 Hi everybody. My name is Boris. I'm a first year physician assistant student and today I'm interviewing Andres who was recently accepted to medical school. So we're going to talk a little bit about the differences between medical students, PA students, doctors, PAs, and just answer some of your questions that I've gotten through email. So let's get started. Andres, how you doing? I'm doing great. You know, as good as you can be when you've been sent home from work under quarantine and all that. So, you know, not too many complaints there, I guess. Yeah. You're probably busy. You're working as an EMT right now, right, before you start med school? Yeah. I've been doing that for about a year, appearance in the field, but obviously everything is so crazy now with, you know, coronavirus going around and everyone just suiting up, fully PPEed out for every single call. It's just, it's just quite frankly a mess, but you know, someone's got to do it. For sure. Have you seen a lot of actually COVID patients? Do you test for COVID on the rig? So, we actually don't. Like, we screen for certain questions, you know, basically flu-like symptoms. We always check temperatures and we always ask for things that would be pertinent to a coronavirus diagnosis. We'll send them to like a medical center, the actual medical center with doctors and nurses and they can run the test there. Okay. So, anybody who even might have it, you send them on their way to a hospital, you don't actually test them right there? Some of them don't go to the hospital. We do have test kits in our actual facility, but the EMTs don't do that. That's like the doctors in, like it's a little confusing, but our facility has a medical center as part of its facilities and their doctors have the tests and they can run the tests. And anyone who screens positive for like a fever or, you know, anyone who's been traveling recently or put in self-isolation for two weeks. I got you. Okay. We're definitely going to have to edit out a few seconds of frozen time there, but I think we got the gist. Okay. So, I guess my last question about the COVID thing, just because I'm not really out there, I'm a student and, you know, we're at home now, just over webcam, so I haven't been out of the house almost at all. So, since you're out there in the field, I think a lot of things people aren't talking about is like the other injuries that normally happen throughout, you know, life. Have those really slowed down because you're focusing on COVID now when everyone's inside or people still, you know, needing EMS services for normal stuff? Yeah. So, we get a mixed amount of calls. You know, mainly we get called for other stuff, like we don't mainly get called for, you know, flu-like symptoms or, you know, potential coronavirus. Usually it comes in as something else like, you know, someone fell and they need help getting, working in a retirement community just to clarify. So, you know, we get called for, you know, someone fell and they can't get up or, you know, someone's not feeling well or, you know, just other EMS stuff, like, you know, basic calls like that. And then we'll ask them screening questions and, you know, once the screening questions come, not many coronavirus stuff, but, you know, for the most part, I think we've had a lower volume of calls just since everyone's self-isolating and staying in their apartments, they're not moving around as much. They're not going to, you know, have things going on for the most part. You know, so I think it's been a lower volume of calls, but it's still mainly other EMS stuff that we get called for. Okay. So, not exactly business as usual. You guys are maybe testing for COVID. There's some normal stuff, but it's definitely slowed down overall because people are just staying home. Yeah. I think that's pretty much the gist of it. Okay. And then one last question with that. So, a lot of people work a job like an EMT or something like that, you know, pre-PA school to get their hours or even pre-med school to, like, become a better applicant. Why are you still doing it now that you're already accepted? Okay. Well, you know, there's obviously a couple of reasons. You know, obviously, I like doing what I do. Like, you know, it's tough work and obviously there's a risk, you know, work like hazard in a job like that. But obviously I like the interaction with the people, the way that EMS works in our facility. There's more of a continuing care. It's not like an EMT or treating them, taking them to the hospital or RMAing them. And that's it. We're doing more of like a follow-up thing with them where we get to actually track their progress, you know, follow up with them, see how they're doing. You know, we get to work, yeah, we get to work hand in hand with like the doctors and the MPs and the RNs that work in our facility too. So, you know, it's very interesting and I've learned a lot. And obviously there's the financial portion, medical school is very expensive. So, you know, I got to start saving. That's pretty much why. That's definitely a good point. A lot of good reasons. Have you heard of paramedicine? I think we learned about it at Cornell. Yeah, I think that's like the video conferencing with the doctors where they have like the round table of doctors and they'll conference with a single patient and they sort of do like the like a group session where they sort of discuss the patient kind of thing. I think that was part of it. It's basically using, you know, EMTs and