The Interview That Got This Pre-PA Accepted to 5 PA Schools

all right um if you would tell me a little about yourself and why you'd like to be a PA okay um well I'm totally you already know that I'm a paramedic I went to the University of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and graduated with a degree in emergency medicine I grew up in Houston Texas I am a passionate Texan even though I went away for school I came back as soon as I could and I loved growing up here and the child of two Nigerian immigrants who made it to Texas as fast as I could I loved working in health care I think it's one of the best ways we can serve our community which is something I'm passionate about an undergrad I was part of an organization that focused on service in the community and did work with the Boys and Girls Club and a bunch of different organizations that really focused on meeting the people within our community meaning their needs the best we could but not an way that we were superior but just meeting them where they were and so you'll see I'm sure if you've seen them as you mean you see that GSS was a huge part of my undergraduate career and I continue to do that in my community of faith and that was a big part of it which is where my internship comes into play when I was an intern in the family ministry but look at on that later I would say that one of the attributes I think best defines myself is that I'm very calm during crisis I think most paramedics should be that would probably be problematic if they were he wouldn't be but I really learned it when I was in my clinical education that I could become during crisis because my preceptor pointed it out that when we had somebody you know coding in front of us instead of getting friends either for in tech I would just call myself down and see what we could do to face them at hand and that trade has served me very well and a lot of scenarios in the ER in the ambulance in real life yeah what else is there to say I really enjoy crafting and working with my hands for fun I have a lot of clients I love the fact that they depend on me and that I have to be disappointed taking care of my plans or disciplined in taking up a new craft and learning how to master it without giving up that was a really great intro to who you are it was nice and detailed not too long but just sort of perfectly detailed a lot of great information in there and I really liked it a lot um but you did a great job of introducing yourself in the beginning and kind of showing a little bit about you personally I think those personal details about you know where you're from your family background you're interested in serving the community it was all really great stuff I think mentioning the attributes that make that make you a strong paramedic it's something that I've never had anyone mentioned to me in that question before and I think it's a really nice a nice thing to mention how it ties into your healthcare career um it makes perfect sense to it also comes across well when you're talking to me that you seem very calm and very measured you don't seem nervous at all whether you are or not you don't seem it um it's really nice and then that little mention of your plants and your crafting is great because I can kind of see your plants in your room and your bedroom is actually really beautiful if this is your room it's beautiful I wish you were around and I'd have you up to my place right now after moving I think that was a beautiful answer and I really really like it a lot the only thing I think you could maybe do a little bit better is um tell me a little bit more about why PA I asked that question a lot of times people prepare for the question to be two different questions so I like to polish it together just to keep people guessing guessing so you're not the first person to forget to ant answer that part so um if you want to take go ahead okay cool so intro and I wouldn't be a physician assistant I love health care and learned I loved it as I worked as a paramedic and I enjoy EMS for sure I love the interactions with high acuity patients and even like our frequent flyers that I see once a week but I found myself missing the connection and the Palmer theory that I would get the most time I spent with most of my patients was maybe an hour and I would get to do my diagnosis assessment and treatment but after I dropped them off of the ER I may not ever see them again never have any idea of whether the short treatment I did helped at all and I also really enjoy beginning so that you make between you and your patients and getting to follow them through the healthcare journey so whether it's a brand new diagnosis or something they've been dealing with chronically I'd love to be involved in their care in a way that is more permanent and in a more advanced world and after shadowing and working a lot with different healthcare professionals the PA role on the healthcare team made the most sense to me I work in a team on the endurance it's me and maybe names here another paramedic and I realized the value and having someone you can consult like a attending physician when you need extra input and also having the autonomy to make your own diagnosis decisions and make your own treatment plan appropriately so I just became enamored with the PA profession when I interacted with them in excuse me in the field when I was working in Pittsburgh and I got the chance to shadow a PA in the pediatric outpatient setting and kids just loved her and I just thought it was the neatest thing that she could see a patient was it swindle baby and the brother and sister would come and she's been treating them all for their entire life and it just gives a better sense of community like you're involved it's much less transient been a paramedic would be I would think really great all the right things you know I think that your focus on teamwork and collaboration and why that appeals to you is awesome you mentioned the limitations timewise for a paramedic and kind of how that you know prohibits you from bonding with patients and I think that it's a strong thing to mention and then following it through by giving that example at the about the pediatric PA