Clinical Rotations & Rotation Exams for Physician Assistant School

Physician Assistant Clinical Rotations

Updated: 09/17/2018

After you have endured the didactic phase of your physician assistant education, you’ll be on to bigger and better things, like your clinical phase! Generally, students participate in a variety of rotations including private, public, inpatient, and outpatient care. Rotations will vary in duration and lodging accommodations vary from program to program, although most programs allow 4-8 weeks for each rotation. Most programs have 7-9 required rotations and 1 to 2 elective rotations with one or more being in a rural or underserved area. Students in some programs are required to log each patient care experience and to complete evaluations at the end of each clinical rotation site. Below are a few resources (online resources listed first, then texts for each) for the most common rotations and ideas for common elective rotations.

Agency for Research and Healthy Quality (ARHQ ePSS) phone/tablet apps - identifies preventive services necessary for each individual patient based on age and gender, etc.

Maxwell Quick Medical Reference - FOR ANY ROTATION

Family Medicine Rotation

Primary care, ambulatory medicine, general practice, community health, hospice, palliative medicine, and rural medicine are all included under this category
American Academy of Family Physicians - Practice Question Bank

• Click “Start Now” to create an account
• Free for students, takes ~3 days to register/verify your account
• Indicate you are a PA student

The Family Practice Notebook - great resource for any rotation, with phone app available

Family Medicine Topic List (2018)

Family Medicine Blueprint (2018)

Primary Care Study Guide

Family Medicine Turkey Book (credit to The PA Life and UW Medicine)
US Preventative Services Task Force Pocket Guide (2014)

Emily Cooper’s Family Medicine Clerkship Resources

Family Medicine - What to Expect - includes some handouts

Diabetes, Asthma, Other Cheat Sheets

• Asthma Care Quick Reference - diagnosing and managing asthma
• CDC Prediabetes Screening Test - for patients
• Orthopedics Cheat Sheet
• PT Home Exercise Handouts
• University of Wisconsin’s Dermatology Tutorial

Medical Texts

• First Aid for the Family Medicine Boards by Le, Mendoza, and Coffa
• Family Practice Examination and Board Review by Graber and Wilbur
• Blueprints Family Medicine by Lipsky and King (recommended)
• Swanson’s Family Medicine Review by Tallia, Scherger, and Dickey
• Textbook of Family Medicine by Rakel
• Primary Care Secrets Edition by Mladenovic
• Specialty Board Review: Family Practice by Yuh-Ting
• The Color Atlas of Family Medicine by Usatine et al.
• Primary Care for Physician Assistants: Self-Assessment and Review by Moser
• Essentials of Family Medicine by Sloane

Apps

• ICD-9 Consult 2014 - Free download, $4.99 upgrade

Internal Medicine Rotation

This includes allergy/immunology, ambulatory medicine, cardiology, adolescent medicine, critical care medicine, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine, hematology, infectious disease, nephrology, oncology, pulmonology, and rheumatology as dictated by the American College of Osteopathic Internists and the American Board of Internal Medicine
Internal Medicine Study Guide

Internal Medicine Turkey Book (credit to The PA Life and UW Medicine)

Colorectal Cancer Guidelines

Joint National Committee’s Criteria Physician Reference Card

Clinical Cases and Images - NEJM

Internal Medicine Topic List (2018)

Internal Medicine Exam Blueprint (2018)

Emily Cooper’s Internal Medicine Clerkship Resources

History and Physical

Rounding Report Template

• First sheet - use during your admission H&P
• Subsequent sheets - for tracking daily progress, labs, changes, and plan

History & Physical Template

• Complete with headings for reminders of what to ask during the interview

Strokes

• ABCD-2 Score for assessing TIA risk
• NIH Stroke Scale
• Joint Commission Stroke Core Measures

Pneumonia - when to admit?

• CURB-65 Calculator

Acid-Base Resources

• Acid, Base, and ABG Handout
• VBG/ABG Pocket Reference Card

Miscellaneous

• AGS Beers Criteria Pocket Card - inappropriate meds for geriatric patients
• Hunt and Hess Scale for Acute Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (aSAH)

Medical Texts

• Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine (recommended)
• Step Up to Medicine (recommended)
• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine by Fauci et al. (recommended)
• Master the Boards: Internal Medicine by Fischer
• Blueprints Medicine by Young et al.
• Medicine Recall by Bergin
• First Aid for the Medicine Clerkship by Kaufman, Stead, and Rusovici
• Essentials of Clinical Geriatrics, 7e by Kane et al.

