 the difference between didactic year and clinical year because it is such a massive difference and I'm finally starting to understand that in my second week of rotations. How's it going guys? Yes, this is Boris the PA. Yes, this is a totally different format from what I normally do. No, you can't see my face, but I promise it's still me. So I'm actually just leaving this one brewery. It's called Heritage Hill Farm or Heritage Hill Brewery. It's actually on this big farm in upstate New York and they got this little cafe there with this gorgeous view that you're looking at right now except obviously it's even better because it's up on a hill. And I think it's my new favorite study spot, especially now when like peak foliage season it's just the perfect place to study and then the people that own it are really nice. I actually got kind of distracted and ended up chatting with them for probably like an hour today. So now I gotta go home and keep studying but I'll take that as a win, not a loss. But anyway, so yeah, just really nice people. But anyway, it's just this great little study spot. You know, when there's people around you can put your headphones on but when it's quiet you can study. I don't know, how are you guys with studying? Like I know some people really like to just kind of lock themselves in their room and they like to just kind of like have it be totally silent. And then some people really like going to like the coffee shop or the library but then of course you can get distracted especially if you're with other people. So I think for me my optimum study spot where I get the most done is like a coffee shop. You know, coffee shop, library, whatever, something like that where there are people around but I do usually have my headphones on. So it's this weird dichotomy where it's so weird but it's like it's this weird combination of like being around people and feeling like you're not alone and then also feeling like they're probably like... One sec. And then feeling like they're occasionally looking at you so they're like keeping you accountable, you know? If you're just slacking off and you're staring into space or you're like watching YouTube or something instead of studying they might be judging you even though they're not. You know, they're strangers, they don't care what you do but it's just this like feeling in the back of your head that just goes like, oh, if I'm slacking off all these other people are gonna know so I better keep working and I better look like I'm working which means I better be working. So it's just this really interesting dynamic that for some reason just really works for me and I found that it works. It's been that way since post-bac. You know, when I actually learned how to study I think that the best way for me to study is just to be around a bunch of people but not really interacting with them unless I take a break and then it's nice to have the option to just chat with people and just kind of let go of whatever you're studying and just relax and figure out what they're doing and you know, what's going on in their lives just kind of take a break. So it's just, yeah. I think that's my favorite place to study. If anybody's watching this video still, first off, thank you. Second, let me know in the comments what your like favorite study spot is. What works best for you? Do you like to be alone? Do you like to be around a bunch of other people? I'm just curious and then you know, maybe people who watch my videos and are interested in study tips and study skills and stuff, you know, they might actually try some of your ideas out and they might say, hey, that works really well for me and then they might do well in school and then get into PA school and then their life is just gonna be freaking awesome. So yeah, do the world a favor, post a comment and tell everybody how you like to study what works best for you, things like that. Also, before I forget, look at this foliage. This is like peak foliage season in upstate New York and it's freaking beautiful. You know, I was gonna study for a little longer but I knew that I really wanted to record this video on my way home. I'm just trying out this mode of logging setup. I hope it works. I got this microphone that's in my helmet. It's actually kind of pressed against my cheek, a little uncomfortable, but it's a good microphone. I've tested it before so you shouldn't have too much wind noise and you get to see all this beautiful foliage as you're listening to my voice and learning all these great ideas about PA school and studying. So what do you think? Should I do more of these? This is kind of fun. You'll also notice that I'm gonna have to take some breaks and talking whenever I see a car or if there's a sharp turn or an intersection because you kind of have to focus. If any of you ride a motorcycle, you know that you're usually kind of chilling. You're just taking in the scenery, you know, looking at people's houses and stuff, just kind of like enjoying the scenery. But when something gets potentially dangerous, which every intersection is potentially dangerous, every car possibly pulling out is potentially dangerous, anything like that, you just kind of go into this mode where you have to 100% focus. And yeah, so that's what I'm gonna stop talking if anything like that happens. But I honestly think it might be the reason I really like motorcycles is because it just kind of gets you out of your head and it kind of forces you to focus on something because if you don't, you know, you're dead. So