Interservice Physician Assistant Program Update

So, hello again everyone. It's time for a quick update on my experiences with the Interservice Physician Assistant Program. It's Christmas time and we are on Christmas break; given this fact and the fact that I don't get to spend a lot of time with my family due to study demands, I will make this brief so I can spend a little time with them.

So, as you all may recall, I started the Interservice Physician Assistant Program in Class 1-11 back in January 2011. I must say that even though I felt I was ready to start, I really wasn't... It was a major culture shock. There is no coasting through any classes here and even if you are fully prepared, nothing comes easy. I remember in high school, I never really had to study for anything and did extremely well. I never sat in a college class and did all of my prerequisite courses online; of those, I never had a problem. At any rate, the first freshman semester for me was brutal for many reasons: (1) getting acclimated to a classroom environment, (2) personal sickness, (3) family sickness. We had 24 hours worth of medical school courses broken down as follows:

1. Medical Microbiology (5 Semester Hours)
2. Medical Biochemistry (3 Semester Hours)
3. Medical Law & Ethics (2 Semester Hours)
4. Human Anatomy & Physiology I (7 Semester Hours)
5. Clinical Laboratory Science (4 Semester Hours)
6. Medical History Taking (1 Semester Hour)
7. Medical Research and Evaluation (2 Semester Hours)

All 24 Semester hours / 7 Total Medical courses took place in just 16 weeks and was considered Freshman Semester. I passed all classes with at least a 75% but didn't maintain a 80% overall (79.56%) to move onto the Sophomore Semester. Briefly, the requirements to move to the next semester are: (a) Maintain at least 75% in each course and (b) Maintain an 80% overall average. As you can see, I missed the overall and there were 2 options for me at that point, redo (recycle) Freshman Semester or be removed (relieved) from the program. I requested and was fortunate enough to get a recycle to do it all over again.

The second time through the freshman semester, I was able to "smoke" the courses earning an "A" in all courses except Medical Biochemistry and Medical Law & Ethics, each of which I managed a B and B+ respectively. So, I moved on to Sophomore Semester in August; I will write a hub in reference to Sophomore Semester in the near future detailing exactly what went on during Sophomore semester and I will also write a hub about Freshman semester in more detail as well.

So far, I've been fortunate enough to do blood draws, blood glucose readings, and I've administered and received dental anesthetic to and from other Physician Assistant Students. Next semester, we get to do Arterial Blood Gases and male & female genitourinary examinations... Fun times.