Pediatrics Rotation

Pediatric Topic List (2018)

Pediatric Exam Blueprint (2018)

Study Guides

• Pediatric Study Guide
• Pediatrics Turkey Book

Supplemental Resources & Cases

• Merck Manual - Pediatrics
• Case-Based Pediatrics
• Pediatric Emergency Manual
• PedsCases.com - 100,000 podcasts on iTunes
• Emily Cooper’s Pediatric Clerkship Resources

Immunizations

• 2015 Recommended Immunizations for Children (Birth-6 years) - for patients
• CDC Recommended Immunizations for persons 0-18
  

Wellness Visit Information

• Well-Child Check Template (Infant, adolescent, and acute problem visits)
• Well-Child Check Handouts
• Medical Checkup Periodicity Schedule - Texas

Developmental Screening Tests

• Developmental Milestones by Age

• Denver Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire II
• Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3rd Edition - for people on Medicaid; standardized in more patients; better test
• Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT)
• ACMG Newborn Genetic Screening Practice Guidelines
• TB Questionnaire

Medical Texts

• First Aid for the Pediatrics Clerkship by Stead, Kaufman, and Waseem
• Blueprints Pediatrics by Marino and Fine (recommended)
• The Harriet Lane Handbook by Johns Hopkins Hospital, Arcara, and Tschudy (recommended)
• Manual of Pediatric Therapeutics by Graef
• Nelson Essentials of Pediatrics by Marcdante et al.
  

Emergency Medicine Rotation
Emergency Medicine Study Guide

The ABCs of Emergency Medicine

Emergency Medicine Turkey Book

Emergency Medicine History & Physical Template

EKG Pocket Guide

EKG Quizzes

Rule of Nines Burn Estimation Quick Reference Card

• SageDiagram.com - tells you how much IV fluid to give burn patient based on height and weight

Yale’s Cranial Nerve Learning Resource

Emergency Medicine Topic List (2018)

Emergency Medicine Exam Blueprint (2018)

Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain (SOAPP)

ERcast.org

EMCrit Blog

Medical Texts

• Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide by Tintinalli et al. (recommended)
• Essential Clinical Procedures by Dehn and Asprey
• Emergency Medicine Secrets by Markovchick et al
• First Aid for the Emergency Medicine Clerkship by Stead and Kaufman
• Blueprints Emergency Medicine by Mick et al. (recommended)
• The Atlas of Emergency Medicine by Knoop et al.
• CURRENT Diagnosis and Treatment Emergency Medicine by Stone and Humphries

Medical Apps

• 10 Second EM - less than $5
• WikEM - free
• EMRA (Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association) Antibiotic Guide 2013/2014 - $15.99
• Tox Toolbox - Free toxicology reference; unavailable for iPhone
• Top 25 Toxins is a list of the most common toxins in America and provides drop-down information on symptoms, clinical pearls and treatment pitfalls
• Epocrates - Free drug reference

Women’s Health Rotation
Occasionally referenced as women’s health or ob/gyn (obstetrics and gynecology) rotations.

Women’s Health EOR Topic List (2016)

Women’s Health EOR Exam Blueprint (2016)

APGO uWISE self-exam - free practice questions for the EOR exam

ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Practice Bulletins

Obstetric Examination

Normal Uterine Sizing, Uterine Anatomy

Fetal Presentation, Fontanelles and Sutures, Fetal Station

Cardinal Movements of Labor, Hand Maneuvers, Steps to Overcome Shoulder Dystocia, APGAR Scoring

Leopold’s Maneuvers

Electronic Fetal Monitoring, Practice

Obstetrics Resources

• Bishop’s Score - cervical favorability
• Oxytocin Protocol for induction of labor

Study Guides

• Ob/gyn Study Guide
• Ob/Gyn Turkey Book

Supplemental Resources

• Pregnancy Wheel - determine due date
• Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) - contemporary terminology
• Screening Tests and Vaccines for Women
• Drugs Contraindicated in Pregnancy
• ASCCP Algorithms for Cervical Cancer
• Breast Cancer Guidelines
• 2015 CDC STD Treatment Guidelines or print a quick wall chart or pocket guide for reference
• Contraception and Contraindications, Birth Control Methods Fact Sheet
• Things to Know on Your Ob/Gyn Clinical Rotation - Provided by the Association of Physician Assistants in Ob/Gyn
• Atlas of Pelvic Surgery
• Emily Cooper’s Ob/Gyn Clerkship Resources
• Amy’s Study Quick Gynecology Review - $9.99