paramedics as like a way to deliver care to people who normally wouldn't get it or would go to the ER. Oh, I see. So, it could be delivering something like that, like a video conference, you know, system that they may not have access to or just general insulin or basic visits that they would, you know, have a $3,000 ER visit to where you could just have a truck go out there for 20 minutes and fix that. Yeah, actually, we do sort of, I mean, when we're on calls, we have the option for like an on-call doctor. There's always an on-call doctor for our facility 24-7 and we can give them a call and we can talk to them on speakerphone with the patient or the resident we call them residents. And, you know, we discuss what's going on, how they're feeling and the doctor will give us recommendations based on, you know, what they know of their medical history and they can give us a better opinion. Yeah, sounds like a really kind of team aspect approach that you guys are taking. Yeah, I see, you see a lot of that in healthcare, like it's changing to that where it's not just the doctor telling the patient what to do, it's a lot more interactive medicine now. So, it's pretty cool. I think it's a really good thing. Okay, so kind of more about you here, the portion of the interview. So, when did you really become interested in medicine? So, I mean, you know, the healthcare field in general, I've basically been interested in it since like middle school, you know. Oh, wow. I had an early experience in the ER and, you know, obviously my parents are working, everyone's working, but like I just had a great time, well, not a great time. I had a good time over there in the hospital, like their nurses were always nice, the doctors were always nice, and they always like took time out of their schedule to like see me and see how I was doing, and that really left a good impression on me. So, I think that's where it started from. In terms of like medicine, in, you know, in specific medicine, like being a doctor, that came probably around the second year of college, third year of college. You know, before then, I had done a couple different internships. I did my internship initially in dentistry. Oh, wow. Yeah, and it's really only after the second or third year of college where I started to shift my focus and take a look at medicine and what I had to offer. And, you know, after doing a couple of shadowing experiences and, you know, things, just different shadowing experiences with different doctors, that's where I sort of said, okay, this is really what I want to do. And that's after, you know, that's how I geared up for where I am now. Okay, so you originally thought you were going to be a dentist, and then you did some more kind of diverse shadowing experiences and realized doctor was more, medical doctor was more the way for you. Yeah, that's sort of where, you know, that's sort of how it went. Just the, the everything in dentistry and physical therapy and all that, there's different aspects to each one of them. And I just took a look at medicine and I said, okay, well, this is really where, where my interests lie. So that's how I directed myself. Sure. Did you ever consider maybe nursing or NP or PA route or was it always MD? You know, I had never really considered them. I never really initially took a look at them. After I started being interested in medicine in general, and at that point, I sort of realized that, you know, I didn't realize that NP or PA were what they were. I didn't really know too much about them. You know, everyone knows like, okay, doctors the one who makes the big decisions and stuff like that, that's what I want to do. You know, and obviously I was very wrong on that those PAs and NPs are, you know, they can run their own practices, they can make their own decisions. And I didn't know that at the time. But once I got settled on medicine, that's sort of where I went, MDDO. Sure. So what you're saying is by the time you kind of learned what a PA or an NP could do, you were already really committed to the pre-med track and you were already making, you know, strides towards getting there. So you just kind of didn't get off. You just kept going. Yeah, that's pretty much how I went. And, you know, I think that's just that I don't have a lot of familial experience with medicine, like none of my family, I don't have any family members that are doctors or really in the healthcare field. You know, so I just sort of went with, okay, well, I see a doctor all the time. That's what I want to go to. You know what I'm saying? So I think it's a lot of people. Yeah. Honestly, I mean, as the other fields grow, it might start changing a little bit more. But otherwise, it's kind of like one of those things, if you don't know about it, you just don't know about it. Yeah. And nursing are both growing, like, especially with the arriving costs of healthcare and all that. They're trying to find different alternatives and in areas where doctors are too expensive, like a PA or an NP is a great choice. Yeah, it's a good way to expand healthcare, but also still have that teamwork aspect where the way that this doctor that works at my PA program says it, he says, you don't know what you don't know. And so, I mean, you guys are trained so much more than we are at least initially. So it's just good to like always have someone who knows more who's a subject matter expert. And you know, someone's got to do it. Thank God for people like you, right? So I commend you on your very