Aurthi, UofT PA-S1
Aurthi completed her undergrad at Western University in Kinesiology and in Medical Sciences prior to getting into University of Toronto’s PA program.
Follow Aurthi on IG @aurthi.pa.
Before Getting into PA School
My Extracurricular Activities before PA School
For my extracurricular activities from first year to fourth year, I was part of the Western tennis team and in fourth year, I actually captained the team and that year we won OUA, and that was very special.
I did two mission trips with the habitat for humanity, we went to Thibodaux, Louisiana and we helped with rebuilding houses and stuff for after Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.
Another extracurricular I did was, I was VP internal as part of cultural support services, which was under a university student council. We organized events where we raised awareness for cultural diversity and different issues that came up on campus.
Another extracurricular I did was volunteering at the local walk-in clinic.
I tutored at Oxford learning and I also coached the university tennis club.
My Pre-PA Health Care Experience Hours
My Health Care Experience Hours for PA School
For the PA Program, most of my healthcare experience hours came from working as a kinesiologist after graduating. I worked at 2 physiotherapy clinics and the common responsibilities included setting up patients with treatment modalities. ultrasound, tens IFC, and teaching them exercises.
At one clinic, particularly the gym was my office. So, I worked with multiple patients, but I had to make sure their form was good and then, once those exercises became easier for them I had to progress patients to harder or more challenging exercises. And that was really rewarding, to see them go through the recovery process. That’s where I got most of my hours from.
Aside from that, I used my high school experiences as well as some other voluntary experiences I did throughout Undergrad.
In the summer I started off volunteering at a family health clinic close to home. And then the next summer I got hired at the same place to work as a medical assistant to complete patient profiles. I completed a lot of patient profiles and there was a lot of communication required as some of these patients were ESL. English was their second language and I would have to find alternate modes of communication.That challenged me in a different aspect.
And then there was a walk-in clinic close to university where I did about four to eight hours weekly. Again, it was a different population. It was closer to the rural areas of London in downtown area.
How I found my Kinesiology Position
Well, Kinesiology was an interesting story. After graduating, I couldn’t find a job for two months. I actually took the “Explore Program” after my fourth year and I applied before I went and even throughout the five weeks I was at the explorer program. I didn’t hear back. And Kin is a very competitive, get because volunteers could do some of those duties, sometimes people prefer to hire volunteers.
It was actually, July, a few months after I graduated, during a tennis match where I played against my boss’s husband and he overheard me saying that I did my degree in Kinesiology and that I was looking for a job and he’s like, “hey, my wife’s looking to hire!”. So I submitted my resume and then went in for an interview and it was quite far from home and it was an Orangeville and I was in Brampton. So, I had to get a car and get used to it. But that’s how you start.
How I found by job as a Clerical and Clinical Assistant Position
There was a walk-in clinic I worked at close to the university and another clinic I worked at throughout the summer, which was actually my mom’s family doc (not mine) at that time.
I was visiting the clinic with my mom and shared what I did my studies in.. and asked “Are there any opportunities? “ To find Pre-PA Health Care Experience, use your network try to advocate for yourself and say, “his is what my background is, and this is how I can help your clinic”.
Sometimes you have to start off as a volunteer and prove your skills and prove yourself before you get hired or find better opportunities. And as a student it’s probably best if you can get hired, especially with finances.
Choosing a PA School to Attend
Deciding to attend University of Toronto’s PA Program vs McMaster University
And then between the PA program at McMaster and University – I had to choose, which was a really tough choice. However, every time I get stuck into a scenario in terms of what to do, and in this case it was Medicine vs. PA, then PA school at McMaster vs. University of Toronto.
I always make like a list of pros and cons and take some time to reflect on what I want in life, at least for a career choice as well as what works for me in terms of learning style. And that’s how I ended up at UofT’s PA program.
I applied to Manitoba as well but I think there was one course that stopped my application early for Manitoba; which was Biochemistry.
I personally just like the profession in general and I think for U.S, I tried to narrow my universities because there are, 238 American PA schools and I can’t apply to all of them.
In the United States, writing the GRE was also a major requirement to get into PA School. I did not take the GRE because being straight out of Undergrad it’s a different process. But I try to keep my options open: applying to PA schools in Manitoba, UofT, Mac as well as the states.
