What I Would Do Differently – Clinical Edition

Clinical rotations entail being thrown into a new speciality, meeting a whole new group of people, and possibly being in a new hospital or facility … EVERY MONTH. It is no surprise that this can be anxiety inducing and tricky to navigate, especially in the very beginning of the clinical year. If I had to start this year over, there are a few things I would do differently to keep my stress levels down. Read along to learn from my experiences. 

The number one thing to do is figure out the expectations from your preceptor. Do this by sending them an email 2-3 weeks before the start of your rotation. This email should include asking for information regarding where to meet the first day, expected attire, what time to arrive in the morning, if you need to bring your personal laptop and if they need any additional onboarding documents. Once you receive that core information, you can probe a little further and ask about parking information, whether or not you should bring lunch, and anything else that is on your mind. Asking these simple questions will help dissipate the first day jitters. 

This next tip may be a little controversial depending on who you ask, but I no longer suggest studying before your first day. You may ask why not and think that you need to study to make a good first impression, but the answer is simple. Chances are you finished your last rotation the Friday before and now it’s Monday morning and you’re in a whole new speciality. There is no way you are going to learn the entire PAEA blueprint in the one weekend between your two rotations. So I suggest you take this little bit of time off to unwind and take care of yourself. Whether you study or not for the first day, you will likely get pimped until you get a question wrong. (For those of you that do not know – pimping is a term used in medicine where the preceptor asks the student a series of difficult or seemingly random medical questions until the student gets the questions wrong). And hey – showing improvement between day 1 to the last day is always looked upon fondly! 

My last tip is to study throughout your rotation instead of waiting until the last week to study for your end of rotation exam. This may seem obvious but it can be exhausting to go home and study after being on rotation for 8+ hours a day. The best way to study for these exams without burning out is to work through as many practice questions as you can. MYPABOX recently released a new service call MYPABOX STUDY BUDDY that has plenty of practice questions that are designed to be similar to both end of rotation exams and the PANCE! 

Hopefully these tips save you some of the stress that I endured in the beginning of rotations! A few thoughts that also helped me get through include, “Everyone in the classes above me have gotten through these rotations”, “I am capable of hard things”, “I cannot wait to become a PA”, and “This is only temporary”.