long journey. Yeah, I guess so. What'd you say? No, it's just, I was laughing because it's like, thank God for people like, you know, I was like, I guess so, you know, I guess so. I never saw myself as that, you know, at that level. But hopefully in about 10 years, when you finally graduate, it'll be, you'll see yourself that way. Yeah, I'm hoping so. I'm hoping the epiphany comes, you know, at least sometime in medical school or something. Well, actually speaking of the end of medical school, what specialty are you trying to match into if you know? You know, I've given a look at a couple of different things. I'm very interested in physical activity in the musculoskeletal system and, you know, how everything is sort of interconnected and how, you know, an imbalance in one spot can lead to pain in another spot. And that's just crazy. So like that's sort of where my interests lie right now. So you froze when you said the actual name and it went right to the description. So it sounds like you're describing a chiropractor. What exactly is it? It would either be sports medicine or orthopedics. Okay. So like Dr. Green. Yeah. Yeah. That was the dream for you. You know, it's I wouldn't say it's the dream. I would say that's sort of where I'm leaning right now. But from what I understand, it changes a lot when you're in school. Yeah. Oh, you cut out. So I mean, that's where I'm leaning right now. But, you know, basically from what I've heard, you come in with one idea and then after you do all your rotations and your, you know, your clinicals and stuff like that, it can go 180 degree, you know, it can change 180 degrees. I've heard the same thing for you guys. It's definitely, I'd say more meaningful because we can swap specialties anytime you really have to commit. And yeah, it's those rotations are supposedly very, very tough, but you learn a lot. So I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, it's definitely good. Okay. So did I freeze again? Yeah. Oh boy. I can't wait to edit this video. It's going to be interesting. All right. So orthopedics is what you're shooting for. That's definitely a very competitive specialty. Have you been told, you know, if you are really shooting for a competitive specialty to kind of have a plan B kind of like a reach school and a safe school or that's not something people do. You know, I've heard, you know, at least have something else in mind. Sure. You know, that being said, it's so early in the process right now, nothing set in stone. Like I'm assuming my changes might, you know, my tastes might change throughout school. So I may go in with a different plan A than I started with. But yeah, I haven't really thought of a plan B at this point. I've never been a plan B kind of person. I've always been more of, yeah, I've always been more of a push through it until you get to your plan A sort of person. I think that's definitely what it takes to be on a premed route and do all that you've done just to get accepted, just to, you know, get to the beginning of the journey. Yeah, it's, it's the one thing that people should know is that if it's really something you want to do, then you got to push for it. Yeah, there's just, I remember, so I don't know if anyone watching this knows, I don't think I described it yet, me and Andres were at the same post-bac program at Cornell. And like I told people earlier, everybody there was a pre-med, except for me, I was pre-PA. So everybody was kind of on that track to become a doctor and doing the whole MCAT and all that stuff. And there's a lot to it. And that application is really, it's really involved. There's a lot you guys have to do. Yeah, the application process itself is at least a year and a half process, you know, if you're taking out, I took six months out of work just to study for the MCAT. Yeah. So that in itself is a process. And then, you know, you're putting together your personal essay and your resume and you're collecting all the information that the schools need. And it's a long, long process. And you're basically, I had to start it a year and a half before I actually applied. Wow. Before you even apply. And that assumes that you don't have to take time out to fix things, like, you know, classes that I missed and things that I wanted to experience before I applied. So for me, it was more like a two and a half year application process, just getting everything ready and getting myself set up to successfully matriculate into school. Yeah. And that's actually pretty short. Yeah, I mean, I've seen, well, especially if you consider like the pre med students that do like the seven year MDBA program, or like they do three years of undergrad and then straight into medical school, that's basically, that's a huge process. Yeah, it really is. Well, speaking of that, can you go through your journey to finally being accepted, everything you had to do, you know, where you went to school, your college major, your GPA, anything like that extra curricular is just anything you can think of that you think helps you get here. Sure. So I did my undergraduate at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the Albert Dorman Honors College. You know, that was three and a half years. I finished this semester early. I finished with the three, I finished with a 3.8 GPA and I was just taking summer classes every year set. So summer classes every year, 3.8 GPA, I did a couple of extracurriculars, you know, I was in a couple of clubs, NSLS, NSCS, you know, I didn't do too