that you shadowed in hash has been involved in patients their whole lives I think if it was a perfect explanation to be honest you are in doing great with those two questions like excelling I also just really think that you have a really really great way of communicating you're just so calm and so smooth you don't seem ruffled your [Laughter] awesome job you actually also really remind me of a friend of mine you look a little bit like her you sound like her when she talks oh yeah all right well tell me um tell me why you'll be an ideal candidate for PA school well I think I have a few attributes that would make me a great candidate for your program i one of them being the experience I have from my undergraduate education the major I was in is very unique and I was so excited to be a part of it it's a combined didactic and clinical education program where we were learning clinical medicine cardiology and respiratory also while applying those principles and skills in the field in a bunch of different medical scenarios and a lot of people don't have the opportunity to even encounter clinical medicine in a school setting during their undergraduate and I feel like it's prepared me to continue on to take courses such as internal medicine behavioral medicine classes that your program offers that I've had experience with not only in the classroom but in the field I also think that my paramedic experience in addition to my education is going to be a huge point of value for both myself and for your program in my fellow classmates there's a certain thing that it takes to encounter a patient interact with them respectfully and have them leave with respect for you and the medical field and also feeling that they trust you and have hope in their diagnosis and I've learned how to do patient like a human being history do the physical assessment and also do my job by forming a treatment plan all while interacting with them one on one and not just I'd say develop the bedside manner that leaves a lot of patients feeling like they're known and valued and I think that's not something you can teach in the classroom but you do learn how to do it in the field and I'd love to encourage my classmates and better develop myself in that and also I think one of my best attributes is that I am an eternal optimist it's not something that you see a lot of in EMS which I thought was interesting when I joined the field I had a lot of preceptor say I was annoyingly chipper and while that might be discouraging this um I just have a very deep-seated hope that things are going to be okay you find the best and everybody and everything especially in that field where you're seeing a lot of not so best things so it's circling well my patients feel that when I walked into their rooms and I think it encourages my co-workers when they have when we're having a really rough shift if I just remind them of the goal that we're having or the privilege we have to serve our community in this capacity it tends to make the shift go by a little bit faster and I think that would serve as well because PA is PA school is a marathon even though it's 2 to 3 years it is going to be very difficult and I've encountered rigorous coursework and you know the toll that can take on someone so I think that encouraging myself my classmates to push forward towards the goal will be a huge benefit and make me a great candidate that's great you touched on every aspect that I look for in an answer like that it's all your academic ability which was Steller's to be able to it's a very unique program like you said I've never heard anybody actually had that same kind of experience in an undergrad program so I think highlighting it's definitely the right approach mentioning how you want to share and encourage your classmates always another thing that I think is important to mention in that question so excellent job and then you're bringing in your professional work and how that will benefit your classmates was great - and then that last a little bit about being an optimistic um it was really nice and it should just kind of show that you would make a great PA and you'll have your patients best interest at heart and I think kind of be a really strong advocate for them so yeah I have no no criticisms because you were just amazing um I would definitely try to pull them out want you to get something good out of it but at least at this point I can tell you like you're a superstar at this point so I really appreciate that even this is like super an exception no I'm serious I I think you're doing an amazing job thank you reading my mind in terms of what I'm what I'm looking for so I'm super impressed I'm gonna try some time questions sure I have a quick question just I so the interviews I have ahead oromë MMI format is this similar to how that would be are these just regular questions but timed they're more regular questions but timed we I can build in some questions that kind of mimic that scenario format of the MMI actually I'm working on we're working on pulling together an M in my mock but it's pretty difficult I'm working on doing that so I'll do a couple of the questions that I'm working on for that I'll give you we can do build a time limit in for those if you want to um the other thing I was going to mention is I'm building this MMI mock mock format it's not ready yet but if you want I would love to if you're at all interested I would love to sort of practice it with you so if you want to do it with me for free I would love to do that just because it'll give me practice and kind of so I'm not sure exactly when it'll be done I'm hoping like by the end of this week or sometime early next week so um yeah I'll let me talk to you but I would love to because you would be perfect anyways you're already like a stellar interviewer but you'll you'll have amazing feedback from me too I think in terms of how I can make it better so thank you I appreciate that yeah that would be awesome so let me make a note to myself okay alright so for a timed format it'll be 60 seconds per answer I'm gonna raise my hand like this when you get close to the limit you can feel free to wrap your answer up we'll do five questions like this