Useful Resources for Patients

• Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP form) - calendar for PMS/PMDD

Medical Texts

• Recommended Texts
• Williams Obstetrics by Cunningham, Gant, Leveno, Gilstrap, Hauth and Wenstrom (personal favorite)
• Williams Gynecology
• Obstetrics and Gynecology Survival Guide by Wright
• Essentials of Obstetrics and Gynecology by Hacker, Gambone, and Hobel
• Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology by DeCherney, Nathan, Goodwin, Laufer, and Roman
• Obstetrics and Gynecology by Beckmann
• Free Ob/Gyn Study Books (DropBox)
• Basic Gynecology and Obstetrics by Gant and Cunningham
• Ob/Gyn Recall by Bourgeois
• First Aid for the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship by Kaufman et al.
• Case Files Obstetrics and Gynecology by Toy, Baker III, Ross, and Jennings
• Blueprints Obstetrics and Gynecology by Callahan and Caughey
• Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility: Handbook for Clinicians by Gordon et al.
• Managing Contraceptive Pill Patients by Dickey

Quick References

• Pocket OB/GYN by Naylor

Medical Phone Apps

• ASCCP Mobile App - contains an easy input/output algorithm for cervical cancer screening guidelines (highly recommend this)
• Griffith’s 5 Minute Clinical Consult - Free
• $99.99 in app-purchase
• Pregnancy Due Date & Fertility Calculator, Tools and Baby Kick App - Free

Psychiatry Rotation

Also known as “behavioral medicine,” mental health, or “psych” rotations.
Psychiatry EOR Topic List (2016)

Psychiatry EOR Exam Blueprint (2016)

Study Guides

• Psychiatry Study Guide
• Psychiatry Turkey Book
• Psychiatry Clinical Pearls
• Psychiatry Drug Cheat Sheet
• DSM IV Mnemonics, Mental Health Acronyms

SOAP Note Writing

• University of Utah Psych Evaluation - this site is helpful for writing psych notes/follow-ups, and is especially useful when you can’t think of descriptors to use in psychiatry
• Psychiatry History & Physical/Intake Note, Psychiatry Cheat Sheet 3
• Psychiatry Progress Note, Mental Status Exam & Global Assessment Cheat Sheet
• Psychiatry Cheat Sheet 1, Psychiatry Cheat Sheet 2
• DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale

Other

• Emily Cooper’s Psychiatry Clerkship Resources
• American Psychiatric Association Clinical Practice Guidelines

Psychiatric Assessments

• Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
• Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) for delirium
• Mini Cog
• MMSE
• MOCA - dementia
• Epworth Sleepiness Scale - OSA
• Mallampati Scoring System
• Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI)
• Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale (COWS)
• Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS)
• CIWA-Ar (Alcohol withdrawal)
• CAGE Questionnaire - alcoholism
  

Medical Texts

• Psychiatry PreTest Self-Assessment and Review (personal favorite)
• First Aid for the Psychiatry Clerkship by Stead, Kaufman, and Yanofski
• Blueprints Psychiatry by Murphy et al.
• Case Files Psychiatry by Toy and Klamen
• Clinical Psychiatry Essentials by Roberts, Hoop, and Heinrich
• Behavioral Sciences and Outpatient Medicine for the Boards and Wards by Ayala
  

General Surgery Rotation
Also known as general surgery or plainly, “surgery” rotations. Subspecialty elective surgery rotations including cardiothoracic and neurosurgery are not included under this category, but these resources may be helpful for such rotations.

Recommended Study Guides

• General Surgery Study Guide
• General Surgery Turkey Book
• Basic Post-Op Management
• Review of Surgical Symptoms
• General Surgery EOR Topic List (2016)
• General Surgery EOR Exam Blueprint (2016)
• Emily Cooper’s Surgery Clerkship Resources

Notes

• General Surgery Progress Note

Assessment and Evaluation Tools

• Opioid Risk Tool & Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain (SOAPP)
• Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk and the Norton Scale
• Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tool and NPAUP’s Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing
• NPAUP’s Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers: Quick Reference Guide
• Lund and Browder Chart for Burn Classification

