I graduated from Rutgers PA program. It is a top PA program that has been turning out fantastic PAs for years. They provided an excellent education, and I strongly recommend them to anyone who’s interested.
But they did do some things that I can’t understand. We spent hours learning to tie knots. A good idea, right? At first, I would agree. Here’s where I move away. We learned to tie two handed knots. Then we learned left-handed two-handed knots. Then we learned one-handed ties. Then we learned left-handed one-handed ties.
I’ve been in surgery for 15 years. I work in over 10 different specialties with over 70 different surgeons in a year. Do you know how many times I’ve used a left-handed one-handed tie? Zero. As a specialist in my field and in the OR every day, I’d say I two-handed tie about once a month and one-handed tie a few times a week.
Heck we used barbed suture more and more, and those don’t even require a knot. They hold themselves in place with these tiny little barbs.
If you’re in my business and you’re in the OR every day, tying knots is a good skill to have in your back pocket. But if you’re a student, there are plenty of skills I’d teach you before left-handed one-handed ties.
You see, I’d start by teaching you skills to be the best student you can be. Schools aren’t in the practice of doing that, and I think it’s a great disservice to you and a mistake by them. I think if they produced better students, they’d have a lot better outcomes and make a lot better practitioners.
The time spent acquiring higher level reading, communication, memorization, retention, and test-taking skill is 100% worth the investment. These are skills you will use every single day as a student and every single day as practitioner. Improving in these areas is what will take you from good to spectacular.
Knowing how to tie a left-handed one-handed knot is a party trick.
Let’s get started with the January 2022 issue of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars newsletter. I’ve got some very clear ideas on how you can rise to the top of your class and some clear instructions and techniques that will have move you to an entirely new level as a student.
The clocks running out. Take care of this now.
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace