The Physician Assistant Insider

The Physician Assistant Insider’s newest episode is out, and it addresses a huge factor in PA school interview success, or lack thereof.  My first guest (ever!), Lisa Walker, PA-C, who has started and run multiple PA programs and interviewed literally thousands of PA hopefuls, joins me to ask you the question: What’s Your Story?   Learning how to...

Right about now thousands of PA school hopefuls are starting to find out: accepted or rejected.  Sadly, many won’t get the nod. Have you been rejected by PA school?  If so, you’re not alone.  It can be hard to accept, but it’s what you do once you find out that will really determine your future. ...

You don’t need to be an English major to write a good essay, but you do need a good beginning to get the reader engaged and to tell them some important things about you. Most students do a poor job of starting their PA school essays.  In this episode Paul goes over how to write...

Enough thinking about it — it’s time to act. If you’re exploring a career as a PA, it’s great to read and listen, but there are plenty of ways to get engaged and actually start DOING.  What better way to learn and show your commitment to the field?  Today Paul talks about how getting involved...

If you are interviewing for PA school, you can expect questions on ethics.  Medical ethics is the study of right and wrong in the medical setting, and many students stumble on them and show their weakness.  But with some learning and practice, this can be an area of your interview that sets you apart from...

If you plan on going into medicine, you need to know right now, that not all of your patients will be appreciative, communicative, reasonable, or even NORMAL. Most patients are great, but there are also plenty of odd, demanding, impatient, inappropriate, or otherwise difficult people who it will be your job to help.  Don’t let...

There comes a time for any practitioner when a patient or problem is beyond you. PAs, just like physicians, are trained to know when that is.  But how do you know?  And what about mistakes and avoiding them?  How does it work when you’re new to the PA scope of practice?  To be a good...

Once you graduate from PA school, the learning isn’t over.  Sure, you learn on the job, but there’s still official learning to do. To maintain your license and national certification, there are specific requirements.  In this episode we cover what you have to do to maintain your license and cert with continuing medical education (CME)....

What are the big factors that determine the strength of your application to PA school overall? Probably the most common question we have been asked at Inside PA Training is “What are my chances of getting in?”  Well, you know about vital signs of physical health like blood pressure and pulse, but do you know...

To get into PA school, you will need letters of reference.  How many do you need?  What kinds of people should you seek out to write for you? There are good ways to go about it and bad ways to go about it.  In this episode Paul shares them and gives several tips that will...

When you’re a PA, what happens when a patient calls you Doctor? Yes, it happens a lot, and it turns out this situation has a lot to say about the profession.  In this episode of the Physician Assistant Insider, Paul shares stories and discusses this issue, including how he handles it. When you’re a PA,...

What could be more fun than thinking about what specific specialty in medicine you might want to work in?   Not all physician assistants work in primary care.  Which specialty is for you? Thinking about it now can save you time and heartache down the line — and it’s fun!  You don’t need to decide until...

Today’s episode of the Physician Assistant Insider covers shadowing — where you actually follow a physician assistant — or possibly an MD — to learn about what they do. Believe it or not, doing at least some shadowing before you apply to PA school is crucial. Here Paul tells you why, and how to get...

The podcast is back this month to get to the bottom of a question we get all the time: Just what is the relationship like between a PA and his/her supervising physician?  Enjoy. The podcast is back this month to get to the bottom of a question we get all the time: Just what is...

Okay, so one of the most popular posts we’ve ever done was an article called “Applying to Physician Assistant School With a Low Grade.” It addressed a specific problem, such as what to do if you bombed organic chemistry, or maybe you had a semester when all your grades dipped. Even worse, what if your...