STUDY TIPS FOR PA SCHOOL (PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PROGRAM)

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POINT 1: PA SCHOOL IS NOTHING LIKE COLLEGE!!!

1. You a learning A TON OF INFORMATION IN A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME. You are constantly learning new material while being tested on old material – there isn’t just one focus on one area.
2. You have more time & less material in undergrad so it didn’t require a lot to get a lot (in terms of good grades).
3. MOST of PA school is application learning:

• Schedules are hectic with little breaks. Sometimes have multiple in exams in the same week while learning new material.

• You can easily fall behind & hard to catch up. Many students have the false notion that, like undergrad, it will be easy to catch up to speed with a little hard work. Once you fall behind it becomes harder and harder to catch back up without compromising learning and retaining new material.
• A lot of the material is CUMULATIVE: Unlike undergrad, it is not about learning for an exam and then forgetting it. You have to maintain a working knowledge and retention of the diseases . “Old" material is never “old" disease processes or diseases will come back in other classes = what I call the OVERLAP phenomenon.

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• The most fundamental principle of efficient studying – the best use of your limited time – requires ACTIVE not passive learning.

• ACTIVE LEARNING: requires MAKING ACTIVE, INTUITIVE DECISIONS about the material. Questions you must ask yourself is:
• “WHERE have I seen this before?? (to make connections with things you have learned before).
• “Where does this fit into the ‘BIG PICTURE?" How to organize material?
• “WHY Is this important?"
• “What is the BIG PICTURE?"


What is the LITTLE PICTURE ?"

UNDERSTAND THE “LITTLE PICTURE" .

• Understanding basic anatomy & physiology: STUDENT MYTH: IF I AM NOT STUDYING FOR AN ANATOMY OR PHYSIOLOGY TEST AND IT IS CLINICAL MEDICINE, I CAN SKIP THIS BECAUSE IT’S “NOT NECESSARY." REALITY: This is a critical mistake PA students make in an attempt to figure out when studying what should the focus on and what can fall by the wayside. Now, I am not saying to remember every single page of anatomy and physiology from the book but you do need to know the basics of that to apply to the disease. This is because when you understand the basic anatomy and physiology. You can make sense of the pathophysiology of the disease. Understanding the pathophysiology often will explain clinical manifestations and (9 times out of 10) the medications used to treat the disease, the mechanism of action of the medications as well as some of the side effects of the medications used or why some medications are first line for a disease where it isn’t in other diseases that it may be used for. For example: understanding that heart failure is a condition where the body tries to compensate for the failing heart by stimulating the renin angiotensin system, which over time leads to decompensation and heart failure. ACE inhibitors are first line for heart failure because they directly inhibit the effects of the renin angiotensin system. Side effects of ACE inhibitors are they can cause hyperkalemia (because from physio you remember that if you block aldosterone, you get rid of sodium but you hold onto potassium and hydrogen ions – which also explains another possible side effect of ACE inhibitors, metabolic acidosis). Understanding this also helps you to understand other disorders. For example, the disease hyperaldosteronism (meaning that too much aldosterone action is occurring) will present with hypertension, hypokalemia (since aldosterone holds onto sodium in exchange for potassium and hydrogen ions) and metabolic alkalosis (since you are getting rid of hydrogen ions). And why patients with Addison’s disease (a condition that you don’t produce enough aldosterone) will have hypotension and hyperkalemia as presenting symptoms. Again different diseases with the same connecting principle. Often students learn these thoughts in isolation and focus on these little details because in getting the little picture (of the details) they miss the big picture – but I am getting ahead of myself! Back to the little picture: Understanding the basics takes a little more time initially but the pay off is when you understand it, the other details make more sense and you don’t have to memorize as much because you can talk it out as to what is going to happen so it is easier to retain. The more you understand, the less you have to memorize! This means that you don’t have to study as much and the time that you do use to study is used more efficiently!