Online Learning at PA Consortium
MYTH: PA Consortium/UofT’s PA program is 100% Online
Most of it is online but there are residential blocks where everyone from the program, wherever they are geographically, all come to Toronto. During the residential block we have in class sessions. Most of it is clinical skills focus because you want to learn your physical exam skills and other hands on skills but there are other courses we take too.
Residential Blocks
Residential Blocks:
September – 4 weeks long – Intro to the PA Role
December – 1.5 weeks long we had a wrap up for certain courses, followed by an introduction of courses that would be new to us in second semester before Christmas Break.
April – 2 weeks long
July – 2nd half of July
August – first half of August
Between residential blocks is online learning
Moving on to online learning, that fills in the gap between those Residential Blocks, and it’s a lot of self-learning.
You are given a set number of lectures and you do that on your own time. And the good thing about online learning is you get to schedule your own day. Tuesdays every week are designated for LCEs (longitudinal clinical experiences / clinical placements), then you have the other days of the week to work around that.
Most courses are delivered as recorded lectures
You then have weekly online meetings for each course to make sure you’re staying on top of things. And this could be through class discussion or this could be through quizzes to make sure you’re up to date. it helps yoy keep on top of things.
The time between residential blocks, that is, online learning is probably the time when most of the people fall behind. But you do have the in-class portions (residential blocks) where you are able to mingle with class.
How tests work in PA Consortium
For minor tests & quizzes, these are delivered online at home. However for tests you actually go to a proctor location. For those closer to Toronto, you go to a building University of Toronto’s campus and take the test. For people who are further away, the PA student actually sets up their “test taking” site, which is approved through the UofT PA program coordinator. Sometimes these “test” are five minutes from home for the PA student. Sometimes these “test” sites are a bit of a longer drive. There’s a lot of flexibility and the program tries to make it work for you.
Making Arrangements to stay in Toronto for the Residential Blocks
AirBNB is a common, option for the students who are coming from afar. And I think from September residential block to December, there are a lot of people who start pairing with other classmates to get a place together. Choosing a location to stay means staying close to campus via walking, biking or subway. PA students try to book these accommodations as early as possible so that they can save some money.
Schedule During a Residential Block
Every day in a residential block is different. Sometimes we have super long days where we start at 8 am and we finish at 5pm. Or sometimes we have shorter days where we start around like 9 am or 10:30 am and we finish at 3pm.
Most of the days we have clinical skills. There are also dome days there is a lunch hour dedicated discussing and providing feedback
And there’s no fixed schedule per se for each week of the residential block. They usually try to post it before you come for the residential block so you can prepare for it on the weekend.
Screenshot of Aurthi’s Residential Block in December (1st year PA School)
A Week in the Life of a PA Student in a December Residential Block:
The major focus for December was clinical skills, specifically the female and male pelvis and then the biopsychosocial module. The next day we’d see SPs or standardized patients. We had our clinical skills exam, which had the EPBL, which is electronic problem based learning.
We had an Intro to Pharmacology Course and there’s this rational prescribing framework that the professor thought was very important that we address it in person that we can have a conversation, which is probably a bit easier than online.
We had a curriculum committee meeting that the curriculum committee meeting rep went to, which is n “end of semester one” check in where students provide feedback.
1st Year Classes in PA School
1st year PA program Class – Intro the PA Role with Deniece O’Leary, PA-C
We got an Introduction to the PA Role Class with Deniece O’Leary, and I particularly enjoyed that course because it gave me a good foundation to understanding the PA profession.
Course Description: “PAP 111 Introduction to the Physician Assistant Role is a robust course that covers several elements of becoming a PA. These include aspects of advocacy, as well as professionalism, communication and collaboration. This course includes a PA Panel, where students participate in dialogue with practicing PAs who represent a variety of health care settings, disciplines and levels of experience”
We talked about different topics like funding, regulation, health care economics and how the healthcare system works. We had guest lecturers who came in, assignments and a lot of readings. We’re required to look up these kinds of topics on your own, with quizzes on readings and interesting creative assignments.
I think some of those assignments, I remember, as PA profile, we had to film a video of ourselves talking about the PA profession with a personal touch to it. You can choose to it in any format. I did mine in an interview format where my classmate asks me questions and I talked about myself and the PA profession, almost like a making it seem like I was applying for a job as a PA.
We had a lot of discussion posts which was a key aspect of the course where, people would ask questions and would answer questions.
