Ken Amesbury, Class of 2023Why become a Physician Assistant?
My desire to become a PA stems from working with the occupation inside the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces). For context, the CAF has its own national health services outside of the provincial health care, though it does interact with civilian agencies. I’ve got friends who are PA’s in the CAF, all very well trained and universally employed across the spectrum of Forces operations. Two examples that motivate my choice are from the Army and Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). From my time in Afghanistan, we had PA’s with a team of medics deployed to Forward Operating Bases (FOB’s), being the highest clinical skill supporting army operations and the first point of contact into the evacuation system. These teams were employed “outside of the wire” which is military vernacular for operations outside of the safety of the protection offered by the Kandahar airfield. The other example, within the RCN, PA’s are found on both ships and submarines, similar to the above they provide the highest level of care in an austere environment. While not on operations they supply primary health care within military primary care clinics that support Bases across the country. One added detail that attracts me to the role is the opportunity to take part in advanced training in aviation and dive medicine, something unique to the CAF health services. What's it like coming to McMaster's PAEP from the military? I consider my self as fortunate to be in the Forces, having deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Haiti and Canada’s arctic. Probably the hardest thing to change are my old habits coming from nursing. For much of my time in the forces I was a Critical Care Nursing Officer and our continuing clinical training preparing for deployments are imbedded within civilian ICU’s. As well I’ve always worked outside of the CAF, as a private citizen, in ER’s so I’m used to tertiary (hospital) care in the provincial system. What this means is that I have had to adopt a more generalist/primary care approach to interactions with patients. Additionally, my habit of to using some military vernacular (i.e., use of the word Roger as an affirmative) is something I’ve shed since coming to McMaster. One last difference is that I’m being paid to go to school, the fee’s for school are covered by the CAF and my clinical rotations will be different from my class peers. |
About me:
I have always had an interest in medicine but for a long time felt I did not fit into any definite category. On my journey to the PAEP program I sampled a few different programs and started to understand what I was passionate about! My time spent studying fitness and health promotion and working as a fitness instructor gave me my first true exposure to the diversity of people and how there is no "one size fits all" solution. I know I can apply this to medicine and use the soft skills I acquired as a coach to find the best plan for my patients' health. Being exposed to the healthcare system as a patient there were many situations where I did not feel heard. I was to use this experience to give every patient the time and care they need to feel valued and to help them feel empowered to be in control of their own health. Favourite Class: Clinical Skills (IER) - I love being able to put my knowledge to work in a clinical setting. It makes everything feel very real and definitely builds the anticipation for clerkship year! Advice to Incoming Students: Just because you're studying medicine does NOT mean medicine should consume your life. Find an activity outside the world of academics (book club, group fitness, music, arts, hiking) that gives you permission to focus on something outside of school on a regular basis. Bonus if it keeps you active and/or keeps you social! |