it's kind of a big motivator to just keep your eyes on the road, keep your hand on the throttle and just kind of keep your brain engaged and keeping yourself alive. And also it's just freaking exhilarating and you get to see the scenery and honestly, there's nothing better, it's just wonderful. And you might think that you've taken a scenic drive in a car and have seen like some beautiful scenery when you're in a car, but it's nothing like a motorcycle. It's not even close because everything's like 360 degrees all around you. You turn your head and there's some trees and then you turn your head and there's the houses. It's not like, oh, there's a part of the car and then there's a mirror and then there's like a sun visor and like, oh, there's all the switches, like in the car, like no, when you're on a motorcycle, it's just you. It's just you and the world and the scenery and also a lot of adrenaline because you're going kind of fast and it's just super fun. So yeah, I promise I'm not trying to sell you a motorcycle but I guess I'm trying to sell you a motorcycle as a lifestyle because it's just freaking awesome. I don't know if you can see on my left side here because my camera's on the right side of the helmet but if you can see on my left side, there's a really pretty lake. I'm actually kind of thinking of just taking this ride up the other way. So yeah, I'm doing that for you guys, by the way. Instead of just going straight home, I think I might turn around at the end of this road and then just take it the other way because this lake is gorgeous and you guys should see it. So anyway, what was I going to talk about when I was recording this? Again, for the four of you that are probably still watching this, I don't know if pre-PA students and stuff really like watching motor vlogs. If you guys are interested in just watching a guy ride a motorcycle and ramble his thoughts in his head. Oh, sharp turn. Oh, you got to love that side. Nice twisty road. Yeah. What was I saying? Hold on, I need to concentrate. Okay, that was really fun. Anyway, so yeah, if pre-PA people and medical people really want to watch a guy ride a motorcycle and then just ramble all the random thoughts in his head and occasionally maybe talk about PA school and medicine, like I guess this is your spot. No, not all my videos are gonna be like this, especially since the warm weather is quickly going away. Hang on, I'm gonna get off here and turn around and then I can take you on that little lake road because it is really pretty and I wanna show you guys. And also, I think the sun's going down in like half an hour or so. This is kind of our last hurrah, our last chance to do this. And I think next week's gonna rain. So honestly, this might be the last or one of the last times I'm gonna ride this bike this season and I'm really glad I get to test out this motor vlog setup and kind of do it with you guys because I just like sharing this stuff. Anything that I'm passionate about and really enjoy, just like sharing with people. I was really gonna book it, but then those guys came out of nowhere. Anyway, so yeah, what was I saying? Oh, okay, so the one thing I actually did wanna talk about PA school today, if any PA people are still left watching this video right now is I'm two weeks into my first rotation. Oh my God, that's so fun. I'm two weeks into my first rotation. It's actually women's health is my first rotation and I've come to a bit of an epiphany and I'm not gonna take the credit for it because I think my preceptor kind of pushed me towards realizing this. And yeah, like nothing I say here is remotely anything that you should take the heart, take it with a grain of salt. I'm just a second year student. Just started rotations and this is just kind of my thoughts. So I think that I've kind of realized that I should be thinking about my education a little bit differently in the second year than I was in the first. Look how freaking pretty this is. Look how amazing this foliage is here in upstate New York and then how pretty this lake is. If you can see it, you're about to see it probably better. But man, it's just freaking gorgeous up here. It is absolutely gorgeous up here. I really love it here. Look at that, look at that water and the foliage. Can't really call them mountains, I guess they're hills but they're really nice hills. It's just a really, really scenic area. Anyway, okay. So why do I think I should think differently about my education in the second year than I did in the first? So in the first year, you know, PA school is just one year of didactic unlike medical school, which is two. And so the biggest difference there is that in medical school, there's just a lot more theory. There's way more explanation for why things are the way that they are. And then you kind of see things that probably I'd say a higher level. You do definitely cover more disease processes than just different, like more and different information. But I think the biggest difference is there's more theory. You see things at a higher level, more complex, things like that. So you really understand why everything works, not just, hey, this works. Not like, hey, memorize, this is the disease, this is how it presents, and this is how you treat it. Okay, moving on. Like in med school, I think you go deeper than that. You go like, okay, here's exactly what's going on down to the cellular level of every single disease. And then this is how every drug works at the cellular level. And this is why it works for this disease. And