What LP did you do? Of the 4 LPs I completed this year, my Hospitalist LP in Sault Ste. Marie, ON sticks out the most and was probably the biggest learning experience clinically that I had this year. How did you go about contacting and arranging the LP? I arranged this LP through the Sault Area Hospital (SAH) and Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) coordinators. They were happy to have me complete a longitudinal placement within their facility. What were the two main things you learned from this LP? There were many experiences I had while working with the Hospitalist team at the SAH. Two of those experiences that are at the top of the list would have to be: 1. Seeing how the multidisciplinary teams work together to accomplish the task of getting patients back into the community with the proper support networks. 2. How to successfully navigate and work in a hospital. How has this experience helped you clinically, in class and/or in career decision making? I was able to see how social work, OT, PT, nurses and physicians go about treatment plan goals and discharging the patient. While being with the Hospitalist team, I was permitted to see patients on the wards, in the ER and in the Psychiatric areas of the hospital. Working with this type of team enabled me to see different areas of the hospital as well as become familiar with computer systems and proper documentation of patient encounters. I completed two rotations with the Hospitalist team in SSM: one during Christmas and the other during March break. Although I had very limited training for my Christmas rotation, and months later in March I still lacked certain medical knowledge, these placements made me realize how valuable Problem Based Learning (PBL) is for continuing to develop your skill set as a PA. PBL gave me the tools to efficiently and effectively research specific medical topics as they pertained to the patients with which I was interacting which facilitated and maximized my learning experience. What LP did you do? I did my LP with a Physician in a Child Maltreatment Assessment Program. How did you go about contacting and arranging the LP? At our Interprofessional Education Day I met the head of the program and started chatting with her about pediatrics and her maltreatment assessment program. I asked if I could do an LP with her and she was very excited to have a PA since they had never had one before. She gave me her e-mail and phone number and we coordinated weekly half days for 4 weeks. What were the two main things you learned from this LP? 1. How one approaches the various assessments. For example the physical exam, observing family interactions, interviewing parents, and debriefing with the team. Also always keeping an OPEN mind. 2. How a multidisciplinary approach is very important, particularly in this domain. I was able to observe the interaction between pediatricians, psychologists, nurses, and child life specialists (I had never met one before so this was VERY exciting!). What did you wish you knew to help you in your LP? We had not done our psychiatry unit yet and I think that would have helped when sitting in on interviews to understand the types of questions asked and the flow of the interview. Also being familiar with the different types of maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect), the warning signs, and the major repercussions would have helped a lot. How has this experience helped you clinically, in class and/or in career decision making? This experience showed me how to go about addressing such a touchy subject in clinical practice, as I was able to see the different approaches taken by each of the staff. I think it also helped emphasize the importance of a humanistic approach to healthcare, which can sometimes be forgotten when you are pulling your hair out trying to understand the pathophysiology of the illness with which you are presented. I was also able to see how Children’s Aid Society referrals worked, meeting a few case workers throughout the observership. I found this helpful because we discussed it briefly in our Professional Competency class, but I think it is something you should be comfortable with for practice. Any other comments? I have always been fascinated with children and I love their brutal honesty and humor. One of the main reasons I wanted to do this LP was to see if I was able to handle the challenging, serious and sad side of pediatrics. The cases were definitely heartbreaking, but this group works hard to help children escape these incredibly vulnerable situations, and that to me was the most amazing thing to witness. Hi everyone, I wanted to post about some of the things the PA class of 2015 got up to this year as a way to hype up the class of 2016. We've been trying to document the fun things we have done in class through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, but I thought it would be nice to have a blog entry to reminisce about the memories and give the class of 2016 some things to look forward to. I remember my first day of PA school vividly; a wise man heavily involved in the PA program told me this: "In these next two years, you will meet your best friends; friends, colleagues and comrades that you will have for the rest of your life". He was so right about that! I am fortunate to have met a group of driven, intelligent and compassionate individuals. Here are a few snap shots of the time we spent together both inside and outside of class! Enjoy, Jessica O. Operating Room orientation and scrub session McMaster Homecoming game, 2013 Halloween gathering, 2013 Suturing (on pig carcass and sponges) IER workshop, 2014 Casting IER workshop, 2014 Infection Control and Prevention workshop, St. Joseph's Hospital, 2014 Ugly Christmas sweater get-together, 2013 IV skills IER workshop and Intubation workshop on Pediatrics Day Toronto Blue Jays game, McMaster Medical School formal (thanks for inviting us!), PA intramural soccer team! OSCE Day! June 2014
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