much outside of school except for those clubs. We did start a little bit of a fun thing at the school, the Highlander dance team. I was one of the captains and me and one of the teachers, coaches over at NJIT, we actually said, you know, we wanted to set up something really cool in the school and something that would be like promoting school spirit. So we all had a lot of dance, athletic events, the soccer, you know, the soccer events, the basketball events, and yeah, that was a really cool thing. So we started that. Wait, was the, I'm sorry, was the Highlander dance team, was it like river dancing, like Irish dance because it's like Highlander dance, or was it just like a dance team, but the school was the Highlanders? The school was the Highlander, like that was our mascot. Yeah, that makes, that makes us Irish dancer. No, no, no, that's not our style. We did a lot of like, we did a lot of like team dances, big coordinated things with, you know, 20, 30 members in the in the troupe, and we sort of did like a big show in the middle of the game, like halftime and stuff like that. And yeah, that was an interesting experience. Let's see, after I finished college, you know, I actually did take a couple of months, like two or three months to study for the MCAT the first time. I basically rushed to take the old one. I was applying when they were switching from the old scoring version to the new scoring version, where they had that additional stuff. So I sort of rushed to take it. And obviously I did very poorly because I rushed to take it. Yeah, that's something you definitely want to take your time with. If you're going through this track, you got to make sure if you want to do it once, you got to do it right. So I applied the first time, didn't get in. After that, I went back to work, you know, that's when I started working as a physical therapy aid, get some money, get some experience, see if, you know, that's what I really wanted to do. Because at that point, I was sort of, you know, I was distraught with my choice. I was like, I don't know if I can do this anymore, because I got bills to pay. And you know, I'm turning 23 is not that old. That's what was going through my mind. So I worked for a little bit, took the MCAT. Well, no, I didn't take the MCAT again. I applied again, didn't get in the second time. And then after that, that's when I sort of really took a step back and said, okay, if this is really what I want to do, I'm still interested in medicine, if this is really what I want to do, I'm going to have to take a lot of time off, fix the things that I needed to fix, take some additional classes, get some additional experiences under my belt. And that's when I went into the Cornell post-doc program. So at Cornell, I did, you know, some different research experience classes that I needed to take. And then after that, after I finished the Cornell stuff, I went back. That's when I studied for six months for the MCAT to work off. I didn't do anything. I was up at eight o'clock in the morning until, you know, three o'clock in the afternoon, just studying, doing practice questions, making flashcards, all the things you got to do. Yeah. And then I applied last March, you know, I applied last March to get into school, or I took the MCAT in last March to get into school. I applied that summer. And yeah, that's how I got here now. I was accepted in April. All right. Congratulations. Thank you. Yes. That's a long story. But, you know, hopefully you can find something in there that is useful. Yeah, definitely. Oh, there's a lot that's useful. I just hope with the video quality it comes through. I can piece it together. But just to kind of recap what you said, so you started off in college and you had a really good GPA when you graduated, 3.8. And you did some extracurriculars. You started a dance team, like all kinds of cool stuff. And you seemed to be a really good applicant. But then you did not do very well on the original MCAT, even though you took two to three months to study for it. And so that's when you ended up not getting into school. And you applied twice. And then you went to Cornell, and not because you had a low GPA, but to take even more classes just to learn more, basically. Well, when I went to undergraduate, there was some things that I was missing, like they didn't require me to take a psychology course, which I thought was weakening my application. I also didn't have to take biochemistry, which is weird. But, you know, I thought that was weakening my application as well. So I said, you know, there's a couple of classes that I still need to take to be a strong applicant. Let me do really well in those in, you know, a high level competitive school. And then that'll show them, okay, well, maybe he is ready for courses that would make me look like a better applicant. For sure. So, well, first off, I remember you were a beast at Biochem. I sat next to Andres in Biochem at Cornell in our post back. And I remember the first test I could have sworn I failed it. Like I went to the advisor. And I basically told her like, I feel like I failed this test. I don't know what I'm doing here now. And she goes, well, hang out with Andres, because she couldn't already tell you were good at it. And then I got the grade and it wasn't, you know, all that bad. And then it just went up from there. But man, that first test was rough. And I remember you were really good at Biochem. But also kind of unlike most people who tend to do post backs to