• Also understand the basic terminology used: I can’t tell you how many students can tell me that they see Kussmaul’s sign in certain diseases but when I ask them to describe it they can’t. Often on exams, they may either write out the name of the terminology or describe it, so it is good to be able to understand the terminology you are using in a disease. If you don’t know it, make sure to look it up!
• STUDENT MYTH: " IF I UNDERSTAND ALL THE LITTLE DETAILS THEN I WILL MASTER THE TOPIC". Wrong! There is no little picture if you can’t see the big picture!!!

UNDERSTAND THE “BIG PICTURE"!

• Knowing the big picture helps to understand the little details more! For most students this concept seems counterintuitive. But when you understand the big picture, you understand the purpose and the principles of all the details you learned

• Knowing the big picture helps you to relate other diseases to a common theme: For example Sinusitis (sinus openings get blocked and the flora that is already there along with the mucus builds up, leading to an infection), Appendicitis (fecalith blocks the appendix leading to infection/inflammation), Cholecystitis (stone blocks the cystic duct, leading to infection/inflammation), Diverticulitis (fecalith blocks the diverticulum leading to inflammation/infection), Saliolithiasis (salivary stone…well you get the picture now). Also other diseases that have the same processes are connected. For example: atherosclerotic disease in the coronary arteries happen throughout other arteries in the body not just the coronary. Whenever there is decreased blood flow we call it ischemia, when there is death due to prolonged ischemia, we call it infarction. Ischemia in the coronary artery is called angina, cell death is called a myocardial infarction. Atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries of the neck can lead to brain ischemia (TIA – Transient Ischemic Attack) or brain cell death (Cerebrovascular accident/Stroke). Atherosclerosis in the arteries that supply the leg can lead to ischemic leg pain (claudication) or cell death (gangrene). Atherosclerosis in the arteries of the GI tract can lead to ischemia (Chronic mesenteric ischemia often called intestinal angina) or acute ischemia that can lead to bowel gangrene, etc.

• Finding the “big picture" will help keep you on track during the lecture. This is a fine tune skill that not all students will subscribe to because they will say that they don’t have time. But if you read a lecture a few 5 minutes before class, it won’t be the first time you are hearing the material and then you can begin to formulate questions to ask your professor during the lecture of the material which is needed to effectively learn the lateral.
• Knowing the big picture can maximize your study of the material later while reducing the time you have to study for it to make it stick: it helps you to rewrite your notes in an outline form (which is very helpful for a quick study especially before an exam. So is creating flow charts, lists or diagrams that organize the needed material in a visual way. Not all of us are visual learners but you will be surprise that you remember that some information you needed to answer a question was in the upper left section of your chart or you can visualize your simplified chart in determining which way to go to treat the person. Actively memorizing these flow charts are a quick way to review the material and then when you add the little picture to your big picture, you can see the work of art you created.

STUDENT TECHNIQUES TO USE ONCE YOUR MATERIAL IS ORGANIZED

• Don’t put off memorizing material until just before the exam! NOOOOOO CRAMMING!!! Remember that tactic helped us in undergrad but it won’t help us here because you can’t commit things you cram into long term memory and remember medicine isn’t about forgetting what you learned and moving on, it is cumulative knowledge. You won’t remember everything but you have to remember a lot of it or be able to recall it from your long term memory. If you cram the night before, you won’t remember it in a week.
• Frequent review of the material leads to more retention. The more you review a packet over and over again, the more things will start sticking or making sense and you get an idea of what you know and what you don’t know.