you just, you see things at a higher level. And so in PA school, there's no time for that. So I do really appreciate that about the doctor's training, that it's so much more in depth. But because of reasons that I mentioned in other videos, it just wasn't for me to put in that kind of time into my medical career. So I still think PA is the route for me. But that being said, when things got really interesting, if I was really interested in the disease, I did kind of go use my own resources, go dig up information from different resources than I was getting in school to get kind of a deeper dive and really understand the theory behind certain diseases and certain drugs. But like I said, you don't have time to do that with everything, just the things I was really interested in. And so I honestly, for some reason, thought that second year was gonna be a little bit more like that. That you were gonna be with a preceptor and that you were gonna be seeing a patient and then they would have some certain disease or anything like that. And then you would just kind of like bounce ideas off each other with the preceptor and just kind of geek out. Like we like medicine, we really understand a lot of stuff now. Like let's just geek out about this person and like dig into their lab work. Like you do on house or any of the medical TV shows. And that just looked super fun. And I'm realizing that is TV. That is not medicine. That's not how medicine is practiced right now. Maybe in like some super elite diagnostic teams or something, like infectious disease or something like that, they might be sitting around in a room with a white board just bouncing ideas off each other with a stack of books. Yeah, maybe that happens. And then those folks are probably all MDs that have like 40 years of experience, the top of their field. Like, okay, yeah, maybe that happens. But in the trenches on the front lines of medicine, that's not what happens. Everything is kind of more condensed and everything is much more practical. I think is the word that I want to use, practical. So yeah, you still need to understand the disease processes. You have to know what the disease is before you can treat it. And then you need to know how to treat it. And, you know, take the risk factors and the social determinants of health and all that stuff that we learn in didactic year. You take that into account. You're not a machine, you know, you're not a robot, but it is still more practical than, you know what, I think I'm going to keep going because this is a really nice drive. Okay, yeah, it's just more practical. And what I mean by that is there's guidelines for most diseases, especially common ones. So for instance, like when I started preparing for my first rotation, basically all I did at first was I went through pansprout pearls and I went through the PAEA topics list for my end of rotation exam, my EOR, E-O-R. And so I basically just started studying those topics, you know, like everything out of pansprout pearls, things out of my PowerPoints from didactic, just kind of refreshing that and thought that like, hey, if I know, you know, a good amount of stuff about every one of these topics, like I should be good. And then I get there and then my preceptor goes, okay, that's good that you know that, but what do the guidelines say? How do we treat this? And I go, guidelines. And my preceptor goes, yeah, what about like the guidelines from the CDC or the guidelines from like the American College of Gynecology or anything like that, like whatever it is that they decide to use in that specific field or for that specific disease. And I go, oh, I don't really know how to look at the guidelines. I just know about this disease from all these classes and from my pansprout pearls book and from things like that. And my preceptor goes, yeah, you really need to know the guidelines and there's a reason for that. Why don't I just turn here? Yeah, how about that? Okay, man, these trees are gorgeous. Look at that. I really hope you can see these trees on the right. God, that's fun. Okay, where was I going with that? Anyway, so yeah, so the way that I thought medicine was practiced and then the way that I've seen it practiced. And I mean, obviously my preceptor has a ton of experience and my little fantasy of what medicine is supposed to look like is not correct. And the way that my preceptor practices is correct. So definitely I'm in the wrong. My preceptor's in the right. There is absolutely no argument about that. And they have a ton of experience. They've got decades of experience. They're very good at what they do. They're in high demand. So they are definitely a good clinician. I'm a second year student in their second week. So yeah, definitely what they say goes. And another thing about the guidelines, like with the amount of experience that my preceptor has, they've told me like sometimes I don't exactly follow the guidelines to the letter. Like for instance, one sort of screening that we talked about. One sec, let me just look around, make sure I'm not about to get hit by a car. Okay, I think we're good. Hold on, I just want to accelerate kind of fast here. Oh my God, this thing's fast. Okay, all right, let's try to stay legal here. There we go. God, this thing's fast. Geez. Okay, anyway. So yeah, so my preceptor even told me like, hey, the guidelines say we stop screening for this condition after a certain age, but in my experience, I've kept screening past that age because I think it makes sense. And then lo and behold, in 2020, they