PA 100 exam material
PA 100 Overall Week Reviews
Week 1: Syllabus Review
Week 2:
· The Lassi Test
Brief Summary of what was learned that week:
Students at kings’ college take the Lassi test to learn about the skills and traits that they may need to work on. These skills relate to the learning that students must do and go through and makes students recognize any weaknesses that they may have when it comes to learning. When scoring a 75 and above, that meant that the person is relatively good at whatever the component is. There are three main sections, that being Will, Self-regulation and skill. Each one of these categories can be broken down further into subcategories that are tested for. Skill- Information processing, selecting main ideas, and test strategies. Self-Regulation- Concentration, self-testing, study aides and time management. Will- Anxiety, motivation and attitude. These are all important and helps a student recognize things that they need to work =on to do better in school. With each component that was addressed, a solution and a way to help fix the issues were given to us so that we can possibly use it for our future. Students were reminded that there are academic resources all over campus that can aid students in areas in which they scored lower in.
The Lassi test was around 60 questions. 25% and lower, needs improvement. 25-75% means it could use some work, while it’s not an incredibly weak skill it can be worked on to become even better than what it is now. 75% and above means that you’re in relatively good standings with the certain component that you are looking at.
Week 4: First Impressions
Summary:
During this lecture students were taught about the impact of first impressions. Students were taught that meeting someone only takes 7 seconds to make a first impression. It’s especially important to be mindful of the impressions that you are making while you are in school and going throughout the PA program as well as being a part of the medical field. A first impression can be irreversible, so people need to be mindful of the way that they are portraying themselves. An impression can be based off sight, smell, sound and touch. These are all very important when trying to make a professional first impression. You always want to think about “How do you want this person to remember me”. When being a professional you want to make sure that you portray yourself properly especially during job interviews etc. Professionalism is extremely important. You want to look professional, act professional and speak professionally. Looking professional depends on what the setting for the interview is. There are three specific options that there are. Business Professionalism, Business casual and casual. These all have different types of clothes and even colors that you want to wear to these occasions/events.
Business professionalism is wearing a suit and tie for men, black and navy colors, nice dress pants and nice black shoes. For women its cosmists of longer skirts, button up shirts and blouses with neutral nail polish and no bulky jewelry. Not only that but also little makeup and that less is more.
When to wear? During the Pre PA interview, during formal presentations, other interviews, master classes and career fairs
Business casual for men included khakis, polo shirts, can be different colors other than black and blue but still try to keep it neutral. For women they can wear blouses cardigans and sweaters. Nice pairs of flats or a LOW heel.
When to wear? During class presentations, clinical rotations, shadowing, clinical hours, conferences and certain dinners.
Casual dress is t shirts, shorts, jeans and sneakers. Can be any color really. On your own time you can wear whatever you want but do not wear these to try to show that you are professional.
Week 5
Communication:
When you communicate with a person Ina professional setting you always want to act professionally. This is important because it can also leave impressions and make people think certain things about you. When you send an email to a professor, preceptor, and anywhere that is professional you want to use professional behavior. Always have a subject title. This helps the recipient know what to expect and it’s good to have if it’s necessary to search back and look at the email again. A subject line is the first impression a person will have about the email that they are about to receive. The next part of an email is the gritting. You always eat to greet who you are emailing by saying for example, “Good morning, afternoon, evening etc.” You may also want to say the recipient’s name and make sure that you use the proper pronouns that they use. For example, Mr., Mrs. Dr etc. When you are writing the body of the paragraph be sure to introduce yourself and why you are emailing. The nod of the email is to communicate whey you need to when sending the email. The closing paragraph should be thanking someone for their time and inviting them to contact you in the future. When writing an email, you always want to make sure that you include a closing paragraph. When you do this, you thank them, say your name and can be followed by a formal signature.
Ex:
Elizabeth Rogers
Pre PA student
Kings College
When writing an email, you always want to watch your tone because this isn’t speaking irk. Its not only what you say but how you say it. Which is important and can cause a reader to react to your email Ina certain way.
When you verbally communicate you always want to use the 5 Ss. That being Stand up, Smile, say your name, shake their hand and say something pleasant. BE sure that when you are trying to communicate professionally verbally with someone that you maintain eye contact, don’t fidget, be confident and respect boundaries. When they are replying to you, be sure you also want to listen attentively. When you are trying to communicate through the phone be sure to introduce yourself professionally and say your full name. Make sure that you are in a space where you can hear and have a quiet background. Don’t be chewing or eating something. Try to speak clearly and avoid the words like or um. At the end you want to thank them for their time. If they do not answer you have the option to leave a voicemail. When leaving a voicemail be sure to follow the same rules and thing stated above. Thank them and invite them to call you back and give them the information to reach you. Like a number or email to call them back. And be SLOW when giving them that information. Also always be prepared to take notes on the phone call.
Week 6
Professionalism and Social Media:
When being in the medical field and having a social media Prescence you need to be careful and make sure that you have a good presence on social media. Such as knowing who your friends are. This is important because certain things being posted on social media can affect your jobs outcomes. For example, the cisco fatty incident. This was when someone posted on twitter about their job and how they are going to be getting a fat paycheck. This was then sent to the employer and the to be employee was fired and he never ended up with the job. When you are in the medical field you never want to use social media for means of communication with patients. Use telephone, email, and in person conversations. Using social media is unprofessional and violates some rules. You should use social media to talk with employers and teachers etc. as well. When being active on social media as a student, understand who and what you are representing. Abd behavior can sometimes even get you removed from the programs/things that you are involved in because of the unprofessionalism and the lack of trust that can be observed. There are certain social media pages that you can follow and join such as the American Academy of Physician Associates and Pennsylvania Society of Physician Assistants. You want to avoid posting unprofessional photos. Whatever is posted will always be out there forever and follow you forever. Never speak negatively about your professors, employers and preceptors. Don’t use crude language because that makes you look unprofessional. NEVER post about your patients. It violates HIPPA and is a huge no in the medical field. Never harass or offend others. A mean of social media that is professional is Linked in. A LinkedIn profile can connect you with employers and it basically an online resume. A linked in profile should have a headline. It says who you are, has keys words, short and professional.
