I love telling people that I cut string for a living.
As surgical PA, my job involves the principles of traction and counter-traction. We create the right amount of tension on the tissue for any number of reasons.
So, I also love telling people I create tension for a living.
In a wholly different form, tension is the problem for most PA students. They are uptight and nervous. That is 100% understandable and preventable.
Here’s the problem. Everything that should be easy is a spot to get you into trouble. It’s navigating a minefield.
Walk in the room: get told you’re doing it wrong.
Wash hands: get it wrong.
Stand in one spot without moving: get told you’re doing it wrong.
Sit on stool: Nope you’re doing that wrong too.
Cut string: Get told you’re doing it wrong.
You are standing too close or too far away. The suture is cut either too short or too long every single time. If you get to sew, there is no way possible for you to do a good job. Seriously, it impossible.
Except for one little not so secret, secret. STOP being a PA student. In the mind of those you work with, you have to be a person. Not just a student who can get blamed for everything.
If you’re Lucy or Jane or Greg, you stand a MUCH better chance. That goes on forever. If I’m the unknown PA who walks into a room with a doc I don’t know, I’m immediately to blame for everything. The draping isn’t right. The bleeding is my fault, and, yes, the sutures are cut either too long or too short.
The minute I’m “Brian” it’s a lot harder to place the blame on me. If I’m a human with a wife and kids and I make a mistake, it’s understandable. If I’m THE PA, I shouldn’t make any mistakes.
I go over all of this with the students I precept. Knowing how to cut suture accurately isn’t the problem (again, there is almost no way you can get it right).
The favorite word of the day is “dehumanizing.” You’re a PA student. You are not a human. You need to make more of yourself and be a person, be a human.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it works.
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Brian Wallace