changed the guidelines and now they actually say, hey, you should screen for this condition beyond a certain age. And it's more patient specific. And so in that case, my preceptor goes, I've already been doing that. But that's when you want to be even more careful than the guidelines. I think where people get in trouble is when they want to be less careful than the guidelines. Let's say they want to see, let's say somebody has a clotting disorder and there's a certain medication that the guidelines say, absolutely contraindicated if you have a congenital clotting disorder. And then they go, well, yeah, but this person might be a little different, so I'm still going to treat them. Okay, that's where they get into trouble and that's where the patient can really get hurt or worse. And then of course the provider can get sued or worse. So that's where I see it as being a bigger problem. If you want to be more careful than the guidelines, then it seems to be that's kind of the direction people are taking it. But either way, that was just kind of a side topic. What I'm really trying to say is that the way that you study in first year and the way that you think in your first year, your didactic year is starting to change for me. And I think that you really need to start thinking more like a practical hands-on clinician how you would actually practice for real in a clinical setting, which is looking up the guidelines, following the guidelines, looking up exactly the latest literature. This is evidence-based practice at its finest and like knowing that and also knowing where to find it quickly and being able to talk about where you found it. So it's one thing to say like, hey, this disease that we're talking about right now, I know this, this and that about it. So I can just assume that I can use this kind of medication. That's not good enough anymore. It might be good enough for a test. And then sometimes if your professors are really nice, normally would have taken that turn a little faster, but there was gravel and gravel is like the devil when it comes to motorcycles. So I'm gonna be super careful because I'd like to stay alive. I think most people probably agree with me on that. Anyway, yeah. So like that might have been good enough in didactic year. And if your professors are nice enough, they might even let you like have half credit if something that you say makes sense in theory, even if it's not really what they've seen in practice. And by the way, look how gorgeous this road is. I cannot get over how pretty fricking foliage season is in upstate New York. I just, I absolutely love it. And it looks like there's something in the middle of the road. It's either a kid or a dog or someone on a bike. So, I don't know what's going on exactly. I'm gonna slow down just in case they decide to jump out in the middle of the road again. Okay, it's a dog. Please tell me your dog's on a leash. Okay, the dog's on a leash and it's a German shepherd. I'm gonna speed out of here. It's another thing about motorcycles. If you're a bike rider, you know what I mean. Sometimes it's better to be faster than slower. It's actually safer to be faster than slower because if you're, you know, if you've come and gone more quickly than whoever might be threatening you can respond, then you're safe. But if you're sitting around waiting for the person to maybe cut in front of you or something like that, then you're screwed. And I know I have to say this. That's not medical advice. That's not professional advice. That is just for entertainment and information purposes only. No, you should not speed up to remain safe unless you think that's a good idea that is totally up to you. I just shared something that I do. Anyway, what were we talking about? I'm completely distracted now. Oh, anyway, yeah, so in didactic year, God, if you guys are still with me after all this rambling and just going back and forth, man, I really, I'm really grateful because I don't think I could listen to this much rambling and whatnot. Or maybe you're just looking at the leaves because they're beautiful. I'm looking at them too. But I promise after this turn, I'm gonna finish that thought and I'm probably gonna cut the video off. I think by like 90% of the reason I made this video is to show you guys the foliage, you know, the leaves and how beautiful this area is. And like 10% of it was my epiphany about clinical year. And then as clinical year goes on, it'll probably make a more official video, you know, where you can see my face and I'm talking to the camera. Maybe I have my whiteboard. God, that's beautiful. Look at that. That one right there. That's my favorite, that orange one and that orange one. Okay, second favorite. Anyway, yeah. So I'll probably make a more official video talking about this, but I just, you know, this was at the top of my head. Just wanted to kind of share it. Wanted to talk about it unscripted and I wanted to show you guys the leaves. But anyway, okay, so I guess if I had to put it in a couple sentences, the biggest difference that you really start getting used to in second year as opposed to first year is theory is no longer okay. I think is basically as good as nothing. Saying I think this is how it works or I think that's right. Nope, that's no longer good enough. That's not even good enough for half credit. That's not even good enough for like quarter credit. It's just not good enough. What you need to know is for sure you need to know. You can't think. And then what you need to know is based on