Not only did we have 5 finals in 5 days, but we also survived a whole term together as a class and formed some great friendships. I will have to say that when I first started this program I was very worried that I would struggle to keep up with the material; however, the instructors and classmates are so supportive that I ended up performing far better than I ever expected. I would say that the difficulty of that first semester was comparable to the difficulty of my third year at ACPHS, but GPA wise, I was much better off in PA school! =] It still amazes me how much we actually learned in just a few short months. Learning from one another we really helped make classroom material memorable and easier to understand. As a class we learned more than this list, but this sums up the classes a bit:
-How to perform various physical exams like:
Respiratory, Cardio, ENT, GYN, Musculoskeletal, Neuro etc.
-How to carefully dissect out important anatomical structures like the:
Heart, Stomach, Intestines, Reproductive organs, and the BRAIN!
-How to think about and handle ethical situations in response to the law and morals
-How to read statistical data in journal articles to determine reliability and validity
-How to link EKG's to various conditions such as:
Heart Blocks, Wanckebach, Wandering Atrial Pacemakers, etc.
I feel pretty confident with the material that we learned, and am surprised that I still know some stuff we learned back in January. Unlike undergrad where more students take general classes that are not applicable to the rest of their career, graduate school is where we learn things that are directly applicable to what we will be doing and this must be why we retain the information so much better.
Even though we had fun this first term, it is still nice to know we will be on break for two weeks to just kick back and relax before we dive head first into the summer term. At first I thought that I wanted to work during my time off but I really needed this time for myself in order to enjoy myself and the little bit of vacation we have.
-How to perform various physical exams like:
Respiratory, Cardio, ENT, GYN, Musculoskeletal, Neuro etc.
-How to carefully dissect out important anatomical structures like the:
Heart, Stomach, Intestines, Reproductive organs, and the BRAIN!
-How to think about and handle ethical situations in response to the law and morals
-How to read statistical data in journal articles to determine reliability and validity
-How to link EKG's to various conditions such as:
Heart Blocks, Wanckebach, Wandering Atrial Pacemakers, etc.
I feel pretty confident with the material that we learned, and am surprised that I still know some stuff we learned back in January. Unlike undergrad where more students take general classes that are not applicable to the rest of their career, graduate school is where we learn things that are directly applicable to what we will be doing and this must be why we retain the information so much better.
Even though we had fun this first term, it is still nice to know we will be on break for two weeks to just kick back and relax before we dive head first into the summer term. At first I thought that I wanted to work during my time off but I really needed this time for myself in order to enjoy myself and the little bit of vacation we have.