and the disease processes associated with
different illnesses.
So, last quarter we learned about DERM, ENT, MSK and neuro and this quarter we're learning
about cardio and pompe.
So, let's head in.
So we just learned about PFTs which are pulmonary function tests and spirometry, which are - are
really important in diagnosing different lung conditions like asthma and COPD as well as
emphysema.
So, now we're headed to a lunch seminar to learn about strokes.
So, let's go.
[music]
Hey guys, so we just came from a lunch seminar, which we go to on most days to learn
about some cool topics and eat some good food.
I'm Laura, I'm also first-year PA student here at Stanford and right now we're both
on our way to clinical skills.
So, in our practice of medicine course we actually take it with the med students and
in this course we actually learn our clinical skills, along with medical ethics, quantitative
medicine and health policy.
So, like she mentioned in clinical skills what we do is we learn a physical exam and
after we've learned that in Q2 and now we're in Q3.
And so what we're doing now is how to apply those physical exams with a patient that we
see.
And so that's just learning diagnostics and so we see a patient and according to their
symptoms what physical exam do we choose from, and how do we apply that.
Um, and so alongside that, we also have been seeing patients both in the hospital and in
clinics and uh, just learning how to - how it actually comes together in the real world.
And so now we're going to practice our clinical skills.
We're going to focus on cardiovascular, pulmonary, and cranial nerves.
[music]
So, I chose PA school because I like the idea of being able to change specialty
seamlessly.
So that means let's say working in primary care first and then possibly going into neurosurgery
if you have multiple interests.
I definitely agree with that, I also wanted to add on that I really like the flexibility
of being a PA and the fact that once you're at home and off work you're off work, unlike
a doctor where you can be on call and have notes to do, charts at home.
When I was pre-med, the whole reason I wanted to be a doctor was to see patients, to treat
them and you know, hopefully make their lives better.
And working as a scribe I realized that PAs are essentially doing everything that I wanted
to be doing.
So I didn't really see a point of going through all that time and spending all that money
to do what I wanted, what I could be doing as a PA.
So that's why I made the change to PA.
So, in terms of the requirements for PA school, you definitely need a bachelor's degree and
you also need paid clinical experience.
So they will not take volunteer experience.
So some examples of some clinical experience included like being an MA, a CNA, a scribe,
paramedic and EMT, but this all varies from school to school so it's definitely important
to look into that.
Another requirement that they have is the GRE.
Some schools require certain classes and some schools don't, I feel like it's less prescribed.
Like in medical school you have a subset of these are - these are pre-med classes that
you need to take, PA school it's less so.
Some schools may require Spanish, some schools may require genetics and so you really need
to look at each individual school's Website to see what is necessary in order to get into
that school.
PA schools are normally two to three years whereas medical school is four years plus
residency.
PA schools generally don't have residencies afterwards, it's expected that you learn on
the job.
However, it's up and coming now that there are new PA residencies or fellowships and
those are one year programs where you can learn about one specialty.
[music]
So, one of the main reasons I chose Stanford was because
of the people here and the resources they have is really amazing.
And that's what they sold me on pretty much when I came here and interviewed because I
initially actually wasn't even going to interview here, I decided that I was going to go elsewhere.
But then after looking at the Website plus just the location's amazing I was like, "okay,
sure I'll interview here, why not?"
And that's pretty much when they sold me on all these things.
Um, the people here are really invested in your growth, and your learning and so that's
what really kind of sold me.
I chose Stanford because my family is nearby and I wanted to stay in California and practice
as a PA here.
So, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to network with different physicians and um,
PAs.
I also chose Stanford because of the endless opportunities that they offer here.
You can do anything that you put your mind to and you can find a mentor or a faculty
member to help you get to where you wanna be.
So, in terms of advice for a PA students I would definitely recommend starting the CASPer
process early, because it can take a really long time and it's pretty tedious.
And a lot of schools had deadlines in July and CASPer opens in April, so it's really
important to start early.
Yeah, and also with CASPer it's really important to kind of set your net wide, especially if
you're you know, worried about maybe not getting into some schools and getting into others.
It's nice to have options especially if you get in, if you're lucky enough to get into
more than one school.
It's nice to have that option but if you're worried about not getting in or something,
casting your net wide is the best thing you can do in that situation.
I definitely - definitely agree with that, um, I would also add that it's important to
apply to PA school when you think that you're the strongest applicant.
And also setting aside some cost some like 2-3 thousand dollars for flights and hotels,
because interview process is very expensive.
You can be housed by uh, PA student at the school you're applying to during the interview
process, and that's a good - really good way to cut costs if you know, things are getting
expensive.
Yeah, I definitely didn't know about that beforehand, so that's really key.
So, in terms of specialty I'm definitely interested in doing something broad like emergency medicine
and then branching into something more specialized like neurosurgery or dermatology.
I have no idea necessarily what exactly I wanna go into, but I have a few like maybe
ideas.
I think I also wanna start with something broad and like emergency medicine or primary
care and then specialize into I'm thinking maybe haematology oncology, specifically breast
oncology.
I scribed there beforehand and I really enjoyed that.
Hey guys, so this was a day in the life of a PA student in Stanford.
Thanks for watching and we gotta get back to studying, so yeah.
You guys can follow me at shaniceW-PA and you don't have to follow me, good.
Thanks, bye.
Bye.
Um, neurology and - I can't remember.
What was the other one?
[laughs] So I'm about to head... stays to get some free food and learn about some cool
topics [laughs].
So I don't know where to look, whether I should be looking at her when she's speaking or the
camera.
Dude what's the next step of what we...
I don't know what I'm saying.
[laughs] Feedback on the hair.
[laughs] But in terms - What about the hair?
Oh yeah, the hair is bad don't, don't do it.
So in terms of...
Watts, Stanford badminton team just showed me how it's done.
I got my butt kicked.
You guys should follow her, she's gonna be staring in A Day in The Life of a PA student.
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