Now that
the first week is over, I can better describe each of the classes we are taking
this fall. It will be a challenging semester, but after the summer
course I’m positive that we can conquer anything!
PSIO 743 – Fundamentals of
Physiology
Physiology is the study of the
functions of living things; therefore this class covers everything from
cellular processes to organ systems. The
course has a lecture style of teaching and the class size is huge
(there are dental, pharmacy, exercise physiology, and PA students in the
class). This is the class I am most worried about this semester. There is a lot of material presented to us
each lecture and I feel that it would be very easy to fall behind in the class
if you don’t study each night.
MICB 702 – Microbiology
This class focuses on the study of
pathogenic microorganisms. I loved the microbiology class I
took in undergrad, so I am excited for this class. I think it’s fascinating how such tiny
creatures can cause huge damage to us, and yet certain
species can actually protect our body.
PATH 465 – Medical Laboratory
Management
This course covers how to manage and
organize a lab. Because I have no knowledge
on how to budget a laboratory or how to hire people, this course will be great
if I do find myself in a management position in the future.
PATH 620 – Clinical Pathology
Seminar
This course focuses on clinical
laboratory procedures and how they correlate to the disease processes that we
have previously studied. I feel as though my classmates
who are medtechs will definitely have the upper hand in this class.
PATH 610 – Educational Methodologies
This is an online class that focuses
on skills for teaching any areas in the pathologists’ assistant field. As a PA, we may have the opportunity to
obtain a teaching position or we may be asked to give guest lectures. Either way it is important to be able to
effectively present information to your colleagues. This is a self-paced
course, which is great because it allows you to focus on the assignments during
the weeks that aren’t as hectic.
PATH 605 – Advanced Microanatomy
This course builds on the
microanatomy class we had during the spring semester. During the spring semester we focused only on
normal microanatomy; now we will have to interpret the microanatomy when there
is pathology present.
Surgical
Pathology and Anatomy Review
We don’t
receive a grade for this course, but it could arguably be the most important
course we will take. Over the semester
we will review surgical pathology techniques so that we are better prepared for
our clinical rotations. During the first week we covered dictations for small
and simple specimens (biopsies, tonsils, appendix, etc.). In addition to dictations, we will cover
inking, dissection techniques, fixatives, frozen section techniques, etc. This will be a great way to refresh our
memory on everything we’ve learned and observed so far in our gross room
rotations. Having this course will definitely help me feel less nervous on my
first day of clinical rotations.
Also this
semester we each spend a week in the gross room shadowing! I’m looking forward
to hopefully seeing more complex specimens.
