Didactic Year: Semester Two

Second semester is over! Yay! Now I can relax a little for the next couple of days.

We wrapped up second semester on August 25th. They aren't lying when they say, PA school goes by quickly. It's probably because you're always so busy you're not realizing months are going by. This semester was from the start of May to the end August. 

Second semester coursework included Pharmacology, Anatomy & Physiology, Pathophysiology, Clinical Medicine, Physical Diagnosis, Clinical Skills, Lab Diagnostics, EKG, Behavioral Medicine and Genetics for a total of 29 credit hours.  

The skills from second semester included: general suturing, advanced suturing, female/male UA catheterization, intubation/airway management. We also learned to perform thorough Pulmonary, Cardiac, Female Pelvic/Pap, and Male GU physical exams. 

The class that I was most concerned about was EKG. I think I convinced myself that the class would be tough and ended up second guessing myself a lot. Also this class was on the same day as Pharm exams, so the night before I would focus more on Pharm and not be as prepared as I liked for the EKG quiz that occurred right after the Pharm exam. Which probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to do, because Pharm was one of my easier classes. 

Overall, my study methods were a little more relaxed this semester. I tried not to stress as much about my schoolwork and actually ended up doing better despite my decrease in study time. 

After taking 65 exams, second semester had finally come to an end. Now I have 1 semester remaining of DIEdactic year before starting clinical rotations! 

       "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work" -Colin Powell