Current News and Personal Opinion is produced by
John Hardman RPA-C as a volunteer service for Minnesota PA's.
(December 13, 1999) One of the joys of the Christmas season, and in fact what this whole idea of Christmas is supposed to be about, is the spirit of giving. As a PA I am called upon to give in many ways, as I serve my patients and the community at large. Most recently I was asked to serve as a Family Practice preceptor for an Augsburg PA student. This has become quite an enjoyable, learning experience.
At first, I had some trepidation, as I contemplated what I could possibly provide to a student. What if I did not know the latest and greatest way to do things? After all it had been nineteen years since I graduated and many ways of doing things have changed, and have I kept up?
As it turns out, my fears were unfounded. Brent, my student has blossomed into a very compassionate, concerned, thinking provider. He has inspired many of us in the Family Practice department of St. Cloud Medical group to question what we do, why we do it, and explain in detail the rational for the way we treat our patients. I would challenge any of you to explain all that you do in a day, without having to go to a reference or two on occasion.
Luckily for me, the physicians in the group took the same level of interest in Brent, and collectively were able to provide a considerable variety of patient experiences for him. The patient response to a student has been very heart warming as well. We see a lot of patients. They are busy themselves, especially at this time of year. However, repeatedly, patients would smile and say that they were happy to be seen by a PA student and then have their case presented to the provider. I suspected that they felt proud, felt important, wanted to help, and didn't mind the extra time spent.
I myself, had to look up references, even had to buy lunch on a bet that I had made. Challenging Brent, to find the reasons, before I could. It was fun!
Seeing someone new to the profession, perhaps seeing a little of myself nearly twenty years ago, has had an effect on me. I am very grateful for what this profession has provided for me.
I feel that PA's make a substantial contribution to the practice of medicine, when we work with our supervising physicians. Patients look to us to care for them, to answer their questions, to reassure them, to comfort them.
At one time in my career I worked in a state prison setting in a very challenging environment, to say the least. One day, an inmate in one of the most secure areas of the prison, asked me why I do what I do. I told him that every once in awhile someone says, "thank you, I came to you because I was feeling sick, you figured out what was wrong and made me better, thanks, I feel better now." He said, "that's it?" I assured him that the feelings generated by having someone entrust their welfare to you, feeling that responsibility, and then successfully helping them through an illness or injury is very rewarding. I am not sure how much of that he understood from where he was coming from, but he did smile and wish me luck as I continued down the row of Housing Block C.
I see in Brent, this same kind of satisfaction. He's hungry for knowledge, eager to jump in, but knows his limitations. He is also a lot less anxious than I remember being when I was a student. Steve Harr, whom many of you know, works with me, and one Saturday in Express Care we worked together, and I had Brent working with Steve. Steve and I talked about him afterward, and we both laughed at ourselves as we reminisced about how we remembered ourselves as being much more "hyper," when we were in clinical studies. Some of the credit probably goes to Brent's quiet demeanor, but I think that PA programs have matured as well, so that students are not left to feeling so independent in their clinical studies, as was more the case some twenty years ago.
If you wish to contact LuAnn Shay PA-C Clinical Coordinator as to how you may volunteer to act as a preceptor for an Augsburg College PA student, just follow the colored link to her email, or call 612-330-1592, or write Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Campus Box #149, 2211 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454. You may also want to check out the PA school web site at http:www.augsburg.edu/pap/index.html
So, I guess that maybe it's partly the season, partly the experience
of being a mentor/preceptor, or maybe I'm just a little more settled than
I used to be, but I'm feeling a mixture of nostalgia, satisfaction and
gratitude. With all this good cheer, let me say to all those PA fellows
and students, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Millennium!