mainiac Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 The residency experience -- "Surgical PG PA BLOG" Hi Everyone, I'm in a Surgical Residency Program in WI, they only take 2 PA's / year. Just thought I might throw some of my experiences in here as well. As I know this was a tough decision for me to make, to attend a residency program. I also moved across country to WI; I do not have any ties here & have never been here before I interviewed. I did get a loft apartment within 1 mile of the hospital in a great little town, with underground parking! :rolleyes: This residency program is affiliated with the Medical School of WI and has 2 very large hospitals: The Childrens hospital is rated #3 in the US and is a Level 1 Trauma Center. At our disposal is online access of the Library with numerous textbooks, videos, Up-2-date, MD Consult. etc; we can access from home. The residency PA's come in Mid June for 2 weeks of orientation; Specifics on Post Grad. PA orientation: we reviewed high yielding topics for surgery: Antibiotics in Surgery, Complications in Surgery, Blood products, IV fluids, TPN, Wound Healing, Chest Tubes, Surgical Lab Interpretation, Pre-op, Post Op, Billing, ABG's, Vents, DM, RF, Radiological Studies, etc. We were also required to take online exams on most topics at home. We are given 2 Long, White Coats, [-] the ceremony! Throughout the year we meet about 1 time / month to have specialized lectures: burns, etc. also with online exam. Next, we had 2 days of ATLS with the PGY1's and became certified. Then we started Curriculum with the PGY1's. Curriculum is 4 days of lecture / reading / hands on labs / etc. with exams at the beginning and the end. We are also treated like the PGY1s except that they do have us distinguish ourselves, since were are already professionals with a license and are here to get an additional year of specialized training. We are paid equal to PGY1's. Curriculum meets about every other month throughout the year, for 4 days, covering different topics / labs. After the orientation and curriculum week, we all broke into our assigned services. The PGY1's do 4 weeks [1 month] rotations, on each service, however we are doing mostly 6 weeks on each service. I think this is mostly do to the fact that the PGY1s go to other facilities / hospitals and we [Post-Grad PA's] do not. I started my 1st rotation on Peds surgery & trauma with 4 med. students, 3 other PGY1's, a Fellow, a PGY4, 5 faculty PA's & 9 Surgeons. A Day in the LIFE: We meet most mornings at 5:30a to sign out, then round, write notes then round with the attending and team. Then we do discharges, go to the OR for our assigned cases, answer nursing / pt questions. Then at 5:30p we sign out to the night Post Grad PA/ PGY1 then day people leave. This service is very busy and we do not have much down time. Also 1 Post Grad PA / PGY1, each week for 1 week during the day, carries the "consult / HOT" pager. This means that they are paged for all new consults from the ED - floor - outside hosp/direct admit. They return the call, then go to [for ex] the ED, see the patient, do a H&P, devise an "assessment & plan" contact the "senior" and verbally present the pt, 'senior' sees the pt and then a plan is finalized. May do a consent if surgery in needed, put in orders, admit pt. etc. Two days a week we come in at 5am because we have grand rounds, M&M and conference. TRAUMA: We respond to Trauma calls to the ED: we are "doctor Right" during the trauma. I've been on 2 so far, a level 2 and Level 1. The level 1 was most similar to what I would say you can see on "Trauma Life in the ER" show on Discovery Health channel -- intense! THE OR: My 2nd OR experience: 1st Assistant, 1st with this Surgeon: a simple enough procedure: I&D of Abscess. However after the positioning / draping / etc. The surgeon tells the scrub tech: "Scalpel to "me" "I was like "what"? did I hear that correctly? Yes, I did! :D I got to do the majority of the case! How sweet! Never did I anticipate that! The surgeons here are very willing, have patience and are interested in teaching. Nothing that I had experienced, as a PA student, in a surgical rotation! That alone has convinced me that I've made the correct decision; knowing I will continue to gain invaluable experiences over this next year. So very happy that I decided to do this! :cool: CALL: So we take over night in house call. During the week we have 1 person assigned to overnight call, they start Sun 5:30am and leave Mon. 6am. Then work T-W-Th overnight. They carry the "HOT" pager & do all consults, answer all home calls, nursing calls etc. They are supported by a senior, in house. Weekend Call: is only different in the fact that person comes in 5:30a Fri, Sat or Sun gets sign out, rounds, and stays all day and overnight until the next 5:30am, then goes home: post call; always supported by a 'senior' in house. Okay, reality check: :rolleyes: it is very hard, long hours: ~80+ / week with day to overnight shifts of 30 hours! We are held to the same hours & expectations of the PGY1's. However I don't think I would have gained this same experience from jumping into a surgical job right out of PA school! Please feel free to PM me with any questions. I will also try to post as time allows. I hope those of you who are interested in a surgical residency program find this useful! Good Luck! :cool: -V PS. Not sure if you want make this a separate Sticky? for Surgical Residency? