Day One

Day 1 of PA Classes = Complete!

So today was my first day and it went very well!  I left my house earlier than I needed to just because I had never parked in the garage I will be parking in before and I wanted to make sure my garage pass worked, I had enough time to walk from the garage to my class building, and that the class was in the classroom that was listed (there has been a lot of construction going on in the building since it was just taken over by the school last year and they are just finishing converting it into a school....it is SOO nice!)  But anyways, I got to class about 10 minutes early.  So I will go over my classes one by one (which I am sure will be the first and last time due to the massive amount of work headed my way really soon!)

8-9: Health Care Issues
   For this class we got the syllabus, went over it and the objectives of the class; then we basically just talked about PA school 101.  The ins and outs of studying and what to expect and how to handle it.  So basically a short review of orientation for 45 minuts..fun.
9-10: Service Learning
   Service learning is giving back to our community.  It is a class only done in the first semester of PA school and basically each person is assigned to a local non-profit organization or school or clinic to do a service to the community for 2 hours a week for 10 weeks.  I will be doing my service learning at an organization for low income families that need health screenings and nutritional advice.  My orientation for this is on Friday so I will find out more then.  So in class we just talked about what is expected of us during our site visits and what to expect.
10-12: Pt. Assessment
   After reviewing the syllabus we started our first lecture! We started to learn how to take a patient history by starting a patient interview and how to write a SOAP note (note that encompasses what each patient visit is about). We learned what observations go where, how to compile a SOAP note and about differential diagnoses in a note.  It was a rather repeatative class but I am excited about the direction it is taking!
12-1: lunch = free pizza! yay!  And we got to choose the medical equipment that we wanted that comes included in our tution! Double yay!  Hello purple stethoscope tubing (although I already have an amazing Litmann Cardiology III at home!)
1-3: Pharmacology
    Ouch.  So basically we went over the syllabus very quickly then went right into a 2 hour lecture on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and about different drug receptors and characteristics.  As of right now the class is mostly review from undergrad but that will change by next week as we are moving right along!
3-4: Clinical Medicine
    The meat and potatoes of PA school.  Learning about different diseases and pathology and idiology.  Love it.  Today we just went over the syllabus and took our medical terminology exam (yes, exam on the first day of classes) because we have this class on day (6 hours) on Wednesday so we will just wait untilk them to start learning about lab test and normal vs. abnormal lab test values.  Should be good!
  But the exam went very well.  We were told to buy the med term book before school started and self study due to the exam during the first week of classes.  It went great and I am anxiously awaiting the grade to be posted on blackboard.  You need to get at least an 80 on this exam or you have to retake it and you will not get a grade higher than an 80 if you retake it.  Luckily I know I rocked that exam :)

Until next time, I have work to get done!