Practice Questions

• Wise-MD

Skills

• Basic Suturing Technique - Sim Vivo YouTube Videos
• Scrubbing & Sterile Technique
• Introduction to Suturing & Surgery
  

Medical Texts

• Surgical Recall by Blackbourne (personal favorite, must have)
• Covers almost any pimp question you might get on almost any topic, but very bare to the bones, and I would not recommend this alone
• Schwartz’s Principles of Surgery, 10e (personal favorite)
• The Surgical Review: An Integrated Basic and Clinical Science Study Guide (personal favorite)
• Good for a solid review of the corresponding anatomy and simplified review of each surgery, including types, indications, contraindications, and most common complications
• Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Surgery, 14e
• Step-Up to Surgery by Zaslau
• Essentials of General Surgery by Lawrence et al.
• Blueprints Surgery by Karp and Morris
• First Aid for the Surgery Clerkship by Kaufman et al.
• Surgical Techniques: Textbook for Medical Students
• The Mont Reid Surgical Handbook by Berry

Recommended Apps

• Human Anatomy Atlas
• $24.99 with various in-app animation pack purchases

Neurology Elective Rotation Resources

• Stroke Trials App (iPhone) - great resource with articles on almost any topic related to strokes

Medical Texts

• Neurological Examination Made Easy, 4th Edition
• Rowan’s Primer of EEG, 2nd Edition
• Practical Neurology, 4th Edition

Infectious Disease Rotation Resources

• Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Practice Guidelines
• P450 Drug Interaction Table
• Antibiograms, MIC and Sensitivity Interpretation
• ID Stewardship Blog

Medical Texts

• Infectious Diseases A Clinical Short Course, 3rd Edition
• Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy
• Antibiotics Simplified

Pain Management Resources
Patient Reported Outcomes Surveys for Pain:

• Pain Disability Questionnaire
• McGill Pain Questionnaire
• PROMIS-29 Form - this site tells you which forms to use and are specific to patient complaints
• Oswestry Neck Disability
• Opioid Risk Tool & Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain (SOAPP)
• D.I.R.E Score - Free
• Predicts long term safety and sustainability of chronic opioid prescription for a patient based on their history and situation
  

Clinical Elective Rotations
There are so many choices for elective rotations, although your program may only offer a handful of these listed below. In addition, I’ve listed a few international and domestic rotations you might not have heard about. Some of these I’ve found links for online, but others are just listed from PAEA’s survey of students who have done international rotations. Some of these sites may now be inactive. If you have any to add to the list, please leave them in the comments below! Additionally, as a resource, you may check out the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. You can also join PAs for Global Health for $15.

• International Opportunities
• Africa
• Elective Africa
• Kenya, Kenya
• Tanzania
• Uganda, Uganda, Makerere University
• Malawi
• Rural Health Training School
• Ghana, Ghana
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Madagascar
• Rwanda
• South Africa
• Zambia
• Asia/Indian Subcontinent
• Cambodia
• China
• India
• Philippines
• Thailand
• Himalayan HealthCare
• Nepal
• Australia/South Pacific
• Australia
• Guam
• Papua New Guinea
• Caribbean
• Dominican Republic
• St. Lucia
• Central/North/South America
• Belize
• Canada
• Costa Rica
• El Salvador
• Guatemala, Guatemala
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Child Family Health International
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Ecuador
• India
• Mexico
• Peru
• Alaska
• Mayo Clinic Clinical Rotation- Arizona
• Mayo Clinic Clinical Rotation - Florida
• Mayo Clinic Clinical Rotation - Minnesota
• Eastern Europe/Northern Asia
• Ukraine
• Western Europe
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• Adolescent Medicine Rotation
• Allergy/Immunology Rotation
• Ambulatory Medicine Rotation
• Bariatric Surgery Rotation
• Cardiology Rotation
• Cardiothoracic Surgery Rotation
• Critical Care Rotation
• Dermatology Rotation
• Emergency Medicine Rotation
• Endocrinology Rotation
• Gastroenterology Rotation
• Geriatrics Rotation
• Hematology Rotation
• Infectious Disease Rotation
• Inpatient Medicine Rotation
• Internal Medicine Rotation
• Nephrology Rotation
• Neurology Rotation
• Neurosurgery Rotation
• Oncology Rotation
• MD Anderson - Oncology Rotation
• Ophthalmology Rotation
• Orthopedics Rotation
• Pediatrics Rotation
• Pediatric Surgery Rotation
• Plastic Surgery Rotation
• Radiology Rotation
• Rheumatology Rotation
• Surgery Rotation
• Trauma Rotation
• Women’s Health Rotation
• Urology Rotation

Physician Assistant Rotation Exams

During each of your rotations, you’ll need to study for the PANCE in addition to your Rotation Exams. The Physician Assistant Education Association® created an exam used to assess student progress and facilitate program evaluation in the clinical phase. End of Rotation examinations were first released in January 2013 and only 25% of PA programs originally purchased them according to PAEA. Currently, PAEA states that over 90 PA programs nationwide are utilizing the exams.