Ex: “Dedicated and dependable Pre PA student at Kings College searching for clinical hour opportunities”
Have a professional photo of only yourself. In the proper attire (professional) and then you should have a simple professional background. Don’t have any party pictures or have any filters on the photo.
The next thing that you need to include is your education. When you put down your education you must be sure to put it in reverse chronological order. Include the school, the major/minor/type of degree you are receiving. Then you want to put in your achievements and your GPA.
When this is done you then want to put in a professional summary. When you put a professional summary, you want to make it almost a shortened cover letter. When you write this section of the profile you want to highlight your experiences and your qualifications. You want it to be very clear and concise. You should be sure to put your experience at work and then the extracurriculars that you participate in. The last section is to put your skills and expertise. You do this by putting down key words. When you write down the keywords you should put down 5-7 of them. When doing this you want to try to include them in all sections of the profile.
The sections that are in a linked in profile are the informative title, the profile photo, education, a professional summary, and then key words portion. So, in total, 5 sections.
Week 7
Success and Mindset
During this lecture we learned how important it is to have a good mindset about what you are doing. There are two distinct mindsets. A growth mindset and a fixed mindset. During this we learned that a growth mindset is one where they believe that a person can change and grow their strengths and skills. A fixed mindset is one where they think that traits you have, your born with. These are all very important and then you must recognize what kind of mindset you have. A growth mindset is a good one. Its where you believe in your work ethic. You know that your challenges can help you learn new things and you embrace them. Heras a fixed mindset is one where they don’t embrace challenges, and they shut down. Overall, its best to have a growth mindset. It helps you do better in school and put more effort and belief into the work that you are doing. The king’s college PA program is one where we must expect challenges, rigor and a lot being thrown at the students. It’s important to believe in what you are doing and work not to shut down when feeling challenged. Especially in the medical field, we must be open to lifelong learning because medicine is always changing which is something we as Pas have to keep learning and be familiar with new medications, techniques, procedures, and discoveries. You also must be able to take constructive criticism. Because it is not trying to tear you down. It’s trying to build you up and make you better. In the medical field there will always be constructive criticism because you want to GROW to be better. This also means you want to give the best care that you possibly can for your patients.
Week 8
Goal setting
When you set goals, you want to make sure that they are attainable goals. This is important because it can keep a person motivated to do more to achieve that goal. A lot of people underestimate how difficult some of the goals that they have are and how unrealistic they are. Having realistic goals keeps motivation and more attainable. There are long-term goals and short-term goals. Each one is beneficial to have.
Week 12 or something
Research.
There are mamey different kinds of research in the medical field that are all great importance. In the medical field there will always continue to be research that I done. It is of great importance because medicine I s lawyers changing and there are new techniques that are developed that can aid the treatment of a person with any conditions. Research is always done, and it helps to answer questions or to improve something. Research is done all around you am dos very important to know and understand the different yes of research that there are. There are also different types of setting for research and many different types of research. Applied research is designed to help people understand how to do their jobs better it answers a practical question. Descriptive research is research where an individual is working and trying to gain knowledge that can be applied to other groups of people. It is like surveys and measure of characteristics. Laboratory research is where the research conducted is in a controlled laboratory setting that is looking to dig deeper on things that have already been found and proposed. Laboratory research is simple research that gathers data on more information. Pure research is when the person is researching on something new and PURE. It is generating new theories and new knowledge that has yet to be truly discovered with lots of detail. Experimental knowledge is where there are different variables. These variables are then manipulated to see if they have another outcome on another variable. Then the response to that change is observed and recorded. The most important one for PA students and people in the medical field is clinical research. It is performed in a clinical setting and is performed in basically the same ways as experimental research. The difference being that it is in a clinical setting.
There are two distinct different kinds of research that are based on data and the information collected. There is quantitative research and qualitative. Quantitative research is considered hard science, it’s based on numbers, testing theories, based off of cause and effect, deductive reasoning and is objective among other things. Qualitative research is considered soft science and is more so based off interpretations. This kind of research is subjective, develops theories, is meant for meaning and discovery, its words. So, in other words, the development of a theory is qualitative, and the research and testing of the said theory is most of the time quantitative. Now, when conducting research there are different types of terms and definitions that are always necessary to know and understand so that you can conduct your research properly.
A population is the total population that is being observed in a defined group. If you think of it in biology terms you can always remember that in groups you try to avoid saying species, what you really eat to say is population. The next is a target population. This is the group that is being studied that is based off the findings. It’s the group of people/things that are being targeted FOR. Accessible population is the total population in which is accessed during research. It is anything that has the chance of being included to the research being conducted. It is ACCESSABLE.
The next is a sample. This is an accurate representation of a population that is to be studied. Samples tend to be randomized to avoid bias which is the favoring of outcomes in research. Randomized samples are when the population all has an equal chance to be selected to be the experimental group and the one that I seeing tested on.
Inclusive Criteria: The traits of a population that qualify someone for research
Exclusive criteria: the traits of a population that exclude someone from research.