okay all right um we can start with the classic interview question tell me about your biggest weakness I guess weakness I want to honestly say that I think my biggest weakness is that I tend to be a bit naive I don't think the naivete but I experience or exhibit is foolishness a lot of people have told me that I'm wise for my age but I do tend to see the best in everyone and while that can serve good purposes it can also lead to situations that may not be the best I've had patients that are what we would call professional patients who can take advantage of people like myself that are younger I wouldn't say inexperienced but maybe a little more naive entrusting and it's not building up that judgment that an eighth judgment one maybe a patient is trying to manipulate you however I do think this is something that I can rectify by just getting more experience the more patients I encounter I mean even comparing myself from when I was an EMT Basic two now I've learned to better understand when a patient is telling the truth and maybe when they're trying to play on my sympathies to get maybe what they want great so you're about ten seconds over not a big deal in my format anyway in other formats but I think it's a really nice answer I think it it reads as a definite weakness but one that you've got a handle on a weakness it sort of airs on the side of being kind and compassionate to other people which i think is if you're gonna have a weakness much better to go that route than maybe the other the other um I could I definitely feel like you explained it well you also kind of approach to you know it's a tricky situation to talk about patients who are abusing the system and you want to not be negative but also be honest and fair I think you did that very well you were able to kind of show empathy for those patients while also presenting the facts in a non negative way so it came across extremely well and I like balanced it out at the end kind of by showing what you've learned and I think you're right just with more time in the field it makes sense and kind of showing how you've already overcome it in some ways was great too okay I was kind of I practiced I answer but kind of on the edge of that like okay do you actually use that because I don't want it to read like oh she's young inexperienced and you know it's gonna be taken advantage of yeah little rebuffed like that at all I think so and I think it was because of the way you phrased it um because you you initially set it up by saying not foolishness and how people have told you you're wise which I think was a very nice thing to emphasize and it basically I feel like instead of I mean I think it could just be related to that optimism that you already presented so well because it just shows that you do want to believe the best about everybody so to me it came across as a strength and I think that another strength of a weakness that that was it didn't d'etre wasn't a detriment if he's gonna mean it didn't come across as a widow red flag yeah it was all down to the way you explained it though I think if you hadn't explained it so well I could see your point but yeah um all right let's give me I'm gonna give you a chance to uh brag on yourself a little bit since I asked you for the weakness tell me my main strength I think it's strange I would say that one of my biggest dreams is one of the best compliments I've received from co-workers and employers that I'm a peacemaker I think it has a lot to do with my personality that I I'm not conflict avoidant but I also seek moments for mediation whenever there is disagreement it goes back to that optimism thing if you see connection with other people and you see what you have in common you can often just get along you don't have to be best friends with everyone but I often seek moments for conflict resolution versus sitting in the negative it's come very in handy with my co-workers when I am partnered with somebody for a 24 hour shift that doesn't necessarily like me I try to figure out okay how do i best interact with this person they don't have to be my best friend but we do have to work together and we have to work together well for the sake of our patients yeah I'm when you said that in my account how would anyone work with you that doesn't like you who on earth could not like I did have a partner that left me behind one so there's people out there it's it's a funny story but it's definitely been full didn't make me feel very good but you know some people just want to sit through 20 more hours and not talk to you and if even if I want to talk to you I have to do what's best for the work relationship so a lot of maturity and I think that answer um peacemaker I've never heard that before so I knew it was gonna be something great to just because of the you're such a great communicator and even the way you phrased that I I wrote some of it down word for word because I was like if I could speak this well I would I would probably be a millionaire or something by now because you would just have a awesome way how'd you say it you seek moments for mediation I just just like beautifully phrased stuff so I don't know I mean I feel like I'm gushing a little bit too much probably money system really important I'm a writer too so like language appeals to me it's incredible to have that skill to be able to speak like that you know why but in person I am super jealous of it so I'm I'm impressed and it's a beautiful strength to mention I think especially in your field you showed I think you showed it really well in terms of working with your co-workers where that skill would really come in handy so um stellar basically yeah tell me what you think is the most important quality a PA should possess you know there are a lot of qualities I think are that are important for anybody in the healthcare field and specifically for PAS the one that comes to mind that I've seen most often in mission statements and in talking to people who are guineas and people who are treated by pas is contrition or being a good listener I don't know if they're the exact same thing but being able to see your patient as a human being first and foremost not as another patient on your list but as