fix their GPAs, you already had a great GPA, you were just there to improve your application. Yeah, that was, that was pretty much it, you know, it was just, I also felt that going to the post back at Cornell would offer different things other than classes, like, you know, there's obviously the research experience, there's the shadowing experience, there's the extracurricular stuff that I was able to explore while I was there. So, it wasn't just for the classes, but the classes are definitely a main part of why I chose the program. Yeah. And you basically just took two semesters to add to your already decent application, but just to make it that much better. I think that's something a lot of people don't get is it's so competitive med school and even PA school to a degree that even if you have really good grades, like it's just not a guarantee you have to have more, basically. Yeah, I think now they're, you know, everyone can get, you know, a 3.8 or 3.9. As long as you put the time, you know, like you put the time in and you really buckle down and that's all you do. Like, you know, I was going to, I was thinking about bouncing a job while I was there and I was like, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to spend the money. I'm going to take the time. I'm going to do it right. You know, I'm not going to try and half-ass it while I'm working to get some money. You know, it just, you got to really make sure that you're definitely important. But, you know, you also got to find time when you're not in class or, you know, when you're, when you have free time to explore different things, do extra different, you know, different extracurriculars. Find something that you really enjoy on the side. One, it's going to help you relieve stress and two, it'll help you bring experiences forward on your application and, you know, they'll see, okay, well, he's not just some guy who sits behind the book. He's also doing this or doing that. And he's learning different things that you won't get from studying out of a book. So that's one of the things that I would definitely recommend. Did I break up? Yeah, you did. Oh, well, I was, I was saying, I think we all know a doctor who looks and talks like they've never come out from behind a book and they just like have no communication skills. And it seems like med schools are really taking it more seriously to like get people who are more personable who know how to communicate with people on a higher level, which I mean, they say, you know, socioeconomic and like personal factors are 80% of medicine. It's not all, you know, physical science. So it's really good that you had some of those experiences. Yeah, you know, different chatting experiences, definitely different volunteer work that you can interact with people in the community, like real people. And, you know, that's definitely a plus. Yeah, because everyone you're treating is not going to be like, you know, a doctor and know everything that you know. It's so you have to really know how to communicate with normal people. All right. So if you don't mind sharing just because everybody who's a pre-med loves numbers, what did you get on your original MCAT? What did you get on your second MCAT when you retook it? And what were your GPAs in college and at Cornell? You know, 3.8 undergrad and then at Cornell, it was a 3.78, I believe, you know, and then with the MCAT, the first time I took it, I got like a 27 on the old scoring method, you know, that was out of, I believe it's like 40 or something like that where the median score was like a 30. And, you know, I think a good score, I would say probably at least a 32, 33, like that would be probably like 80th percentile, I think. The new MCAT on the second, the second time I took it, I got a 510, which is, yeah, I believe on the dot 80th percentile, so like good, not great. So 80th percentile is considered good on the MCAT? Yeah, I would say, you know, you can get into a decent school there. Obviously, the MCAT, you know, MCAT scores plus everything else, you know, good grades, extracurriculars, you've got to include that now. I mean, that's a beast of a test because a guy like Andres took six months off and studied full time and got in the 80th percentile, which is he said kind of middle of the road for getting into med school. So yeah, that's scary. That's a pretty tough test, isn't it? Yeah, it's, I think it's a lot of mental strain, you know, it's an eight hour test and you get a couple of breaks here and there, but it's just pushing through that last three or four hours where you're just like, I'm ready to take a nap, I'm done with this test. Like someone just turn my computer off. You're staring at a computer now and it's just, it's rough. Yeah. For anyone who knows about the MCAT kind of test is probably one of the worst sections. Just yeah, it's just, it's reading stuff that I'm not used to reading, like, and I just couldn't make a lot of sense of it. So that's really where my score suffered the most. And if I could go back or recommend anything to anyone about the test, make sure you really focus on trying to improve that section because that is one of the hardest sections I've ever had. The reading and comprehension skills. Yeah, the critical analysis and reading the cars section, that is, you can't make flashcards and you can't really just read out of a book to learn that stuff. That's stuff that you really just have to buckle down and do a lot, a lot of practice questions for. Okay. I was