Here are some little golden nuggets of knowledge/opinion that can save you some frustration when school begins…..
- Purchase books in your first year that will make good resources in your 2nd year. Harrison’s is a great book, 5 Minute Clinical Consult is a wonderful tool to take with you in to clinical year. Habif’s dermatology book and Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy are a “must have”.
- Learn to iron. It is not a hard skill and you probably have at least one friend that is willing to teach you. You need to look the part by dressing the part when you go out on your clinical rotations. You are a student, you are supposed to be early to arrive and late to leave, while looking clean shaven and appropriately dressed.
- Bring your lunch. Save some cash. Making your own lunch in the morning will help awaken you from the couple of hours of sleep that you might have gotten the night before. This is also a great way to eat small/healthy meals in turn warding off the “post-large-lunch-fatigue”.
- Live with roommates. By the 2nd year of school, everyone is a little broken down and it is helpful to have someone/anyone else that you can rely on. Another human provides endless study skill improvement, more food in the house, and another car when yours breaks.
- Exercise. I can’t say this enough. It is really important to be healthy. You will spend the rest of your life guiding and helping other to reach there greatest health potential, you need to have more than just knowledge about what this “healthy lifestyle thing” is all about.
- Upgrade to a phone that can handle Epocrates. This is an online tool for medical management of patients and disease. It is wonderful, and the drug-interactions tool is priceless. If you head for a cell phone upgrade make sure the phone/company supports it. This is a tool that you will use during your clinical year.
- Carry a small notebook/journal. I have a small Moleskine journal and new information/meds/treatments/presentations/and all things to remember get written down. PRICELESS.
- Update your resume. There are a lot of positive experiences that you will have during your two years of PA school. Volunteering, past rotations, certifications, awards, presentations, publications…….its all great stuff and it will get you places in the end. You will amass a body of work/time/experiences that you need to keep track of. Start updating your Resume monthly.
- Don’t study on your bed! You will end up sleeping poorly by the end of a couple months. Feelings of guilt start to crop up when you are in bed and can’t seem to fall asleep. You will develop back aches from lack of support and your attention span will diminish as you are forced to move and alter your position to remain comfortable. Don’t ruin the small amount of time you have to spend in your bed asleep!
- Eat protein. It will fill you up with out the need to eat a lot. Also, stay away from carbohydrates before bed, they are tough to break down when you are sleeping, and you’ll store them instead of burn them. Watch your salt intake. The most common diet induced cause of hypertension (elevated blood pressure) and its easy to avoid. Please don’t use salt substitutes, they are primarily potassium based and too much potassium can really cause some problems. You can use some real salt, but try sprinkling the salt in to your hand instead of on to the food. Then sprinkle with your finger tips. You will use less, as some will stick to hands and get washed off.
- Never was routine maintenance more important. During your 2nd year, you are always on rotation. There is very little free time an there is a lot that you CANT do on the weekends, if you happen to have some available. Oil changes, filling the car with gas, exercise, grocery shopping, healthy lifestyle…these will all get you a long way with less chance of a catastrophic melt down in any facet of your life. 2nd year is a busy time with little free time to do the most, while preventing against the worst.
- Wake up early enough in the morning so that you don’t feel rushed to get somewhere. Take some time for you, first thing in the day, read, stretch, TV, news. Less hurrying around, more organization, a calm start to everyday. There is going to be enough stress in your life, limit the stress that you bring upon yourself.
- Save and organize your notes from the didactic year. The information that was given to you will need to be reviewed, over and over. Notes if organized become a great tool, similar to your own encyclopedia that you can write in and constantly update, this is a great way of refreshing your knowledge of different disease states. When the “Standard of Care” changes, or bacteria become resistant, indicate that in your notes. When a new and widely accepted set of criteria or staging system becomes accepted, write it in, you’ll be relearning the material as you make sense of the changes.