somebody who may be struggling with the new diagnosis or a chronic illness that they feel like they just cannot manage themselves seeing them as a person and seeking to meet them where they're at is so important I can't think of I cannot count the number of patients I've encountered that have been scorned by the medical field because they felt like they were just treated like a number or another page just something to get through but the people that have told me oh my provider saw me and talked to me like I was a person and helped me where I was it's awesome it makes a huge difference for them and I think every PA should have that quality yeah that's great I think that it's a very common answer compassion but because it's right it's the right and you you also explained it better than most people do which was was great so take comfort in that I think also that emphasis on listening to the patient and seeing them as a person that's really what kind of sets your answer apart from all the others so you described it just in a way that makes it very personal and easy to see that you would be relating to patients one-on-one so I don't know what it is I know compassion as soon as like that's gonna be like with both but I can't think of a word for just like empathy I'm trying to think of something along those lines of just being able to listen well to people and see them as human beings yeah maybe I'm personal you could you could say that what would be personalization is wrong because that sounds like a greeting card company but yeah I'll think about it but I feel like you're okay if you say compassion or empathy either one and adding them that touch of listening is nice as well um how about relatability that might be a better that's quite the right thing either it's built into the video at least yeah that's true I think there's a better word oh I'll make it note and try to think about hope since I'm a writer in words appeal to me it'll it'll be bothering me and I think later on - sores in your head that just kind of knows what you're trying to say tell me what steps you'll take as a PA student to promote unity within your comfort oh man I think something that I really enjoy doing with my a.m. class my paramedic laws when I was in school was just getting together in smaller groups we had a class of about 48 but we would have like dinner parties sort of where we'd all go to dinner or I'd invite some people over so I'd love to do that with my PA classmates when we do have that spare moment of time to relax within the classroom I think something that I can do to promote unity with them a class is really not fostering any sort of environment of competitiveness I think that that's something that happens a lot within pre-health students no matter the field really pre-professional students tend to be competitive with each other so instead of talking about Oh what did I get on this test or look at all the things that I'm doing and kind of humble bragging I think encouraging each other to be the best I think can be individually I'm focusing on how they can improve themselves would do wonders for unity within the class if we feel like we're gonna be co-workers and not competitors that would probably be the best thing I could do to encourage that attitude did you know I was so involved in your answers I'm like the lost track of the time so you went tensing which was my fault but I think you're in great shape with that I like that you brought in a personal experience from before the only thing I would recommend is um I mean you mentioned that your your other class was 48 people and so you would break into smaller groups dinner parties and things like that I think that's because it but I think you want to just be cognizant of the idea of not not creating a cliff or something like that wanted to come across like that so maybe just um maybe just leave the smaller group part of it out and just focus on unity in general I think it's a great approach though and definitely talking about you know fostering that non-competitive spirit is a great idea - all right let's say all right we'll do one more that I'm one more these time ones tell me one thing about you I won't find anywhere in your application I think something that you won't find in my application is that I am a huge reader I read I didn't read as much an undergrad because is very busy reading the assigned textbooks but this past year postgraduate that I've had I've focused on finding the hobbies that I enjoyed before I went to college and really kind of hunkering down and really getting into them and I've been doing this reading challenge for the past year just because I love learning about different subjects whether it's space or house plans or traveling Europe in the 1900s or something I just think it's so need to learn from shared experiences and people who experience very specific lifestyles so that's something I don't can go find in my application I've read about 43 books this year and hope to get to 80 to 82 by the end of the year so that's my goal is incredible super prolific to be honest like eighty two books in a year is incredible that's awesome I think it's a great it's a great thing to mention too and it just shows sort of that same willingness to learn and I feel like it kind of relates to that spirit that you've been talking about you know serving your community engaging with other people it's kind of related to that in a different way because you're just yourself up to new experiences so I think it's a really great a great thing to mention and then mentioning at Reading Challenge that's so specific is a nice way of kind of showing you're serious about it to lip-service so yeah it's pretty awesome it's a Reading Challenge is it like a specific kind of books or did you just take the books and pick the number you wanted so the reading challenge it's like a specific book like I think it's meet one of my friends introduced me to it it was like oh pickup book that has the color blue in the title pick a book that was written by an author who's you read all of their other books or author you don't like or something like that so it's a bunch of different specific things and then I kind of combined