It’s so hard to believe that my clinical year is coming to a close. I remember when I opened that folded sheet of paper after clinical orientation and discovered my first three clinical rotations: Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. I about freaked out! EMERGENCY MEDICINE! … First! Oy vey. I thought to myself, I don’t know that much about medicine as it is and now I’m gonna have the added stress of helping people in emergency situations! Why? Why would you do this to me, Professor Rossi? Yes, I know. Overly dramatic, much? But that is the unflattering personality trait that many graduate physician assistant students tend to develop during their schooling.

Needless to say, I did just fine during my six weeks in Emergency Medicine and I did well on my end-of-rotation exam. In fact, I received a compliment from my attending doctor a week into my rotation that helped give me a little more confidence in my education and abilities. He told me that my knowledge base was much more than he would have expected for someone who was on his first clinical rotation and who never worked in Emergency Medicine before. The nurses, ER techs and PAs were just as kind and supportive. Many of them asked if I would consider working there after I graduated. Now if that isn’t enough to inflate your ego, I don’t know what is! (Note: This clinical site would go on to be the recipient of the Excellence in Clinical Education award by the class of 2010 which I felt was well-deserved.)

As the year continued and I went from clinical site to clinical site, I felt I started to really grow as a “clinician-to-be.” Working in a variety of practices and specialties helped me gain a better understanding of what I value in a workplace and where my true passion lies. Prior to starting clinicals, I thought that I would either be a primary care PA or a surgical PA and that I would absolutely hate pediatrics. As it turned out, I could never see myself as a surgical PA and I love working with kids. A big part of me still loves primary care and I discovered that my true passion had a name: preventative medicine. Although it’s easier to write a prescription and send a patient on his/her way, I feel the best way to help someone is to educate them in ways to prevent disease in the first place.

So here I am, sitting at a Starbucks in Boston thinking about where I’ve been and where I have yet to go. I was fortunate enough to arrange an elective rotation in a community clinic in Boston, which has been going very well. Everyone there has been so friendly that I was beginning to wonder if there was something in the water! =) If all continues to go well I may find Boston to be my new home. Regardless of where I end up, I will always look back fondly at my time at Quinnipiac University.

--Ryan

Ryan graduated in 2005 from the University of Washington with an undergraduate degree in Biology. Subscribe to our feed for more posts from Ryan!

I have always dreamed about going on a medical trip abroad. It was one of those things that I added to my “Must Do In My Lifetime” list. It was right there along with go on an African safari and go skydiving. So how amazing would it be to travel to another country and immerse yourself in the “real” (non-tourist) communities while helping them address their health concerns? SO AMAZING!!!

This past January I spent the first week of my new year working in the Dominican Republic (DR) with Health Horizons International (HHI). We set up walk-in type clinics in three underserved communities of the Puerto Plata region of the DR and saw Dominican and Haitian patients all day. The clinics that we set up included a patient check-in area, a triage area, doctor’s consult stations and a pharmacy. It was similar to walk-in clinics in the U.S. except that we were in the village church/meetinghouse, we didn’t have computers and there were no insurance companies involved.

The majority of chief complaints were arthritic pain, viral illnesses, headaches and acid reflux; all things that we can safely address in a walk-in clinic. In the case where a patient needed specialty medical services they were referred to a local doctor that agreed to offer their services at a discounted rate which HHI had funds to cover.

In comparison to my first trip, I felt so much more confident in my clinical and diagnostic skills. It’s so mind-blowing to reflect back and see how far I’ve come after six months out of the classroom doing clinical rotations. It was also nice to see how much the newcomers enjoyed their first medical service trip and how dedicated they were to giving good healthcare. I was extremely proud of all of them.

HHI has also grown immensely in the past nine months since I’ve been to the DR. In addition to already training community health workers, they have established a medical record system and the Tufts students were creating a GIS map of Pancho Mateo, the largest community we serve. They continue to improve and evolve which makes them a great organization to work with.

It has been one of the best experiences seeing firsthand how the money the QU PA Program helped raise for HHI is being put to good use.

For more info about HHI and photos visit click here.
You can also check them out on Facebook.

--Ryan

Ryan graduated in 2005 from the University of Washington with an undergraduate degree in Biology. Subscribe to our feed for more posts from Ryan!