Part two of your virtual shadowing day in dermatology.

In part one I walked you through the flow of a clinic day. Here I get into what I actually like about derm and what's harder than people assume.

The best part is that you can see it work. Somebody comes in with acne that's wrecking their confidence, and a few months later they're a different person. You don't get that kind of visible, fast feedback in a lot of specialties.

I also break down the difference between medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology, because they're very different jobs and the practice you join determines what your days look like. And I talk about patient expectations and how often I still explain what a PA is and what I'm qualified to do.

What I cover:

• What makes dermatology satisfying to practice
• Treating acne and seeing visible results
• Medical vs. surgical vs. cosmetic derm practices
• How practice type shapes your daily work
• Managing patient expectations
• Explaining the PA role to patients

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

Meet Anna, our newest pre-PA coach.

Anna just finished PA school, which means she went through the back half of her program in the middle of a pandemic and then walked into a job market nobody could predict. She's joining The PA Platform as a coach, and I wanted you all to hear her story first.

We go through her application process, what PA school actually demanded of her, and how rotations and everything else got scrambled in 2020. Then we talk about the job hunt, what she did to land a position, and what she'd tell a new grad walking into the same thing.

Because she just did all of this recently, her advice is current in a way mine isn't anymore.

What we cover:

• Anna's application process and what worked
• The real demands of PA school coursework and rotations
• Finishing a program during the pandemic
• The job market for new grads and how she approached it
• What she'd do differently looking back
• What she'll be working on with pre-PA students as a coach

Resources:

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Essay Review: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

No clinic. No exam room. He goes to the encampments.

Tony Menacho is a PA working in family medicine and street medicine, and he founded Sacramento Street Medicine to bring care directly to people living unsheltered around the city.

What struck me most is how little of this is about prescriptions. It starts with showing up repeatedly until people trust you, and a huge amount of the work is psychosocial: connecting someone to housing, to food, to a phone number that will actually answer. The medicine happens once the relationship exists.

If you want to see what this profession can look like outside of a traditional practice, Tony's work is worth hearing about.

What we cover:

• What street medicine is and how Tony practices it
• Founding Sacramento Street Medicine
• Providing care in encampments
• Building trust with people who've been failed by the system
• The psychosocial side of care that goes past treatment
• What this work gives back to the providers doing it

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

"When is a good time to have a baby?" There isn't one. Have it anyway.

Alex got pregnant during her first year out of PA school, which is supposed to be the year you put your head down and prove yourself. She came on to talk about what that was actually like.

We get into how she told her group, how her schedule and clinical responsibilities shifted, and how much of the experience came down to whether the people she worked with were decent about it. A supportive practice makes an enormous difference here, and being upfront with your colleagues early made things easier than she expected.

This question comes up constantly from women in this profession, so I wanted a real answer from someone who lived it.

What we cover:

• Being pregnant during her first year as a new grad PA
• Telling her employer and coworkers
• Managing clinical work through a pregnancy
• What a supportive work environment actually looks like
• Thinking about timing when there's no perfect timing
• Work-life balance as a PA with a family

Resources:

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

She got into Duke. She said no.

Jada turned down an acceptance from Duke and went to Campbell University instead, and I wanted to hear the reasoning because most people would not have made that call. Her answer comes down to fit, and to being clear-eyed about what she needed out of a program rather than what looked best on paper.

Before that she was president of her pre-PA club, and she rebuilt it into something much bigger than she found it. Then the pandemic hit and she had to figure out how to keep a club alive when nobody could meet in person.

We also talk about what she got out of undergrad that mattered, and what changed when she went from leading pre-PAs to being a PA student herself.

What we cover:

• Why she declined Duke and chose Campbell
• What program fit actually means when you're deciding
• Growing a pre-PA club as president
• Keeping a club running through the pandemic
• Undergrad experiences that shaped her application
• Going from club president to PA student

Resources:

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

New grad. ICU. New York City. Spring of 2020.

Karlina started her first PA job in the intensive care unit of a New York City hospital, and then the pandemic hit her city harder than almost anywhere in the country. She watched her unit change from a normal ICU into something none of them had trained for.

She's honest about what that did to her and to the people she worked with. She's also clear about how much she learned in a very short time, and how much of getting through it came down to the team around her. Nobody was doing that alone.

This is a hard listen in places, but it's an important one, especially if you're heading into critical care or wondering what new grads are really walking into.

What we cover:

• Starting her first PA job in a New York City ICU
• How the unit changed as the pandemic escalated
• The emotional and mental weight on the whole team
• Learning fast when there's no playbook
• Leaning on coworkers to get through it
• What new grads should know about critical care

Resources:

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

Shadowing shut down, so I brought you into my clinic instead.

Nobody could get shadowing hours in 2020, so I recorded this to give you the closest thing I could. This is part one of a walkthrough of what I actually do as a dermatology PA all day.

I go through the flow of a clinic day, what my patient interactions look like, the procedures I'm doing, and the parts of derm that surprise people. Efficiency is a much bigger deal than students expect, and I talk about how you balance moving quickly with actually taking care of somebody well.

I also answered a bunch of listener questions about the specialty and about becoming a PA in general.

What I cover:

• What a full day in a dermatology clinic looks like
• Patient interactions and how visits are structured
• Procedures I do regularly in derm
• Balancing efficiency with thorough patient care
• The parts of dermatology people don't expect
• Your questions about derm and the PA path

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy

Rejected from nursing school. Now she's in MEDEX.

Sydney is headed to MEDEX at the University of Washington, and her transcript did not make that look likely. She started with a low GPA and got turned down by multiple nursing programs before she ever considered PA.

What changed things was working as a medical assistant and getting real, varied patient care experience, then being deliberate about the rest of it. She rewrote her personal statement until it actually said something. She picked schools strategically instead of applying everywhere and hoping. And she found practicing PAs who would mentor her and tell her the truth.

If your GPA is the thing keeping you up at night, this is the episode to hear.

What we cover:

• Starting with a low GPA and getting rejected from nursing programs
• Working as a medical assistant and building varied PCE
• Rewriting her personal statement into something real
• Choosing programs strategically instead of applying everywhere
• Finding PA mentors who would be honest with her
• Getting into MEDEX at the University of Washington

Resources:

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Free Personal Statement Worksheet: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-worksheet-download

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

Get $200 Off CapYear Academy