just going to ask, how do you prepare for something like that? And it's just like, practice over and over again? Yeah, I've heard, I've heard some people say if you read a lot of scientific articles or just, you know, specific news outlets, like the, I think they said the New Yorker is a good one. The New York Times is a good one. But, you know, I just, I just did not do as much of that as I should have. Right. Well, don't beat yourself up. You got there. There you are. I just said, don't beat yourself up. You got there. But it sounds like that's good advice for anyone taking the MCAT. Definitely practice, practice, practice to prepare for the cars section. All right. And so I think we kind of talked about post back enough, but I just wanted to ask, do you feel like it helped you? Obviously you've gotten in, but do you feel like it helped you improve as an applicant? Yeah, for sure. I think it helped me in a lot of different ways. You know, as I mentioned before, you know, the classes, making sure that you do well in the grades, you can benefit a lot. And you know, especially with a post back program where it's a smaller class, you know, I think it was less than 20 of us in that class. And you get to know your instructors very well and you can ask them for things like, you know, I'm looking for a shadowing experience. Do you know anyone who can help me? Because you know them better. And they'll say, okay, I know you, I know you're a good worker. Let me, you know, help you out on this one. So I think being in the post back really helped. Definitely. I always say it's a really good option for people to improve their applications. But that kind of downside of a post back is it's really high risk, high reward, because if you don't do extremely well, you don't really get anything out of it. You know, it's not like you get a master's or any kind of job training. It's just basically nothing but a resume booster for med school or PA school. Right. Yeah, it's, it's definitely a risk, but you know, just again, since it's so small and it's a small class and you have great advisors, you know, they're going to do everything in their power to help you. So it's definitely high risk, high reward, but you mitigate that risk a lot by having that small class and having those close interactions with your advisors. Yeah, I definitely found it helpful too. So maybe we'll shoot this video over to our Cornell folks. I'm sure they'd probably appreciate it. So if there is one, what is the typical day of an MD, a doctor? Hmm. I'm not actually practicing as an MD. So I couldn't tell you a typical day as an MD. I mean, from what I hear, it's you're seeing a lot of patients, a lot more patients now than you used to. It's, you know, sort of rushed and hustle and bustle and all that stuff. You know, you're pressed for time and you got to see a lot of different people and you're double booked all the time. And, you know, I had imagined it's very hard as, you know, like a physician in like a small clinic kind of thing where you see people back to back to back to back. You don't really have time to think about a case or, you know, absorb a case and think about it. Say, I think being an MD in today's day and age would be very tough, but you know, that's really only my speculation. I can't really speak too much on that. You feel like it's more busy than it used to be. Like you don't really have the chance to, you know, take a lot of time with the patient or really think very hard on what's going on. Yeah, I would, I think, you know, again, it's hard for me to say, but that's sort of where I would be, that's what I'd be thinking at this point. And especially now, like with, you know, the coronavirus and everything going on, it's just everyone's probably calling, oh, well, you know, I'm feeling tired and, you know, oh, well, I took my temperature. I have a little fever and, you know, I'm sure there's a lot going on there. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. So it's definitely getting busier and busier. And I mean, we've both worked with doctors decent amount. So we kind of know that that is how it is. They just go from room to room to room, no lunch, start early and late. It's just, it is a very serious work ethic that you have to have as a doctor these days. Yeah. Okay. How do you see the current medical system changing in the future and what role do you as a doctor see yourself playing in that? So the way I see medicine going, I see a lot more, you know, we mentioned before, like paramedicine where, you know, doctors are interacting remotely from patients where, you know, it's a lot of teleconferencing, a lot of, you know, video chat through the computer. I think we're seeing a lot more of that. And I think we're going to see a lot more of that in the future just, you know, with the increased patient load and just the fact that it can be very convenient too for patients, you know, not having to take, you know, day off for work to go into the donuts, you know, have a video chat with your doctor and go over what's going on. I think we're going to see a lot more of that video, you know, a lot of that remote access from doctor to patient. I also see, I mean, it's hard to, it's hard to gauge, but I think that's sort of where we're going. Just more remote access less actually like coming into the office and seeing a bunch of people? Yeah, I think we're seeing a lot. I think we're going to see a lot less of that. It's just speculation, but we've seen it grow. And