Playing catch-up.....and forming new beginnings

Well, I'll be the first to admit that I've sorely neglected my blog these past few months, between clinical rotations, getting sick/having surgery 2x in November, and pushing through the last of clinic, taking my 3rd year comprehensive exams, and getting ready for graduation. 

Shortly, this blog will turn into my experiences as a newly minted PA....and what it's like to do a PA Surgical Residency.  Somewhere in the past 5 months of being absent from the blogosphere, I applied, interviewed, and got accepted to the Yale/Norwalk Surgical Residency program!  

After falling in love with surgery during my 2nd year, I'd started researching the possibility of doing a surgical residency.  One of our faculty members had completed the Yale residency upon graduation, and loved it....and after speaking with her about her experiences, I decided that the only program I'd apply to would be the Yale program, given its long history, its very organized format incorporating both lecture/didactic curricula (morning lectures, teaching rounds, and intermittent anatomy, surgical technology, pathology, microbiology, and animal surgery sessions at the Yale school of medicine throughout the year), and clinical time into the experiences.  Norwalk Hospital does not have MD surgical residents there, so we won't have to compete for OR time when we operate there.  The SICU and post-op recovery units are staffed entirely by PAs, both residents and staff PAs, so again, we get the comprehensive experience without being lower on the proverbial totem pole.  We rotate through the different surgical services (general, ortho, plastic/reconstructive, neurosurgery, trauma, GU, Ob/GYN, SICU, and cardiothoracic/vascular), and also have 2 months for elective choices.  I'm incredibly excited for this opportunity to learn more, greatly improve my experiences and skills in the operating room, and become well-versed in inpatient medical care.  I'm also terrified, and have a constant feeling of nervous butterflies, now that the initial excitement of being accepted has turned into reality of moving across the country in 3 months.

For now, I am focusing on presenting my master's project this week, looking forward to seeing family, friends, and old teachers at graduation, and starting my last clinical rotation in June (Ob/Gyn in Denver; back to a month of deliveries, surgeries, and spending time in my favorite clinical setting).  I couldn't imagine a more perfect way to finish PA school than with an elective that will truly be amazing!  I cannot wait!