a couple reading challenges to get to that number just because the most books I've read in a year was fifty and I was like I can do more than that all right good job on the timed questions um super engaging answers they were all very interesting so you did a great job let's let's try one of the scenario questions um I wanted to give you some practice with that so why don't I give you a time limit of like four minutes just because it'll kind of mimic that MMI format I've never had a can never had a clinic go to 4 minutes while answering this question but more power to you if you do but I'll keep track of it for you um so you are PA and your patient has been diagnosed with HIV they don't want to tell their partner what would you do in that situation that is a very busy situation just because you're wanting to honor your patients or rights as a patient for confidentiality but you also thinking of the general welfare of their partner the public and really just everyone that bill encounter every provider they'll encounter in the future that if they don't disclose they're not only putting themselves at danger they're putting a lot of other people in danger I know that legally some states have wear policies where you must report it to at least the CDC or to the partner if there was a law if I was practicing in a state where that was part of the legislature I would absolutely follow Allah and inform the patient that as much as I want to respect their confidentiality I do have to record it to the CDC or whatever or whoever if it wasn't part of the legislature and I needed to uphold a patient's confidentiality I would try my best to stress how important it is that they disclose to their partner when to future health care providers because it's dangerous but ultimately if I am not legally allowed to do so and it's not in the best interest of my patient I wouldn't disclose it to the partner say they said they were fearful that their partner would abuse them or injure them or there would be some sort of violence if they found out that would be a scenario in which I wouldn't feel comfortable disclosing to the partner ultimately it boils down to what am I allowed to do within the limits of the law because in my opinion the right thing to do would be to disclose to the partner so that they can go on and practice safe sexual encounters and that the partner would not become another patient but if I'm not allowed to then I just have to do my best to educate the patient on the importance of disclosing and the steps I can take to protect themselves and their partners great um so you were right at two minutes which was nice I think it was a nice thorough answer that you gave um you were we were on the money I think in terms of the reporting requirements so two months to the best of my understanding you're basically required by the CDC so it's I think the national level law that the city requires you to report it to the State Health Department and then at the state level the reaction of the Health Department is a little bit different depending on the state laws um so just for what that's worth um a near a paramedic practicing so you may know better than I am I do if the law has changed in that regard um but the last time I checked it that's well that's kind of the way the law was working but you I think you explained it really beautifully in terms of shows that you would definitely follow the law that you would know it as a PA because you're responsible and and looking those things up and I like this the emphasis that you gave to the different you know key you considered a lot of different scenarios with the partners reaction that not a lot of people have kind of mentioned to me before so definitely mentioning that that violent reaction and that would give you pause before you know disclosing or things like that those are showing a deeper level of looking at the situation and treating the person like an individual which is a great approach here's a couple of things I like to mention for this answer just to kind of supply a little bit extra detail I always recommend offering to meet with a partner and the patient together to kind of provide a little bit more education there so it's just a nice touch but also if you wanted to if your you did great on this question in terms of the leg legal component that was in this but if you are in a situation where you're like I know there's more to this question that I'm not able to or you think they were looking for something that you're not providing or you just want to failsafe it's always a nice thing to say it's part of the beauty of the PA profession that you work with a collaborating physician so that you can say you know hey this is a new situation for me is there anything that I should have touched on that I haven't covered or that kind of thing just to show that you're doing your due diligence so it's just a little tip I like to offer people look for that question and any other good yeah you did really well though and a lot of people don't know that CDC information so even just mentioning the CDC was great because it shows that you're really on top of it tell me if you would about one of your regrets I think one of my bigger regrets more recently was during my sophomore year of college I took a very heavy course load of Sciences that I knew were difficult but in the state for the sake of time I thought I can just instead of taking the advice of people who have gone before me and had encountered those classes so I decided to take organic chemistry physics and statistics alongside some other already difficult courses just maybe assuming too much into my own academic strength but thinking oh I'll just take care of it it'll be fine and when I was not doing well not only was I not doing well just because of courses were hard and I wasn't using all the resources I had available I also had a family crisis happen that took away a lot of my attention so I was already behind the ball and then fell even further behind the ball and instead of reaching out for help when I was in them I would say the danger zone of my grades not being what I expected them to be I just kind of hunkered down and tried to rely on my own