While programs are not currently required to purchase these exams and use them for evaluation, they can provide less workload for faculty, provide increased test security, allow for student performance comparison across programs’ clinical phases, and can familiarize the student with the test taking environment of the PANCE.

Pitfalls of the EOR are that they are new, scores might be lower than “in-house” produced exams, faculty cannot view the exam content, and they are somewhat expensive to incorporate, especially for smaller programs. Programs may still opt to use their own “in-house” exams for rotation evaluation. For example, some programs utilize ExamMaster for evaluation in addition to writing assignments and preceptor evaluations. You can read about other program evaluations here. Generally, it seems that schools are giving you two chances to pass the EOR. If you fail the second time, you must repeat the entire rotation or undergo some remediation process. You can view a preview of the policy at East Carolina University, here.

These 120 multiple-choice question, peer-reviewed exams utilize relevant up-to-date information following content blueprints and topic lists for each of the specific rotations mentioned above. The exam is divided into 2 sections of 60 questions with 60 minutes allotted for each.

Programs are allowed to break up the exams with 5, 10, or 15-minute breaks. In addition to the topic and blueprints above, a Core Tasks and Objectives Learning Supplement is also included in the requirements for each rotation. Further, PAEA goes on to say that “comparative data is reported on specific test forms and not across test forms, and the exam forms may not necessarily have the same difficulty level.” Thus, each rotation’s exam may vary in difficulty and passing or average scores will vary. Only the performance of students who have taken the same exam version should be compared. The exam also includes 20 unscored questions, but which questions are not disclosed to the examinee.

The cost of each EOR exam currently $30 per exam, per student for each of the 7 exams.

A sample exam is posted on PAEAs website.

SELF STUDY RESOURCES:

Help Campus (same as Help Zebra and also known as Hancock)

• 4,200+ questions

• 3 Months of access - $324.95
• 6 Months of access - $399.95
• 12 Months of access - $400.95
• 15 Months of access - $549.95
• Davis PA Review included with every subscription

Kaplan’s PANCE/PANRE Qbank

• 1,200+ questions and explanations
• One month subscription: $99
• 12 month subscription: $199

Hippo PANCE/PANRE Board Review for the Physician Assistant

• $495
• 12 months of access
• 5% off promo code: AAPA2day

StudyQuick Complete PANCE Review

• $75.99

PANCE Master

• 1,300+ questions
• $55
• Subscription lasts until your exam

Exam Master

• $19.99 for 60 days
• 300 questions and explanations

McGraw-Hill’s PA Easy

• 1,200 Questions+
• 1-Month Subscription: $79.00
• 3-Month Subscription: $139.00

Med-Challenger

• Free demo and savings coupon
• PANCE or PANRE prep: $795
• PANRE PLUS Lifetime Subscription: $1,900

DataChem CD

• 840 Questions
• 13 Topic Areas
• Individual License - $169

The Physician Assistant Life

• $19 for 1 month of access
• $26 for 1 year of access
• $23 for 3 months of access
• 1,125 PACKRAT board review questions (5 225-question exams)
• 5 Quizlet Flashcard sets (each with 225 questions)

INTERNET SOURCES:
AAPA’s Rotation Do’s and Do Not’s - page 8 and 9

PAST for Physician Assistant Programs - by TyphonGroup Healthcare Solutions

• Electronic student tracking system, including patient encounter logs and reports, an evaluation component for assessments, management of student rotation scheduling, student electronic portfolios, preceptor biographic databases, clinical site databases, curriculum mapping, and more.

