Anatomy Tips and Tricks for Physician Assistant Students

Anatomy can be a doosey for everyone, so don't let it get you down if you're having trouble. A few mnemonics and acronyms can be your savior if you are really struggling. Just make sure you have them straight and practice saying them out loud. Remember that sometimes, the most silly or inappropriate mnemonics or acronyms can help you recall the toughest things! Be creative and have fun with anatomy, it will help it stick. Some of my acronyms and mnemonics may not be helpful or useful to you if you don't understand them, so try making your own. When in doubt, draw it out! Drawing vasculature or nerves from beginning to end can take some time, but can be worth it in the long run. Typically, I would draw out sections of vasculature or nerves and then go to the lab to identify them. It really helped me solidify relationships.

When I was in anatomy, I would read the lab manual the night before, taking notes on things I thought were important for the lecture test. To my surprise, much of what I originally thought were minor details, were actually very helpful in locating structures for the lab exam. Knowing relationships between structures can aid your learning in anatomy, because if you can find landmarks like nerves, vessels, or bony structures, you can often figure out what something is.

For your practical, if your school offers any old exams, you might make a list of all of the terms that have been tested on in the past and their occurrence. You and your classmates might also join Quizlet and start your own flashcard deck. Our class created decks for each exam that helped to quiz when the lab was closed. Creating tables with muscle origins, insertions, and actions will also help reinforce your learning. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work!

If you have anything to add to this list, please leave it in the comments section below. Thank you all for reading! Much thanks to the UT Southwestern PA Class of 2015 for their help.

Helpful Links

• Free Online Anatomy Practicals
• Virtual Cadaver Lab
• BioDigital Human
• The Skeleton Dance - for help with bony landmarks
• Shoulder Articulations
• Brachial Plexus Parody
• Drawing the Brachial Plexus in 37.6 Seconds

Upper Body

• Suprascapular nerve/artery with the superior transverse scapular ligament (bridge)
• Army goes over the bridge, Navy goes under it
• = Artery superior to ligament, Nerve inferior to ligament

Physician Assistant Scope of Practice Laws by State

Thanks to Barton Associates (the locum tenens experts) and AAPA, an interactive guide to physician assistant practice laws was created detailing the ins and outs of each state. It offers a very good overview of the laws restricting or enhancing the profession by state and region (northwest, midwest, southeast, etc.). It highlights Six Key Elements, decided by AAPA. They are 6 elements that should be part of every state PA practice act. To learn more about each element, review AAPA's State Law Issues Brief.

1. "Licensure" as the regulatory term
2. Full prescriptive authority
3. Scope of practice determined at the practice level
4. Adaptable supervision requirements
5. Chart co-signature requirements determined at the practice
6. Number of PAs a physician may supervise determined at the practice level

For AAPA members, you can also view this interactive guide in tabular format or map format provided by AAPA.

Moonlighting, Locum Tenens, Concierge Medicine and Physician Assistants

Moonlighting for Physician Assistants

Updated: 08/06/2015

Moonlighting is by definition, “having a second job in addition to one’s regular employment.” While moonlighting is very popular amongst the physician community, physician assistants (PAs) may also find moonlighting useful to boost income sources and pay off student debt, or simply to increase the amount of experience in their current area of practice or another. As PA students are not yet certified in their clinical phase, they may not moonlight. However, if a PA-C wishes to moonlight as a resident or during a fellowship, they may legally provide medical care as licensed physician assistants. Currently, no survey shows the number of PAs who are moonlighting, but it seems that interest in these positions as secondary jobs are becoming more popular. Declining reimbursements and skyrocketing student loan interest rates seem to be the main drivers of this type of work, but it’s up to the PA to determine how much work is enough before they are burning themselves out.

According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), residents are restricted to 80-hour work weeks, averaged over a four-week period, inclusive of all in-house call activities and all moonlighting. This limit was created to enhance the education of residents while allowing for necessary rest, conducive to productive learning. However, there is no limit for currently practicing physician assistants (PA-C) that are not enrolled in a residency or fellowship program.

First Semester at UT Southwestern

Dear Readers,

I sincerely apologize for not having been as active as I was previously. Today I completed summer I at UT Southwestern. I can tell you all that it was no easy task. All of the rumors are true! While I definitely enjoyed my first semester here in Dallas, I have to say, it was probably the most difficult semester I've ever endured. Here is a snapshot into each course and my overall experience thus far. I hope you future PA's enjoy this post!

A look at a typical week in the first semester of PA school. This is Summer I at UTSW.