I think we're going to see it continue to grow, especially in areas that you don't have a doctor within two hours, you don't have a hospital in your county, you have a hospital in the other county, and you have to drive far away. I think we're going to see a lot more of that remote access. Definitely. And then especially for us as PAs, since we're going to be, you know, our primary role is supposed to be a primary care provider, a PCP, but that also means we don't know even close to all the specifics that a specialist would know. And the way that they're kind of fixing that is they're having us expand our practice by having specialists on Skype ready to go. So if you're like a rural provider or something in the middle of nowhere, you can have, you know, a neurologist or a surgeon or something, take a look at your patient over Skype, talk to you over Skype, tell you exactly what to do with the physical exam, and just have a much more comprehensive care for that patient. Yeah, I definitely see that a better integration between different care providers, and obviously technology allows us to do that better than ever. Yeah, I think we'll see maybe even improvements in the technology, just somehow they're able to remotely maybe physically assess the patient somehow. I could definitely see something like that. And also just, you know, the change in the system, how everything's getting more and more integrated, like you can transfer all that information when you're taking on a new patient, you can see their entire history. I think we're going to see better continuing care for patients as they transfer throughout life to different doctors. For sure. I mean anyone who's ever done a Zoom meeting knows that the technology needs to improve even now. Everyone's home watching Netflix and like we can't even get a good feed to do a quick Skype interview. So we'll see how that all happens. But I definitely think it's a net positive, like if your primary care provider finds something kind of weird and they want a specialist to look at it, you don't have to wait six months now to get an appointment. You can just have them look at it over Skype and see if you really need to commit. So hopefully it kind of helps us streamline things. All right. Yeah. Well, one more thing to add. Yeah, one more thing to add that I think also, you know, I think the changing the change in the way that we train medical students is also going on the way. One thing that I noticed when they took us, you know, through the through the program and through the scheduling of how the four years of medical school are going to look like. It seems like there's a lot more of early clinical skills as a med student, like how they took you through the program when you visited your med school and they kind of showed you that from day one, you're learning clinical skills and there's going to be actors simulating some sort of disease process and you have to learn how to communicate with them and to really tease that out. And then I said, the way the medical profession is going, it's kind of getting away from just strictly learning hard sciences because it's easy to look that stuff up now and there's tons of online resources and more to kind of piecing together all the symptoms using that as a resource and communicating to patients. Yeah, no, that's, yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think most people can appreciate that. All right, Andres, this is supposed to be the fun part. We'll see how it goes with our bandwidth, but this is going to be rapid fire. Ready? Ready to go. All right, favorite color. Gotta go with black, very slimming. All right, I can tell you're wearing black and your chair is black. Very, I gotta go with black. Gotta go with black. All right, dream car. Dream car, okay. If I'm going with an old classic, I gotta say the Supra, the 1994 Mark 4 Supra. Oh yeah, Fast and the Furious. Yeah, Fast and the Furious. And then, I mean, if I'm going with the new car, that's a tough one. I'd have to look up more new cars. I've been focused on mainly old cars. I don't think too much about cars nowadays, except for that. Crazy to me that now that a 90s car is considered a classic. But anyway, all right, favorite animal. I'm a four. What? No, I was going to say that means I'm a classic. I was born in 1994, so I'm a classic at this point. Well, I guess so. I just remember that being a new car in a movie that looked really cool. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was born in the year that it came out, so I didn't remember it as a classic car. I just saw it from the movie. Oh, geez. Oh, okay, I feel old. Favorite animal. Gotta go with the dog. I got two of them, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. You're a good dog owner. What kind of dogs do you have? They're two five pounds, six pounds. And then the other one's a little bigger. He's like 18 pounds. He's like a York Terrier. Oh, what kind of dogs are there? A York Terrier? And what other one? And then a Yorkie. Like the two Yorkie and a York Terrier. Yeah. Okay, two little guys. All right, Mac or PC? Gotta go with PC. Mac is too expensive. Right? Okay. Yeah, that's my main motivation too, because they're nice, but can afford a $3,000 laptop. Favorite food. Favorite food. I gotta go with pizza, because we get a lot of good stuff, good pizza here in New Jersey. Being close to the city. You know, I have New York pizza too, but I gotta say, I like New Jersey pizza better. Really? Yeah. Is it