Bryce Nelson PA-C’s, How to Study for the End of Rotation Exams

Surviving Clinical Rotations by Cynthia Booth Lord, MHS, PA-C

Organization on Rotations - PAForum

Physician Assistant Ed - How to Prepare for Your PA School Rotations 101

PA Grad Gal’s - Guide to Surviving Your First Rotation in Physician Assistant School

• Includes what to bring on your first day
• Questions you may be asked by preceptors
• How to present to a patient
• Tips

The Turkey Book - pocket guide to medical clerkship

Wal-Mart $4 Prescription List - helpful for patients of low-income or without insurance

P450 Drug Interaction Table - very helpful if you are ever considering a drug-drug interaction

ICD-9 Code Lookup - CMS

Emily Cooper’s Med-Source

• Anatomy Resources
• General Resources
• PDA Essentials

Physical Exam Skills - Dartmouth

• Year I
• Year II

MedFools ScutSheets

• H&P Cards and Forms
• Daily Rounding Logs
• Specific Sheets/Forms for each rotation

How to Read a Chest X-Ray

MedicalStudent.com

• Includes resources for every rotation

Pre-Physician Assistants - How to Succeed in PA School

Physician Assistant Exam Review’s Podcasts

UpToDate.com - clinical decision support resource

MedZoom - Links to medical websites

Brian Wallace’s Physician Assistant Exam Review

Delga Dowen’s PANCE Buzzword’s

List of Clinical Buzzwords

The Preceptor’s Handbook for Supervising Physician Assistants by Danielsen et al.

• Details the evaluation your preceptors will likely use to judge your clinical knowledge

PA School Clinical Year YouTube Video

• Rotation 1 - General Surgery

JNC7 Pocketguide for Hypertension Guidelines

General Books for Any Rotation:

Maxwell Quick Medical Reference by Maxwell

Bates’ Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking by Bickley

The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics by Godara

St-Frances Guide: Clinical Clerkship in Inpatient Medicine by Saint

Ferri’s Best Test by Ferri

Ferri’s Differential Diagnosis by Ferri

Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia 2014 by Hamilton

Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy by Gilbert, Moellering, and Eliopoulos

Appleton and Lange’s Outline Review for the Physician Assistant Examination by Simon and Miller

Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 2014 by Papadakis, McPhee, and Rabow

USMLE Step 2 Secrets, 4e by O’Connell

Master the Boards USMLE Step 2 CK by Fischer

First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CK, 8th Edition by Le and Bhushan

Pharmacology for the Boards and Wards by Ayala

Physician Assistant: a Guide to Clinical Practice by Sullivan, Brown, and Vetrosky

Griffiths 5-minute Clinical Consult by Dambro

Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology, 5e by Harvey et al.

Clinical Pharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple by Olson
Bakerman’s ABC’s of Interpretive Laboratory Data by Bakerman et al.

PHONE APPS:
CareZone - Free app that allows your patients to scan in their medications from their bottles at home. It documents all information from the label and will remind patients (via alerts) to take their medications to increase compliance. It also reminds them when their refills are expiring and provides them with the phone number of the prescribing provider so they can call to request a refill or an appointment. Patients can keep a journal with information and photos about their progress with new medications to show providers. Very useful app in my opinion!

• Android
• iPhone

Canopy Medical Translator - Very useful app for wards to communicate with patients in languages other than Spanish. It has pre-recorded phrases for each specialty (emergency medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, etc.) that are specific. It programs your school’s or work’s translator phone service into the app so you can easily press “call” and it dials the number for you if you can’t communicate what you need to.

• Android
• iPhone
• Code: aapavip

ASCVD Risk Estimator - the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association present this helpful app to determine your patient’s 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)

• Android
• iPhone

MELD Calculator - Used to determine a patient’s eligibility for liver transplant.

• Android
• iPhone

MyNetDiary - This app lets patients keep track of their daily calorie intake and also provides an area to track the amount of physical activity per day. It is pretty accurate and lets patients set their own goals (maintain, lose, or gain weight). The app lets you know how many calories you have left for the day, calculating in your exercise each day. It can calculate specifics about your fat, saturated fat, vitamins, minerals, etc. consumed each day.

