“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Sir Winston Churchill I’ve come to realize that it’s not the best genetics, the highest GPA, or the most relevant healthcare experience that produces the most success, especially when it comes to being a PA or trying to […]
Physician Assistant Stories
Are you a PA Practicing Medicine by Design or by Default?
Default is the status quo. It is cookie cutter medicine. It is flowchart medicine. It is brainless medicine. Default medicine is continuing to prescribe Paxil when studies show it to be no more effective than a sugar pill, default is telling a diabetic patient to increase whole grains when you know it should be no grains, […]
Physician Assistants in Primary Care – A Dying Breed, Indeed!
Today I read this interesting article from the Annals of Family Medicine. It is titled: Physician Assistants in Primary Care: Trends and Characteristics It proved the point of a recent conversation I was having with my cousin – an orthopedic PA at Kaiser. My theory was that family practice PAs would soon see the same trend […]
The Reason I became a Physician Assistant in 20 Minutes and 46 Seconds
his is the video from our global medical mission trip October 2012. We were proud to serve over 600 people with combined medical and dental care. I have written several posts on the topic. It was an amazing experience and every time I need a reminder of why I love my job, I just look […]
How NOT to be a PA Sellout: The Physician Assistant Vocation
So many PAs I meet are unsatisfied with their careers. I have met many a PA or NP who has become entangled in a web of profit-driven, incentivized-by-the-numbers healthcare. They have forgotten why they became a physician associate (PA) to begin with. We all become PAs with a great desire to help people, but it […]
Teens in Crisis: Emergency Telephone, Text and Web Resources Available to all Teenagers
If you are a teen in crisis or counseling a teen in crisis please reach out to one of these organizations below The Covenant House (Opening doors for homeless youth) www.covenanthouse.org Homeless kids come to Covenant House in crisis. Immediately and without question, they meet their basic human needs – a nourishing meal, a shower, […]
Working as a Physician Assistant in Haiti: Organization & Logistics
This video is from the wonderful FREE EdX course: The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Health The idea of working overseas as a physician assistant had always perplexed me. The laws governing PAs and our scope of observed practice in foreign, third world countries seem nonexistent. I know what we can do and I am aware that our level […]
Cookie Cutter Medicine: The Future of PAs and The Future of Medicine
One of the most popular books ever written on building a business is called The E-Myth Revisited (affiliate link), and here’s what the author, Michael E. Gerber says about the perfect business model: The model will be operated by people with the lowest possible level of skill Because if your model depends on highly skilled […]
Free PANRE and PANCE Practice Tests and Exam Questions
I am happy to announce that the free PANCE and PANRE practice exams are finally up and running! There were a few technical hurdles to overcome, but I have worked out most of the kinks with the exam professor software. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to send me corrections on […]
How Clay Aiken and Reality TV Helped Me Ace My PA School Interview
am embarrassed to admit: I am a big fan of reality TV. I don’t watch much TV but when it comes time for a new season of Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance, or dare I say The Bachelor (I can’t believe I just admitted that) I can’t stop myself. I justify this to […]
A Conversation Every Physician Assistant Has Had
If you are a practicing Physician Assistant this will surely make you laugh! How many times have you had this conversation? The Conversation Highlights: What are you doing these days? I have a great girlfriend, Kim and she’s a nurse I met her here at the hospital where I sometimes work as a physician assistant […]
Why my Wife is Happy I am a Physician Assistant and not an MD
“In my life, family will always be my greatest priority. I love my patients like I love life itself, but I love my family even more than life itself.” – Stephen Pasquini PA-C. Years ago, I dreamt of being an MD. Since I was a small child, in fact, to me, this would be the pinnacle […]
How to Go to PA School for Free: The NHSC and Me
I am a National Health Service Corps Scholar and a Physician Assistant (PA) There are two types of us: I was one of the lucky ones who had the privilege of being part of the scholarship program. I received a monthly stipend while in PA school to help pay for books, medical supplies, housing, food, […]
Why I love being a PA: My letter to a prospective MD
Dear Pre-Med, This is why I love being a physician assistant: I was pre-med for three years and completed my prerequisites as an undergraduate at the University of Washington in Seattle. I graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in Zoology. While working at the campus health center as a phlebotomist, I met a physician […]
10 Reasons Why You Should Become a Physician Assistant
Why should you become a physician assistant? Here are ten good reasons why you should choose to be a PA: 1. You get to help people every day and get paid to do it: Honestly, I could stop here. Every day I wake up to go to work I look forward to the work I […]
Are Physician Assistants Capable of Deep Clinical Analysis?