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainiac Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 Here's the link to loads of info on post graduate residency programs: www.appap.org -Click on Residencies by Specialities -Each program is listed with links to specifics about each program. -Check it out. Pass it along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainiac Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 Hey All, Just a quick note as I'm post call [28.75 hrs shift on a Friday night] in WI with the BIG STATE FAIR happening! Luckily for me it rained all day & all night, thus I guess everyone stayed home! :rolleyes: I got the most sleep on "in house call" EVER! 4 hours! YAHOO! We got ZERO Traumas & only 1 consult to ED! The stars must have been in the correct order? I came home & slept 4 hours and am up catching up on stuff, ie. posting here! ;) Well there's always next Sat. night when I'm on call overnight! Which will be the last night of the state fair! -- look for that! Oh yeah, I got my DEA# this week, so I can write for Narcs! Quite interesting doing it the 1st few times; scary too that you don't want to make any mistakes. Added responsibility! and my fellow PGY1's do not have their DEA's yet; I think they get them when they turn into PGY2? Anyhow, it's nice that I don't have to try and track down a faculty PA to sign for me! But for now I still ask the faculty PA's to make sure that I'm doing it correctly; until I feel more comfortable. In general: I'm very ready to move on to my next rotation; as this is my LAST week on Peds Surg / Trauma Service. Since PG PAs do 6 week rotations and the residents only do 4 week rotations, the end of July was tough since the residents I'd worked with all of July were moving on & I was staying put! That was a bit of a bummer, however, I was able to help out the new group of residents / med students, that started on 8/1. Now, I've become very comfortable with the process, etc of this service. My efficiency and speed has improved over the rotation; along with my presentation skills to Attendings during rounds. I'm heading to Adult Plastics for my next rotation starting Monday 8/17; I'm very excited but I will be totally lost; as it is next door in the Adult Hospital of Froedtert. So finding stuff: OR's, Wings: North/South/East/West on the floors, the Cafe(s), the bathrooms, etc. will be a struggle for the 1st week or so. But I'm ready to move on! PS. I got my 1st full months paycheck! :D :eek: We get paid the same as the Interns [PGY1's] so not incredible amounts of cash but not bad compared to some!.....How sweet! I almost spent it all in 1 day! I bought the new IPHONE! so cool! I love it! a few new medical reference books and 2 new pairs of work sneakers! of course the usual bills: rent, electric, cable, insurance! Budgeting over 1 month's time will be interesting? :confused: The best news is that I work so much I can't do too much shopping?.....however there is always "on-Line Shopping!.." :rolleyes: Hope you are enjoying this! Remember you can always PM me, I will answer, just might take a little bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeSpa Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 any updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lov2xlr8 Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 any updates? x2, just stumbled across this thread. Very interesting. What's going on? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainiac Posted August 9, 2010 Author Share Posted August 9, 2010 Well I left! Got ZERO OR time just TONS & tons of Hours = 80 / week; with 1-3 30 hr/oncall shifts a week! NOT what I hoped for! Thus I left & got myself a great Ortho job! NO: nights/weekends or CALL!!! I suggest those interested in surgical residency go elsewhere! Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessings!! Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Hey mainiac, why you want to do post graduate training or residency? Don't you think you can learn all those things while working as a surgical PA? Pls share your thoughts.........THX. don't you think it is too hectic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeSpa Posted August 16, 2010 Share Posted August 16, 2010 wow Mainiac ...i can't believe you left. Can you tell us more about that residency program? Did you really have ZERO OR time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainiac Posted September 21, 2010 Author Share Posted September 21, 2010 Samina: Yes I totally think you can learn this on the job! I don't recommend this program! AT ALL! The surgeon that hires you, is investing in you! They are willing & wanting to help you learn--there way! Yes mikeSpa I left! I had no desire to work my a$$ off 80/hrs a week with NO OR time! & treated like dirt! My 1st rotation was Childrens hospital, I can't even tell you how many kiddos I saw in the ER; that had appendix & needed appy surgery; how many was I in on = ZERO! I think in that 6 weeks I was in the OR 4 times: Port placement, Port removal, 1 choley & I was the 4th person scrub'd in! (not counting scrub tech) In the month of Oct. I had 3 days off! & went 21 days in-between the 1st & 2nd day off. I left 'cause I was not gaining any OR skills & if I had stayed & got that piece of paper & went to a surgical job, they would expect I had some OR skills! I have a great Ortho job now with OR time & NO: call/nights/weekends! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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