• Android
• iPhone

Best Review of Medical Apps by Houston Neal

Touch Surgery - Free

• Android
• Review

PA Toolbox by Medical Wizards - $28.99

• Android

Physician Assistant Exam Review McGraw-Hill - $49.99
PEPID - Free

• Android

Epocrates - Free drug content, $159.99 disease content

• Android

Skyscape - Free; In app purchases up to $129.99

• Android

BB Pocketcards - Free

• In app purchases up to $19.99

Stanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy - Free

• In app purchase up to $29.99

ICD-9 Consult 2014 - $4.99

Medical Eponyms - $1.99

Medscape by WebMD - Free

• Android

UpToDate - Free

• Android

AgileMD - Free

• Android

Micromedex - $2.99 annual subscription

• Android
• How to access for free

Diagnosaurus (McGraw-Hill) -$1.99

• Android

PANCE Flashcards - Lange - Free, Expansion Pack - $34.99

• Android

Physician Assistant LANGE Q&A - Free download, $49.99 for access

• Android
• Contains 1,211 questions from PAEasy.com

Physical Exam Essentials (HippoSoft) - $2.99

• Android

iTriage - Free

• Android

ErRes - $4.99

• Android

EMRA Antibiotic Guide - $15.99

• Android

Prognosis Your Diagnosis - Free

• Android

Physician Assistant Exam Review Podcast by Brian Wallace - Free

• Reviews of Podcasts

Physician Assistant Rotation Blogs:

Below is a list of student blogs from various physician assistant programs across the nation (and international) that have written about their experiences in the clinical phase. I’ve done my best to go through each one and highlight what rotations they talk about so you can hand pick which blogs to read.

Pre-Physician Assistant Blog - Various schools represented

• Various rotations referenced

Life of a PA - South University PA Program

• Orthopaedics
• Psychiatry
• Pediatrics
• Ob/gyn

Timothy Loerke - The University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth

• Emergency Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Ob/gyn
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Surgery
• Underserved Medicine
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Inpatient Medicine

Jenna Lombardi - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

• Emergency Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Family Medicine
• Internal Medicine
• Primary Care
• Surgery
• Ob/gyn
• Pediatrics

Bianca Belcher - Northeastern PA Program

• Emergency Medicine
• Ob/gyn
• Critical Care
• Surgery
• Orthopaedics
• Psychiatry

Snow Feng - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

• Surgery

Jen Pilchman - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

• Emergency Medicine
• Surgery
• Dermatology
• Behavioral Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Pediatrics
• Internal Medicine

PA Student Life

• Infectious Disease
• Primary Care
• Pediatrics
• Surgery
• Emergency Medicine
• Internal Medicine

Harrison Reed - Yale University PA Program

• Ob/gyn
• Surgery
• Pediatrics
• Emergency Medicine
• Psychiatry

PA Student W  

• Internal Medicine
• Surgery
• Surgical ICU
• Orthopedic Trauma Surgery
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Emergency Medicine
• Ob/gyn

DJ and the PA Journey - Pacific University Oregon

• Emergency Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Surgery
• Primary Care
• Women’s Health

Irene Gung Ho - Barry University

• Psychiatry
• Internal Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Ob/gyn
• Surgery
• Pediatrics

Ashleigh - The Life of a Physician Assistant

• Psychiatry
• Emergency Medicine
• Surgery
• Pediatrics

Memo Sanchez - George Washington University

• Pediatrics
• Surgery

Katie Swan - University of Colorado PA Program

• Ob/gyn
• Surgery
• Pediatrics
• Orthopedics
• Endocrinology

Chase Hungerford - University of Southern California Primary Care PA Program

• Emergency Medicine

Paul Kubin - University of California Davis

• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Inpatient Hospital
• Outpatient Primary Care

Physician Assistant Ed - Various schools represented

• Internal Medicine
• Family Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Cardiology
• How to Prepare for Rotations 101

Anne Dang - McMaster University PA School

• Orthopaedics
• Internal Medicine
• Surgery

Eden Jerao-Shedden - University of Manitoba PA School

• Ob/gyn
• Family Medicine/Primary Care
• Pediatrics
• Orthopedics
• Emergency Medicine

Tree Marsoobian

• Internal Medicine
• Ob/gyn
• Family Medicine
• Primary Care
• Psychiatry
• Emergency Medicine
• Surgery

Music and Medicine

• Emergency Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Geriatrics
• Pediatrics
• Ob/gyn

Becoming a Physician Assistant

• Inpatient Medicine
• Orthopedics
• Surgery
• Internal Medicine
• Pediatrics
• Hospitalist
• Emergency Medicine
• Ob/gyn
• Psychiatry
• Family Practice

Credits and References:

Huge credit goes out to The Running PA!

Emily Cooper - Med Source

PA Student Essentials

PAEA

PAGH

http://www.paeaonline.org/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/154255

Free Medical Texts for any rotation provided by our friendly medical residents