June 16th, 2016
When Is It A Good Time to Retire?
Scott Cuyjet, RN, MSN, FNP-C
I am only 47 years old, but I have been thinking about retirement. It’s not that I want to retire now, but when is a good time? I have been working for the same company for 17 years, and the idea of spending another 20 years there before reaching retirement age seems daunting. So, how […]
June 8th, 2016
The Fringe: Part 3 – Deciphering Your Benefits Package
Bianca Belcher, MPH, PA-C
It is important to review more than just your salary when considering whether or not to accept a job. The rest of your benefits package could contribute significantly (or negatively impact) your long term financial health. Much of this is overlooked by new graduates and providers that claim that finance/money isn’t their thing. In a small, unofficial poll […]
June 3rd, 2016
The Sound of Silence
Charity Maniates, MSPA, MPH, PA-C
Skilled rehabilitation facilities are faced with a troubling trend. Rather than the majority of patients recovering with straightforward joint replacement surgeries, these facilities have become a crossroad for patients to transition to long-term, palliative, or hospice care. Patients discharging from the hospital assume that during a period of one to two weeks, they will transform […]
May 25th, 2016
The Book and The Novelty
Harrison Reed, PA-C
In 1985, Frederic Friedel destroyed the game of chess. At least that’s what some purists think. Friedel rocked the chess world when he created Chessbase, a computerized database that catalogued every single game of chess ever played. This stockpile of chess history not only recorded the individual moves of every match, it revealed an embarrassing truth: […]
May 4th, 2016
The Fringe: Part 2 – Debt Management
Bianca Belcher, MPH, PA-C
Welcome to part 2 of my 4-part series titled “The Fringe” (see part 1). So many students come out of medical school, PA school, or nursing school with a significant amount of debt. Couple graduate loans with undergraduate loans and/or other loans that you may have taken on over the years (car, house, etc.) — and the […]
March 29th, 2016
The Fringe: Part 1 – Negotiation Basics
Bianca Belcher, MPH, PA-C
This is the first installment of a four-part series dedicated to what I like to call “The Fringe” of working in medicine. I call it The Fringe because it really has nothing to do with the practice of medicine; yet, we all deal with it. As clinicians, we spend a significant amount of time learning […]
March 22nd, 2016
The Art of Listening – Beyond Your Patient
Charity Maniates, MSPA, MPH, PA-C
Opening the door slowly, I poked my head in the dimly lit room and glimpsed my patient’s petite frame leaning forward in her bed. I sat on the edge of the mattress, noting how tired the patient looked. The physical therapist was concluding the last session prior to her discharge that afternoon. After inquiring how the […]
March 16th, 2016
Drawing Meds: An Interview with Clinician-Artist Jorge Muniz, PA-C
Harrison Reed, PA-C
There’s nothing textbook about Jorge Muniz’s style. The physician assistant and emerging artist is as unique as his creation, Medcomic, a humorous cartoon collection that delivers medical education in a flurry of colorful punches. Muniz juggles full-time clinical practice with the skyrocketing popularity of Medcomic, but the balancing act is nothing new. After all, he started […]
February 24th, 2016
My Profession Made Me a Better Person
Bianca Belcher, MPH, PA-C
I love practicing medicine. As a student, I devoured chapter after chapter of medical books. I listened to didactic lectures on repeat all the while envisioning myself bettering sick patients’ lives with treatments and curative procedures. The idea of this brought me a great sense of joy and excitement. In hindsight, I had been imagining […]
February 10th, 2016
What Did You Expect?
Harrison Reed, PA-C
One night in the early 1960s, psychology researcher Robert Rosenthal snuck into his own laboratory. He crept along rows of cages filled with albino rats and assigned each animal a designation: this rat is smart; this rat is dumb. But, along with these labels, he sowed deceit. The rats all came from the same scientific supply […]
NP/PA Bloggers
Elizabeth Donahue, RN, MSN, NP‑C
Alexandra Godfrey, BSc PT, MS PA‑C
Emily F. Moore, RN, MSN, CPNP‑PC, CCRN
Advanced practice clinicians treating patients in a variety of settings and specialties
Learn more about In Practice: Reflections from NPs and PAs.