strength I wish if I could go back there and tell sophomore year totally I wish that she had sought tutoring and thought maybe counseling if I was having some emotional crisis or things that were going on personally to try to work through those instead of hunkering down in isolation because I don't think a lot of good things come out of isolation so in the future after that event and realizing how much I messed myself up by trying to rely on my own strength being able to do everything by myself I've really seen the value of tutoring and seeking help even putting your pride aside to seek help and just asking people to speak into the situation you're in that's nice especially if you have grades that you kind of wanted to explain anyway it's a good invention and one thing I like that you did was you took good responsibility for the situation even before you mentioned having this family crisis that added to the burden so it wasn't like you were trying to brush it off by saying you know I had this happen you took her or for it all the way around and I think you explained it so well and I really liked that you gave this idea of you know he kind of explained your approach was to isolate yourself when in the way you phrased that was another one of those beautiful phrases that you are able to pull out I think good comes from isolation it was just beautiful it was a really nice balance of information that you provided and then showing kind of what you wish you had done differently and how you would apply it you know it just shows that an openness to seeking help seeking input counseling those kind of things which is all great stuff so thanks yeah really nice job tell me if you were at a time where your work was criticized and tell me about your immediate reaction and then sort of how you overcame okay I can definitely think of several moments when my moment my work was criticized the first thing that comes to mind was when I was working with a partner who was actually my preceptor at the time I was still a paramedic student and this partner already did not like me very much and in this situation he was the person precepting me so I made the treatment plan as a student paramedic I would say okay this is what I think we should do for the patient and I usually err on the side of most cautious using the most resources I have available and sometimes using more things in a seasoned paramedical it because I don't have that innate judgment when I'm a student I don't just know okay looking at these symptoms I know what's gonna happen so I suggested we involve Medical Command which is a resource EMS has to call a physician to say hey this is my treatment plan what do you think especially if you think that it varies from your protocols because we practice under the licensure of a doctor who has protocol set out so anytime I encounter a patient that I think might be a little more dangerous for me to handle on my own I like to see clinical command and he laid into me afterwards for seeking medical command saying you should have just done it yourself you would have been absolutely fine and I will be honest I was definitely disheartened at first because I didn't see anything wrong and what I did but later I just asked him okay in the future if Anton is on a patient what would be the best way to remedy it if you don't think I should have called Medical Command then he dipped lay out some guidelines and definitely some things that were actually pretty constructive even though first I thought it came out of just a dislike for me I saw that there was definitely an education component to it and some of the advice he gave I still use to this day when it comes to encountering patients that I don't immediately know what to do it and yeah so even though I was disappointed and a little disheartening taken aback I may or may not have cried I was able to have a conversation with him a couple hours after the situation just to calm myself down and try and seek something good out of an encounter that normally would have just put a bad taste yeah so I think the whole explanation was great and you explained it very clearly the only thing I would be a little bit hesitant about is maybe mentioning that he didn't like you because it I feel like it doesn't really need to be said probably and it could be taken as by some people as a negative comment type of a thing so um or you might have to you know if somebody we're really nosey they might come up and find out why so then you'd end up talking about it even more I think I would just avoid that part of it and just talk about you know how it felt I think the rest of it was great and even being honest and saying you know how it was pretty disheartening at first and you might have cried understandable especially as a new person so it shows that vulnerability and it shows your honest reaction but it shows you working through it I think that was great let's see let's try this one more scenario question if that's okay and I'll limit you to another four minutes this was long so I apologize it's a it's a long one for me to read but let me have any questions okay so European a working in a cardiology practice and you typically see most of the patients and you're supervising MD signs the chart and assigns the billing codes and you notice that he's billing Medicare and Medicaid at higher levels and tells you when you ask that it's because you don't get reimbursed enough you're concerned that you might have some liability if the physician is caught committing basically fraud what would you do in that situation well that's definitely another tricky situation because my first reaction is I want to respect my attending physician and while there is something that seems a little off I may want to just acquiesce and say okay if you say so but there is a huge component that I worked hard for my VA licensure or my PA certification and do not want to lose my certification or be liable or standpoint complicit in fraud especially when it comes to billing Medicare Medicaid for how we're treating our patients I'd want to want it to be completely honest so I go and have a conversation with the physician who's already told me that he we don't get billed