One of final was to choose a topic related to PA – whether it was regulation, funding, or a topic that you came up with in class. Denise as an instructor for the course was flexible about picking your topic, where you would just start a discussion and then you would write an opinion editorial after that about that topic that you chose to do it on. There were a lot of, interesting assignments which made you think about the profession and see if it was something that aligned with your interest. It was definitely a good course.
Opinion Editorial Topics:
Why PAs Need to Be regulated
Why PAs need more funding
Why Health care systems need to allocate more funds towards PAs
What PAs contribute to the health care system.
And while you write this opinion editorial, you would do research about it and you do learn more about it. it’s not like just a typical lecture based learning. It was a different way of learning. And again self taught.
About Longitudinal Clinical Experiences (LCE) Course
LCE is longitudinal clinical experience (called Longitudinal Placements or LPs at McMaster’s PA Program). We are expected to do 30 to 40 hours Max, in any clinical setting.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: “In the Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE) courses (PAP 110, 120, 130), students participate in practicums, which, by definition, expose them to the practical aspects of clinical medicine. From the first semester in the program, students consistently describe how these LCE opportunities help to solidify their knowledge and enhance their level of confidence. These experiences only strengthen their confidence and competence in Year 2 during clinical rotations”
In certain semesters, we have certain requirements for areas of medicine. For example, 10 hours of LCE has to be primary care, which includes family medicine as well as emergency medicine. And you can do the remaining hours in other specialties.
The thing about LCEs is you are expected to reach out and network and, this goes back to the importance of networking skills.
We are given an LCE database of clinical preceptors and locations, to reach out to people who’ve taken students on before. These LCEs are done based on your interests, and you do these clinical placements and again, throughout the week.
Tuesdays are officially allocated for those placements. Your day could range from just four hours of clinic, or 10 hours like when a General Surgery LCE which was from 7:30 a to 5:30 PM. So it can be short or long days.
Every semester has a different requirement and as you progress through 1st year PA school, you’ll find that second and third semesters LCE requirements are more focused on specialties. While first semester you have primary care as well as allied health professionals, which is when I was able to do those super cool, EMS places and with the paramedics.
Expectations as on an Observer on LCE Placements
Expectations of PA students during LCE placements varies with the setting. For example, with my paramedics placement, I wasn’t able to do anything. There was a lot of observership and I did have a lot of discussions with the paramedics – like what their thought process was in that emergent situation and why they did certain things. For those kinds of experiences, you’re writing a reflection piece, reflecting on what your goals were going in and what you learned throughout what things we found challenging .
If the LCE was in a more clinical setting, like when I did general surgery or when I did family medicine and ER, you do write S.O.A.P. notes. In first semester PA school you are expected to write a certain number of SOAP notes and reflections.
In addition to the paramedic placement, I did the coroner’s office, which was another interesting experience where I could reflect on how I felt during the experience.
Interprofessional Education (IPE)
There are different requirements in IPE: Core and elective activities.
Throughout the two years of PA School, everyone completes the Core-Curricular Learning Activities and attend in person (online or in person) and you are also expected to complete at least two electives.
“COURSE DESCRIPTION: At the beginning of every year, we welcome over 1600 students from 11 Health Science Programs; Dentistry, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Masters of Professional Kinesiology, Medical Radiation Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Social Work and Speech-Language Pathology.
Over the course of the Interprofessional Education Curriculum curriculum, students engage in up to nine core learning activities: Teamwork: Your Future in Healthcare, Roles of Health Professions and Team Dynamics, Understanding Patient/Client Partnerships in a Team Context, Faculty-Led Learning Activity, Collaborating for Quality, Conflict in Interprofessional Life, Case-Based Learning Activity: Pain Curriculum, Palliative Care and /or Appreciating Roles and Collaboration to Improve Care: Head and Neck Cancer Case, and IPE Component in a Practice Setting. Additionally, students complete a minimum number of approved elective learning activities according to the program requirements. Electives, facilitated by university and clinical faculty, are held on campus and in many practice settings and include interactive sessions, simulations, patient/client/family stories, clinical team-led cases and discussion, student team-based activities, community clinic engagement, as well as facilitated blended learning activities.” Centre for Interprofessional Education – University of Toronto
We actually just had one a couple of days ago where it was online and everyone was able attend that on. But sometimes IPE activities are scheduled during Residential Blocks where the PA students are physically located in Toronto.
