A Dream Career
When people used to ask me "What do you want to be when you grow up?", I remember saying a teacher, influenced by those in my family. As I became older, my love for education grew but so did my love for science and medicine. When exploring careers, I found that as a physician assistant I could pursue both my interests; to me, being a PA also means being an educator. Although not in the classroom setting, I hope to be an educator of medicine so that patients are aware that their needs have been heard and the best possible medical care will be provided to them by me. To do so, Mount Union’s PA program has provided me with many opportunities outside of the classroom to expand my knowledge and strengthen my clinical skills.
Experiential Learning Opportunities
While this program has provided me a great education that will be beneficial in my career as a physician assistant, the program has also offered various opportunities that will enhance my practice such as learning about the Autism Spectrum Disorder through a clinical training, eFAST training, training in HIPAA Privacy Compliance, and POCUS group. Transitioning from didactic year to clinical year of PA school has been another learning experience with new joys, stressors, and rewarding opportunities. Thus far I have completed 4 out of 10 clinical rotations: Women’s Health, Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine, Psychiatry, and General Surgery. I am currently in my fifth clinical rotation, Family Medicine and while there is one common goal of obtaining clinical experience and patient interactions, each rotation has been unique and provided an expertise within different areas of medicine. What has stuck out to me is the willingness of each preceptor to dedicate hours of valuable time to a student in order to educate the future of medicine. Similarly, I have seen hundreds of patients and am grateful that they have confided in my potential and allow a student to participate in their care as a learning opportunity as I work towards a career as a physician assistant.
Why Mount Union?
When looking at colleges while in high school, I had in mind that I was interested in the physician assistant profession and knew Mount Union was one of the few universities in Ohio that had the graduate program. This was a main driving factor as to why I chose Mount Union when attending undergrad, hopeful to continue my education at the same the university. Although I did apply to multiple different other graduate programs, Mount Union remained at the top of my list not only because I am an alumnae, but also because of all the positive things I heard from other providers. I was always told things like “Mount Union’s PA graduates are always well prepared." Hearing these words from other people assured me that this program provides a rigorous curriculum that would prepare me well for my future in medicine.