enough and ask him how we can rectify the situation of okay if we're not getting billed enough what can we do to maybe maybe increase in the profits if that's a problem how can we seek to make maybe more money for their practice if that's the problem without committing fraud if you were to give me pushback on that or say you just don't understand or continue to I'd have to seek somebody who was in a higher position I believe that there's always someone we're all we always have a supervisor somebody you always answer to someone so after trying to rectify the situation with the physician I'd probably seek someone in supervision and ask them there and maybe ask a colleague their input on the situation without trying to spread it around too much to avoid it becoming gossipy but yeah ultimately my goal would be to do the behavior that could get both of us in trouble and that might include letting the physician now okay I see your point but what you're doing is illegal or can get us both in a lot of trouble we did you did a really great job on this one too it was another one yeah the only thing I would recommend is maybe even being more forceful at the end by something like you know if I had to walk away from that position I would just to show that you're by yourself well you did things in that question I mean granted I haven't asked this one many times because this is anyone for me but nobody else has mentioned certain things you were looking for a solution for that to that issue rather than just mentioning like okay I have to deal with this fraud business you're taking it a step saying like okay well if money is an issue how can we raise this money how can we make it up in a legal way nobody has done that before and that's a really smart approach it just says a lot about your brain I think your problem-solving ability and your your willingness like you said to be a mediator um it was a really nice really nice job you also did another thing that was great which was talking about you know seeking input from someone else a colleague but doing it with discretion so that it didn't gossipy these are just like really nice subtle things that you're doing I think that's a lot about who you are thank you yeah it's really great stuff um it was a really really strong answer you might I even like the opening part I was a little concerned in the beginning where you were talking about your initial instinct would be to respect that you know out of respect for the MD but I think you seemed you blended it all well together and ultimately your answer was perfect so I even like you started off with that because it does show a lot about you know your the relationship you hope to have with the physician so as far as I'm concerned all right tell me tell me I don't think he told me the name of the school you're interviewing with first so um just let me know why that school is right for you and why you're a good fit for their program hey well I'm so excited to be given the opportunity to interview at my alma mater the University of Pittsburgh I had such a great experience learning how to be a healthcare provider in the School of Health and we have sciences so knowing that the physician assistant program is also in the same school at the same University I had I know that they have a very high emphasis on patient-centered care that's how I was taught to be a paramedic and I have noted that's how I'll be taught to be physician-assisted I love Pittsburgh it's a very cool city and I have a great community here in a great support system even though my family is in Houston the friends and community I've built here while I was an undergrad have been so solid that I've considered coming back to Pittsburgh even though I'm a die-hard Texan I love the UMC system I learned a lot about patient care critical acute patient care and also day-to-day chronic illness management in the different rotations I did through the PMC system so the opportunity to do my clinicals through that hospital system and also through rural areas in surrounding Pennsylvania I think will give me a really good foundation on patient care and I think clinical education is one of the most important things I'm looking for in a physician assisted School that's how I learned how to be a paramedic didactic was very informative and I learned a lot about medicine and pharmacology but learning how to actually take care of patients and interact with them was completely through my clinical education and the Pitts Pitts PA program has an excellent reputation for good clinical experience I've had a couple of friends and mentors who have gone through this program and are now wonderful practicing PAS and I would jump at the opportunity to go through the same program I also really like the fact that it's a 24-month program I am eager to be a part of the field and know that I can keep up with fast paced programs the paramedic program I was in was eight months rather than two years like the traditional program would be and I did well in it and I think I can do well and I'm accelerated or a little bit of a faster paced PA program so yeah I would love to be a part of this program and I hope that you would seriously consider me if you get into this program absolutely I cannot I don't think I've ever done interviewed somebody who's done this well consistent which makes my work yeah no I'm not just saying it it's you're really really doing a great job and also I think it's amazing that you get to interview at your alma mater you you definitely show enthusiasm your whole face was sparkling when you were talking about it so so it makes this next question I feel like it's a pointless question to ask you but I'm gonna ask you anyway because it's part of our interview and I think it's important just in case they're not enough to do this um tell me if you're not accepted into the program why you think that might be hmm well if I wasn't accepted in the program I think it would the main thing would probably be my GPA that's probably what I think is the weakest point of my my application I don't think I have a terrible GPA but I do know that there are some classes like organic chemistry and physics that I didn't perform well in and