In IPE, they want you to be aware of your future health care colleagues when you’re working in the healthcare setting. So far I’ve met like PTs, OTs, medical students, speech language pathologists, dentists, pharmacists, and like we would do case studies together or depending on the activity you do like case studies together and everyone chimes in.
It’s interesting to learn about everyone’s strengths and like their perspective on patient care. And just the recent one to a couple of days ago was focused on involving the, we’re including the patient as part of the team, which is something that we don’t usually think about because we focus on the disease and like different healthcare providers providing solutions to the disease. But also learning about the importance of involving the patient in the discussion.
And then the elective activities is more on how you can learn different concepts or apply different concepts based on your own interest. I’ve done one on death and dying as well as another activity on exercise based on my Kinesiology background.
Distance/Distributed Learning (the “Online” Blocks)
In the online portion (non-residential blocks) of 1st year, every week is different and every semester is different.
In First Semester:
Mondays – self study
Tuesdays – LCEs
Wednesday – Physiology with Physiology Meeting
Thursday – Clinical Skills in the morning
Fridays – Anatomy Meeting: Cover lecture material quizzes, discussion topics, case studies.
Semester 2
Second semester has more variety:
Monday –
Pharmacology (busiest days of the semester): going through case studies where students expected to work up the case beforehand, group facilitated discussions
Lectures (e.g. Acute Coronary Syndrome, Dyslipidemia, etc.)
Pathology – 1 hour – but its very dense, and one of the courses where we have a lot of lecture material to cover.
Tuesdays – Longitudinal Clinical Placements.
Wednesdays – Self Study
Thursdays – Clinical Skills (more discussion based – facilitating a discussion)
Fridays – Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures (DTP): review of case studies, concepts, readings, quizzes, and focus on investigations.
During this weeks, I try to schedule a lunch with friend or do a workout mid day to compartmentalize my studying. In the morning I’d do more of the studying and learning and then in the evening I’d work on the assignments, case workup for pharmacology, etc.
Connecting with other PA Students
How Group Study works in 1st Year PA School at PA Consortium
Considering we’re doing online learning right now, we use the online platform that’s offered by UofT called “blackboard” and whoever is in the group study platform just logs on. We have a blank whiteboard, and the ability to share images and PDF the group members online who can then see it and follow along.
Screenshot of a group study session
Sometimes we just test each other. We’ll ask our peers “Can you explain this concept to me?” and then you could add on new concepts. Or if you are the one explaining something to them, you can ask them to repeat it back in their own words to make sure they solidify their understanding.
And then sometimes we ask each other questions – and this depends on what stage of learning you are at. Initially you’re not going to drill someone with too many questions. You’d probably first try to explain concepts to each other, and then progress to asking each other questions. And, it’s amazing how something that someone told you the night before actually shows up on the exam the next!
You learn from each other, and its the supportive aspect of group setting that helps.
If we have for example, 24 lectures to get through 21 lectures and there’s a small group of six of us, then each of us only has to do 4 for lectures. It brings down the workload and then you review the notes of all 24 lectures together in a group in order to prepare for things like pathology meetings or case studies.
Socializing
In first semester PA school, they say that November is probably the loneliest month because September is really like everyone’s around you, you’re always spending time with your classmates. And then October you’re getting used to the online learning which feels like downtime compared to September. But by the time November hits, you start to miss your classmates as the online portion wraps up and that does get a bit lonely.
I think this semester we tried to make more changes. I personally like to meet up with people who are closer to me geographically. For example, just a few days ago I spent a few days with my classmate from Oakville.
And it’s interesting how you group together and it’s like you need that social support and your classmates only know what you’re going through. In terms of online communication, we always try to, Facebook message or online video chat with our classmates and make sure they’re keeping in touch.
I think this semester I’ve started to learn the importance of keeping in touch with classmates and I’m making time for those kinds of conversations and taking a break because definitely an important aspect of going through such an accelerated program.
Connecting with 2nd year PA Students
When I got my acceptance, I got a phone call from a second year PA student. 1st year PA students get a PA buddy who welcomes you in and is there to answer any questions you have throughout the summer.
I am the 1st year UofT PA Class Rep, and I’ve been connecting to our 2nd year PA Class Rep and we talk a lot about how to prep for the management committee meetings, touching base after an exam, and checking to see if I meet my learning objectives. It’s reassuring to have that support through these mentors.
And I always keep in touch with PA graduates, like even UofT or Mac, just to get that perspective on what it is like working in the real world.