the guidelines, the latest evidence-based literature. So that's from up to date or American College of whatever specialty you're in or the CDC, whatever it is, you know, that's up to your preceptor in the office and just like how they practice. But you need to know exactly what the standard of care is and you need to be able to apply that. So that's the biggest difference. There's no more, I think this is how that works. It's I don't care how it works. What does the guidelines say? What does the evidence-based literature say? How do we have to treat this patient so we could do it in the best and safest way possible and then move on to the next patient? That's kind of how I'm seeing things. And again, only second week of rotations. I might get a more clear view of this. I might, you know, my philosophy might change. Everything could change. This is just kind of what I'm thinking. So I think I'm gonna cut this video off. Because that's about all I wanted to say. Wanted to talk about some study strategies, study skills, or actually more like where to study, you know, where I like to study, where you guys like to study. And then wanted to talk about the leaves, obviously, and a little bit about motorcycles and also just a little bit about the difference between didactic year and clinical year because it is such a massive difference. And I'm finally starting to understand that in my second week of rotations. Man, that is a steep hill. So anyway, I think my plan is just to keep riding until the GoPro battery dies or until I get home, whichever one happens first. So I'm not really gonna talk much more. I might put some music on. I might not. We'll see what happens when I edit this video. But anyway, yeah, thanks for watching guys. If any of you actually stayed with me, I'm really impressed and I'm actually really honored that you wanna kind of keep listening to this stream of consciousness. You know, my videos are usually very planned out. They're very scripted. If something sounds awkward or it sounds off, I either re-record it or I take it out entirely. You know, everything is just kind of easy to understand, at least I think. And I'm getting better at it. Like obviously I'm not very good at scripting videos yet, but I'm getting better, I think. But this one is just totally like stream of consciousness. Basically anytime you see me in my car or on my motorcycle, you can expect me to just be kind of rambling and maybe there's like some nuggets of wisdom in there somewhere, if you can find them. But it's mostly just me kind of trying to get my thoughts out and if you guys wanna watch the scenery with me and kind of listen to what I have to say, I am more than happy to share that with you. It's actually very therapeutic. It's actually, it's kind of like journaling. You guys ever heard of journaling? And I was just kind of like writing all your thoughts and feelings and whatever's going on in your head out. I actually find it's better to type because my head goes so fast and I type much faster than I write. So I much prefer to do my journaling like on my computer and the sticky notes. But I honestly found that it's really healthy. It's really good for your mental health. Oh, that's a big bump. So yeah, I guess that's another topic we can talk about journaling. If you haven't tried it, you should try it. Just kind of like talk like you're talking to a best friend or a talk like you're talking to like your therapist or a parent or anybody you really trust. Just kind of write all your thoughts and dreams and feelings and what things mean to you. And don't be afraid to jump around. You know, you're not writing an essay. The goal is for no one to really read it is just for you to kind of talk to yourself and get your thoughts out. Oh, this Prius is totally gonna cut me off. Nevermind. Yeah, that, if you guys saw that, that makes any motorcycle rider's heart just sink right down to their stomach when somebody's obviously eager to like pull out and they don't wanna stop at their stop sign like they should and they're just like really itching to get out. You don't know when they're gonna hit the freaking gas and by the time that happens, that could be too late. So that's why I either really slow down or really speed up to either like give them a chance to make their freaking decision or to just get away from them. And so whenever they make their decision, it's not gonna hurt me. But yeah, what that Prius just did, that was really dangerous and it really makes motorcycle riders nervous. You know, we don't like people who are unpredictable, who don't like to stop at stop signs, who seem like they're in a hurry. That's dangerous. That's actually terrifying. So yeah, don't be that guy. Don't be that guy or don't be that girl for that matter. You know, I was looking at my YouTube analytics and it's like people who watch my videos, I don't know how much of this is true because it could be like people watching my videos on other people's YouTube accounts, I don't know. But to whatever level it's true, like 80 to 85% of my viewing audience usually is female. And I think like a hundred percent is between the ages of like 25 to 35, I think it is. So it's like mid 20s to early 30s females, apparently are the ones who are really trying to get into PA school, I guess. So it's just interesting like what your dynamics are, what your videos actually attract. But the reason I said that is because I always say like, hey guys, or don't be that guy or whatever. Well, not a lot of guys watch my videos. In