Clinical Experience
During their second year at MEDEX – the clinical year – MEDEX students travel throughout the Northwest, Alaskan and Hawaiian service regions to work with clinicians and experienced preceptors – MDs, DOs, NPs and PAs – in family medicine and six specialty areas, including emergency medicine, general surgery, behavioral medicine, inpatient wards, underserved and an elective. Here are some stories from this essential component of the MEDEX educational journey.
Primary Care Catches Everything
In order to acquire his requisite patient contact hours for PA school, Joe Kreilkamp, PA-C got a crash course in behavioral medicine at Eastern State Hospital. This exposure to the psychiatrically ill taught him patience and understanding, and gave him the ability to recognize the mental health needs of primary [...]
Never Any Doubt I’d Keep Going To School
As the director of the Spokane Community College medical assistant training program, Stacia Reagan trained hundreds of MAs currently working in the field. With the decision to return to school and grow her own skills as a healthcare provider, Stacia now embarks on a new career as a physician assistant.
In the Spirit of ‘Ohana, Your Patients Become Your Family
An Army medic and native Hawaiian, Sung Lee of MEDEX Tacoma Class 3 returned to his Honolulu community for his 4-month family medicine preceptorship. He was under the guidance of Dr. Scott Miscovich, a local mover and shaker making an impact in the key areas of homelessness, addiction and provider [...]
Moving From Nurse To Provider
After over three years working as a nurse, Dennis Phrasavath is now studying to become a physician assistant with MEDEX Northwest. Now in his clinical year, he’s learning that the transition from nurse to provider requires a different mindset. He’s making health assessments and decisions on behalf of his patients [...]
If You Don’t Accept Something, You Have To Speak Out
Jailed in her native Iran for opposition to government policies regarding women, Sepideh Makouei is on her way to becoming a physician assistant in the US. While in the MEDEX program Sepideh is making use of all her life experience to claim her place as a future practitioner with skill, [...]
An Immigrant’s Path
Along with his family, Frantz Alphonse came to the US at age seven as an immigrant refugee from Haiti. This singular experience has imbued him with a strong sense of empathy for the disadvantaged and underserved. That, along with eight years as a US Navy hospital corpsman, makes Frantz a [...]
Coming Out The Other End, Surviving and Thriving
Eleven years as an ICU nurse have made Frank Boyd highly aware of the shortcomings of US healthcare systems. He’s an advocate for patient education as a means to interrupt the cycle of patient readmissions. Now in his clinical year as student in the MEDEX Northwest physician assistant training program, [...]
Something That Truly Sings To Me
With a strong background in women’s health, EMT and the Peace Corps, MEDEX clinical year student Sam Harmon finds that the path to becoming a physician assistant suits her non-linear personality just fine. She has a passion for working with the underserved, making her a MEDEX Northwest mission fit. We [...]
Unique Challenges in Urgent Care Medicine
Patients who present to urgent care are likely unknown to the medical staff, and often bring cultural beliefs and ethical values that differ from those of the provider. MEDEX alumni Arash Mirzaie details one such an encounter, and how he referenced his own immigrant background to achieve a patient-centered shared [...]
Now It’s My Job to Figure Out the Problem
Initially a firefighter for the US Forest Service, Ryan Jones then worked as a Paramedic on the Southern Oregon Coast. But the long hours, low compensation and hand-off to other medical providers were negative factors, motivating Ryan to take steps towards the physician assistant profession and MEDEX Northwest. Now Ryan [...]