As their didactic training drew to a close, sixty-three members of the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) Physician Assistant (PA) Class of 2025 gathered in Ross Hall to learn where they would start their year of clinical rotations and take the next steps in the health care careers. Like lottery contestants, students received scratch-off cards that would reveal the first stop on their journeys.
Throughout the clinical year GW’s PA program students complete eight, six-week clerkship rotations in emergency medicine, in-patient medicine, surgery, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral medicine, family medicine/primary are, plus an elective, at some of the more than 130 partner sites. While a few rotations are outside the area — in the Baltimore area or the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and even Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina — most students will spend the next year training at hospitals and clinical practices in the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia.
“We all ranked our preferred elective rotations,” explained Jake Restivo, adding some classmates, chose their elective early in their rotation schedule. “We have a wide array of different specials would you choose to be into. Most of us get one of our core rotations.”
Hoping for a neurology or neurosurgery as his elective rotation, but Restivo would prefer that to come later in the rotation process, after he’s built up a little more first-hand clinical experience.
“I think we got a good foundation, in terms of our medical knowledge. We’ve worked with standardized patients,” said Restivo, who matched in emergency medicine at United Medical Center. He add, however, “I’m positive a majority of our learning will come on the job in our clinical rotation. There’s no substitute for actually seeing health care, in action.”
Not everyone in the room was surprised by the location of their first stop on rotations. Some students may opt select an elective site on their own.
“I self-identified,” said Erin Evans, explaining that she selected her own first rotation in Michigan, because ultimately she wants to practice close to home. “I’m doing OB-GYN in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for my first rotation because that’s the specialty I’m interested in practicing when I graduate. I wanted to get a head start on making connections, but everything else [on her rotation schedule] is a surprise.”
Challenge Bowl Team
During the PA match event, Brandon Beattie, MPA, director of didactic education and assistant professor of physician assistant studies and also serves as the challenge bowl coach, announced this year’s Challenge Bowl team, who will compete at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) in Houston, Texas, May 18-22.
Leading off with team captain Sarah Strupp-Levitsky. Joining her will be Elaine Deming, Baily Newton, and Anna Bellettiere.
Game show-style competition where students tackle questions on a variety of subjects, including physical diagnosis, microbiology, anatomy, OB/GYN, pulmonary, cardiology, primary care, emergency medicine, and surgery. All team members must be AAPA student members currently enrolled in an accredited PA program that has a student society registered with AAPA.