fact, it's mostly girls or mostly women or females or whatever you wanna say. So if somebody is watching this and you are a female and you wanna comment, could you tell me like how you feel about that to be perfectly, perfectly honest? Like if you're watching a show and you know that most of the audience watching it is female and the person keeps saying, keeps referring to the whole audience as guys, like guys, guys, hey guys, how you doing guys? What's up guys? And like, you know that it's basically all girls watching. Is that, you know, does that make you feel any certain way? Cause I might be kind of annoyed personally. I've never been in that situation. You know, I mean in my PA class, yeah, there's like, I think seven guys, seven or eight guys out of 75 students, but they don't refer to the class as, oh, hi girls. I don't know. When they refer to us, they just, I know they don't say hi girls. I know that for sure. And I think if they did, I might get kind of annoyed. It's like, I mean, I'm here too and I'm not a girl. So why do you keep saying hi girls? Like, is that how you guys feel? Cause honestly, I think I would. And if that is how you feel like what should I do? What is better? You know, like what is a better way to refer to my audience than guys? Because I don't want to alienate the guys either, but I think I'm alienating the girls by calling everybody guys, if that makes sense. So what do I say? What's up people? Hi people. I mean, I'm very open to ideas. Like I'm not being facetious or sarcastic in any way at all. I'm being 100%, oh, big bump. I'm being 100% serious and I want to know like what are some ideas? How can I refer to my audience? Which is like 80% plus female instead of saying guys. And if I'm just overthinking it and it's like, no, everyone says guys just chill out and keep doing what you're doing. Like, okay, cool. I'll take that too, but I don't know. I'm just thinking about it, especially when I saw that stat, I was thinking like, okay, I know the PA profession is mostly female, like 70%, but I didn't think my audience was like 80% female. So like, dang. And then I started thinking like, okay, maybe I should change the way I'm talking because I probably wouldn't like it if everybody referred to me as girls constantly when I was just trying to get some information about PA school or whatever. So let's see, I think I'm gonna go this way. So yeah, if any of that made sense, any of that rambling, I'd really, really, really appreciate a comment if you could tell me. See, I was about to say if you guys could tell me. You see that? It's that natural. I don't know why it's so natural, but if you could tell me, you know, answer the questions that I just rambled off, I'd really appreciate it. And I'm like one minute from home now. Look how pretty that hill is. It's just like the perfect like foliage scene. They got every color, granted, the sun's going down now. So I don't know how well the camera's picking it up. I think they say between like 430 and 530 is the best sunlight for filming, for photography and filming, but I don't know if that takes into account daylight savings time. So obviously you don't wanna take pictures when it's like peak sunlight at like noon, because then your shadows are gonna be darker and everything's just gonna be much more kinda contrasty. So like a few hours after that, when the sun is like a little bit more white, not so much like bright yellow or whatever, it's like just a little bit more kinda like white, a little bit more overcast looking, even if it's not overcast, it's just the light is like more gentle, I guess is the terminology I'm trying to use. It's more gentle. And so, yeah, but I don't know if that applies to daylight savings time, because obviously the days are getting much, much shorter right now. So I'm hoping that the GoPro picks up enough of this scenery here, I'm all granted now I'm in the neighborhood, so there's not really much scenery. So anyway, yep, I'm like one minute from home, so I'm gonna cut this off officially now. I guess I'm glad I got that question in there because I haven't been thinking about it. So yeah, please comment below, answer some of the questions I just posed. Thank you to everyone who's watching. I'm really impressed that you were able to follow my train of thought because it's so random, especially when I'm riding the bike. And yeah, oh and also let me know if you want more of these, if you actually enjoy watching my mode of logs and if you actually enjoy just like my thought process, like what do they call that stream of consciousness? It's not all planned and scripted, it's just like super right-brained, just everything is like making connections to everything else, you know, not just like linear, but like just all over the place. So yeah, I don't know. If anybody actually enjoys that, let me know. If not, I mean, be honest with me, I wanna make this as useful to everyone as possible. Go ahead dude, go ahead. I wanna make this as useful as I can. So, you know, if this format sucks, and obviously if like two people watch it then I'll know this format sucks. But, you know, if people don't like this format, tell me that too. You know, press the thumbs down button. Just tell me this isn't working for me or whatever. Or if you like it, tell me you like it. You know, I just wanna know. Want honest feedback, not gonna get my feelings hurt, I promise. All right guys, I'm home. Thank you very much for watching. Thank you for listening. Hopefully you got something out of that. And peace.