while I didn't perform well in them I don't think it's indicative of how I perform in the classes that I encounter in PE school I think my academic performance and classes that are more clinically related like cardiology would be a better reflection of how I do in the program but if there was anything that would be a point of concern I would think that it's my GPA because I know that PA programs put a lot of emphasis on academic background and performance okay I think that makes sense I think I like that you just chose one specific weakness to talk about so let's not give them too much I think that's a great approach I think you also do a nice job of balancing out you know where you might shine academically and other other forces so kind of balancing that negative with the positive um yeah I think I think that works and I like that you don't spend too much time on it either so just kind of drop that little bomb when you have to and move move forward move on through another thing I would say is maybe maybe rephrase that I didn't perform well just maybe just that seems very um hard hit that it seems harsh so just in terms of I didn't perform as well I know I could have or something like yeah yeah I like that's a good point yeah um all right excellent job I'm gonna ask you one last little light question to make up for that brutal one tell me what you are famous for in your social circle hmm what I'm famous for it okay I think what I'm thinkin is for in my social circle is the ability to reference different funny YouTube videos or TV shows that we like in every scenario I love the TV show the office and can be found quoting different lines from one of the main characters Michael Scott constantly which is great one of their own people who know the show awkward whenever on people who have never seen it so yeah that's amazing and I actually knew you were gonna and when you started that I was like she's gonna talk about the office I watch it all the time I'm like never not watching because it's yeah well you know how I feel that you did in this I honestly if I could stick a gold star on screen I wish kiss you just I think you're yeah how do you feel after this um I feel a lot more confident than I did honestly I spent the last like two hours just like cramming interview questions and the thing that my hesitation with practicing interview questions like on my own is that I don't want it to sound rehearsed and I just am very averse to like anything that seems like I'm putting on like a show or trying to like falsely impress you like my goal is just like you see Who I am because I know that I will I am confident that I'd be a good PA student but how do I make you know that without performing you know what I mean so this definitely helped me just kind of form those answers as I was going with reference to what I've kind of prepared in the past of that make sense yeah it does and I think you you did a great job of doing that because never at one point did I think you've met - even in the first answer which was so perfect that I was like yeah she must have been practicing this for weeks it still sounded like completely natural so thank you so much yeah I mean I really hope that you'll keep in touch with me and let me know how you did a question though I know a lot of PA schools when they're interviewing you at the end they ask you you know do you have any questions for us and I had like two questions that are kind of important to me and I just wanted to know if I asked you these questions as an interviewer would you be put off or like so my first question would be what deep does your program do to encourage cultural competency within your PA students as they enter the profession and then my second question which kind of hits on the question us at the end is is there anything on my application that would give you guys hesitation or hinder you from seriously considering me as a part of this program it's a tough one that last one I think is tough and it puts them on the spot um I feel like if that one's up to you if you can handle it if they come back and tell you honestly then I think it's a good thing to ask yeah so transparency and and maybe a maybe gives you an opportunity to address it with them which is good so I feel like the first question is great also I think it's great and I don't see how anybody could possibly be hesitant about answering that the second one I think um you know it puts you in a situation to have to listen to something to us perhaps um so as long as you're prepared for that I don't I don't think that they would have a problem with it okay yeah I have used that one in packs like job interviews I know it's been helpful and I realized that it's helpful but it is I know that it's kind of like a little bit awkward and I didn't want to yeah well I think that they would respect you for having the you know ability to to hear that in the openness and willingness to take the criticism if there is anything so yeah okay yeah okay so I'm going to upload your video tonight so you'll have that you've got my email address I'll reach out to you about the MMI thing too and as soon as I came in and when you we get together again and do that so I'd really appreciate it because even if it's not for Tuesday I still have two more and one of them is at the end of the month and I am so incredibly there is because it's the program I really want to go to so it's a gwu and DC I'm like I want to go so listen I'll keep that in mind and I'll make sure that we get it for sure I appreciate it yeah okay sounds good well good luck with everything let me know how it goes if you think of me as well thank you so much for your timing your feedback I really appreciate it thank you are you take care and have a great night bye YouTube

Channel: The Physician Assistant (PA) Life

Views: 125,636

Keywords: Physician Assistant, PA, Pre-PA, Interview, PA School Interview, Mock Interview, PA-S, PA-C, Advanced Care Practitioner, Practice, Sample, Example, PA School, Physician Assistant School, CASPA, Physician Associate, Questions, Answers, Nurse Practitioner, Midlevel

Id: aVSX96MAdQI

Length: 54min 3sec (3243 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2019