Last week I wrote a letter to Wellness FX. They are an intriguing and progressive California based health care start-up offering laboratory diagnostics and online consultations. I wrote them asking if they were considering allied health professionals as part of their healthcare team. This is the letter I received back: Hi Stephen, Thank you for your interest in WellnessFX. At this time, […]
Healthcare and the Hunger Games – Tributes and Patients
The reality of inequality is actually far worse than depicted in the movies and books. Courtesy of Lionsgate Tributes and Patients In Suzanne Collins wonderful series we are presented with a grim depiction of a future world. A world in which people are selected randomly to become participants in a game: A Hunger Game One in […]
Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged
It is extremely easy to judge our patients. Maybe they don’t take their medicines as directed. Maybe they make poor dietary or lifestyle choices. Maybe they don’t parent like we parent, or they make poor decisions that lead to even worse outcomes. As medical providers… actually let me rephrase this, as humans, we need to […]
Physician Assistant vs. Physician Associate: A Rose is a Rose?
Juliet: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” OK, a show of hands. Who would prefer we change the name of our profession? Should it be physician assistant or physician associate? Or something else entirely? The Case for Physician Assistant Patients are already confused by what we do. […]
The Future of Physician Assistant Education: Stop Stealing Dreams
Have you heard of Seth Godin’s free education manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams? In this manifesto, he discusses the history of education in America. How it was tailored to create “cogs in an industrial machine” rather than the much-needed linchpin’s necessary to drive future innovations. “School has become an industrialized system, working on a huge scale, […]
To be a Great Physician Assistant Focus on Patients not Numbers
ast night, was a late night in the clinic. It was also a very long day. If you looked at my “numbers” you may wonder why. But nothing bothers me more than converting patients into numbers. It goes against everything I signed up for when I chose to become a physician assistant. In order to do […]
What it Means to be a Physician Assistant: My Journey to PA-C
For lots of people, medicine is a calling. Is it your calling? In college, all I could think about was providing healthcare to those in need. I am not sure where this desire came from, but I aspired to it from an early age. I remember the excitement I would have when I had the […]
The PA and Supervising Physician Relationship: 5 Must Haves!
Over my 15 years + as a PA I have had been lucky to work with some incredible physicians. Physicians who get what I do, treat me like a colleague and understand my utility (both to my patients and to the practice). The best working relationships are the same as those that make a great […]
The Best Treatment For Your Patients: Your Time and Attention
Sometimes what your patient really needs is your time and attention. This, of course, is not just true in your medical practice but applies to your life in general. We get so caught up with things that can be measured. We look to our prescriptions pads for the answer. But I will tell you this: […]
My PA School Interview: The Journey of a Lifetime
It seems like just yesterday. Like Gene Kelly in the 1952 classic “Singing in the Rain,” there I stood, rain-drenched, under an iconic cast-iron streetlight, holding a soggy white letter in my hand. The letter that said: “You have been accepted for a PA School Interview.” I was living in Seattle at the time, two […]
Time Explored: Looking Back at 6 Years as a Physician Assistant
It has been six years since I began working as a Physician Assistant. I still can’t believe it. When the NCCPA sent me my first PANRE reminder letter, I figured they must have miscalculated. But it’s true; I have been working six years in the field, and I have some new gray hairs to show for […]