different? Is it like a different style like Chicago? No, it's not like Chicago. I mean, to be fair, I've only been to New York and had like the, you know, like they have the dollar slice that's by Times Square. That's where I go for pizza in New York. And I mean, there's just a couple of local pizzerias around my house that I really, really like. Okay. Well, if we're ever on quarantine, maybe I'll go over there and try some New Jersey pizza. I haven't had that yet. All right. Last question, Andres. If a tree falls, I'm starting over. Last question, Andres. If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? Why or why not? It definitely does make a sound, because as you would learn from, you know, your physics and cat book sound is not dependent on whether or not there's an observer there. It's just a physical prop here. It doesn't make a difference. All right. You haven't taken any philosophy classes, have you? No, I haven't. I'm not, I'm not a abstract thinker philosophy kind of guy. I'm more of a hard science, gotta see it right in front of me kind of guy. I'm kind of curious what other interviewees are going to answer that with if they're more like philosophy minded or if they're just more hard science minded. So I don't know if I told you I'm interviewing a nurse practitioner on Monday. Oh, no, I didn't know that, but that'll be interesting for the same thing. I would imagine that most people are like, again, that's just sort of like a paradigm I think of medicine, like hard science people go into medicine because they like the hard sciences, but you know, I don't know. Or at least there has to be some aspect of that. All right. Well, in that case, kind of just to conclude, is there anything you want to say to the pre-med, pre-PA, pre-nursing students watching this that you haven't already said? I can't think of anything that I haven't said. The only thing I would say is, you know, make sure that when you're applying for school, don't get too down on yourself when you, you know, you make a full step or you fumble. You got to take a hard look at yourself sometimes and just say, okay, I failed, what can I do to improve? Use it more as a learning experience than as something to drag you down. That was one of my mistakes that I did early on when I applied the first time. And I think it set me back quite a bit. And I would have been accepted a lot sooner if I just realized that failure is a natural part of life and you just got to learn from it. I think that's a really good thing to say. I think a lot of people who think they're going to be a doctor or a PA don't realize how long the process might actually be for them, depending on where they are. But I honestly feel like if they work hard enough, they put in the time I think anybody who really wants it can get there eventually. Yeah, I think anyone who wants to be a doctor, it's going to take time regardless, but you know, as long as you put the time in, you'll be able to achieve your goal. Yeah. I've heard a lot of doctors say, I'm not really smart, I just work really hard. Hmm. So it's not like something that takes an absurd IQ like astrophysics or whatever. And they're just the concepts are insane. It's just that there's a lot of them and you really have to just put in the hours to learn them. Yeah, I would agree with that. And also based on what I've heard from other medical students are already going through the schooling, they basically say it's basically like honors level undergraduate courses, but you're taking 10 of them at a time. Just the volume is insane. And you got to find a way to study with that. You got to find a way to deal with that amount of volume. It's not that you can't do it, you know, that you can't conceptualize the information. It's just, it's a lot of it. Yeah. Do they use the term drinking out of a fire hose for med students too? Yeah. Well, they say fire hydrant. Okay. So we, those PA students get the hose, you guys get the whole hydrant. I guess so. Okay. I think that's definitely something I found is like the one really difficult part of PA school is that it just doesn't stop. Like there's so much information and there's really no breaks. So just like, you just got to keep going. I'm sure med school is the same way, but twice as long. Yeah. I, you know, I haven't started it yet, but I'm sort of preparing myself for that. You know, I've been looking at different online forums looking at, okay, is there a way that you can really prepare for medical school before you're in medical school? And they basically just say, take the time off. You know, you're going to be studying your ass off for the next four years. So you might as well enjoy your summer while you last. That's exactly what I've heard too, is like, there's no way to learn any little bit that you can learn from now until August is just going to pale in comparison to anything you're going to learn even in the first week of training. So why bother? Just like, relax, make yourself as healthy as you can. I think what you said is exactly right. Anyway, so with that, again, I wanted to say my name is Boris. I'm a first year physician assistant student. This is Andres. He's starting medical school in the fall. So I thought I'd take the time to interview him on Zoom. Hopefully the feed wasn't too choppy. My channel is all about helping premedical, pre-PA, pre-nursing students get a better idea of medicine and just answer some of their questions. So with that, I'm signing off. We'll see you in the next one.