• Set aside adequate time for studying: Even with study tips, they are tips to help you STUDY (the operative word here). You have to put in the time.
• BREAK UP THE STUDY WITH SOME BREAKS! Another big mistake students make (especially those who found themselves in that deep dark place of academic issues) is they study for hours on end, thinking that the chunk of time will allow them to learn it. I sometimes teach my students for 7 hours straight. The first 45 minutes they are into the lecture and then close to the hour, they begin to nod their heads, look at me with puppy dog eyes to have mercy on their souls, some snore loudly, some snore silently but drool a lot, and their brain starts shutting down etc. So I give them a break every hour and I do activities where they move around or do case studies or presentations just to get the brain to learn a different way and to give the brain a rest. You won’t learn if you are completely tired or if you don’t give yourself a break! Students fail to realize those breaks make those 45 minutes in between much more efficient. For example, lets say you have those 6 hours as above and you are studying for Pharmacology, Infectious Disease, Anatomy and Pathology (the dreaded test you didn’t do well on the first one and there are only two for that course) and you are one of the ones whose brains are fresh in the beginning. then your study should look like this:
• Pathology 12p -1p (break 1:15-1:30p)
• Pathology 1:30 – 2:30 (break 2:30 – 2:45p)
• Pharmacology 2:45p- 3:45p (break 3:45p-4:00p)
• Infectious Disease 4p- 5p (break 5p – 5:15)
• Anatomy 5:15-6:15p
• PRIORITIZE AND ORGANIZE TO MAXIMIZE the time you have by using it more efficiently. In other words if you decide you have 6 hours of study time (I know I know how often does that happen) and you have 4 exams that week and you are going to study every day, do 2 hours of the exam coming first and then an hour for the other exams. As the exam passes and you have new material, then always re prioritize which should get more of your time. A big mistake students make is using all 6 hours to study all the material in one exam and that will hurt your scores in the other exam. Some people prefer to set aside the most important topics in the beginning when the brain is freshest or some at the end (because they retain what they look at last better). You have to figure out which type you are to maximize the learning. Now you didn’t hear this from me, but for those who are caught in a hairy predicament. the have fallen behind and you have 4 exams this week but 3 of them counts for the same class and you have lets say 6 exams in that course that count to your final grade but the 4th exam you have that week is for a course that only has 2 exams and you didn’t do well on the first one (and if you don’t pass the second one, you will have to take a remedial or fail the course), then you need to prioritize that exam so that in the long run you are in better academic standing. If you don’t do as well on an exam where getting a bad grade in the long run won’t affect your overall score then you have to think about the long-term. Again you didn’t hear it from me and if you did all the things that I mentioned before, you wouldn’t find yourself in that dark, dark place.

• GET SOME ZZZ’S TO GET SOME AAA’S: Another big mistake students make is to study all through the night and go to the exam with only 2 hours of sleep. While this strategy may work for very few and far between, fatigue means you are more likely to make smaller mistakes and your brain won’t function at its peak when you are sleepy. Do you want a sleep bus driver driving you to PA school??? Probably not (unless you want to use the excuse the bus accident delayed you from taking the exam). You should be well rested so you can perform at your best on the exam.

• STUDY GROUPS ARE NOT THE TIME TO STUDY…WELL SORT OF: Study groups are not for everyone. Many people do better studying on their own. But if you decide that study groups are good for you (which many are, you also have to maximize what you get out of that. Though it is called a study group, most of your studying should have been done before you go to the group. You want to be able to contribute to the group and if someone doesn’t understand a concept, you may be able to explain it in a way that they can get it. in you explaining it, you reinforce that concept in your head. Also since you studied, you know which issues you need help with to pinpoint your focus in the group. And no one likes that person who is slowing down the group because they are trying to write down everything being said because they have no clue what is going on. Make sure the socializing is limited. It is a study group not a social group. No talking about TV or who is hottest guy or girl in the PA class etc. That cuts into study time. Quiz each other, break up tasks areas and assign each person so they can tackle a subject and quiz each other make up some scenarios to apply the information you learned clinically. When a question is answered wrong, try to help explain why it was wrong to help each other learn. Sometimes you think you understand a topic until you get a question wrong sand you realize that you may not have totally understood a key concept that you thought. Plus, students discussing topics may have made you realize there was key area that you missed but them discussing it brings your attention to that detail.

FINAL THOUGHTS FOR THE FINALS

• EXPERIMENT
• Not all technique works for all people – find which ones works for you
• If you try a technique and it works, use it
• If it doesn’t work, assess if it needs to be utilized better, altered or changed
• Don’t become too discouraged, it takes time to get an effective

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