Making it through PA didactic year is quite the challenge—congratulations! You’ve finally graduated from the “firehose” of classroom information and now get to apply your knowledge in a clinical setting. While it’s undoubtedly an exciting transition, many students soon discover that the distinction between didactic vs clinical year is real.
Between exercising clinical comprehension throughout the day and balancing prep for end of rotation (EOR) exams and the PANCE after work hours, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and overworked. If you find yourself in this camp, fear not! Here’s some advice to help you navigate the change of pace and new responsibilities of clinical year.
💡 Approaching your clinical year exams? Check out my other post about how to study for your end of rotation exams (and PANCE prep)!
1. Create your own deadlines.
While you have major deadlines during your clinicals, such as monthly exam dates and infrequent assignments, a lot of your review is at your own discretion. This is much different than didactic year, when you were having multiple exams per week.
While the change of pace between didactic vs clinical years may feel nice at first, it can be easy to procrastinate. This can lead to getting behind in your review and unnecessary stress before EORs. A way to prevent this is to have a general idea of how far into your studying you should be throughout the rotation, and create your own deadlines.
2. Follow a schedule.
Creating a schedule is a great way to navigate transition from didactic to clinical year. At the beginning of each rotation you’ll be given the schedule for your clinical, which is likely between four to six weeks long. This may be working every Monday through Friday, three 12-hour shifts, or any variety of shifts that your preceptor works.
Since it varies each rotation, I recommend creating a new schedule for each one. This schedule should include due dates for course assignments or preceptor reviews, time to study for the PANCE and your end of rotation exam outside of clinical work, exam deadlines, and other pertinent commitments.
While a schedule will take a bit of time to create, you’ll benefit greatly from coming into each rotation with a plan and clean slate. One tool to consider is Blueprint’s PA Study Planner, a “smart” scheduling tool to plan out your entire study period in just a few clicks—and it’s completely FREE!
No matter how you create your schedule, the act of having one will hold you accountable and remind you of what they need to do to stay on track. I relied greatly on my planner throughout my clinical year, and still keep one on me as a practicing PA!
3. Choose the right resources.
I always recommend having one to two clinical reference books to use for studying, along with one practice question bank. I found this to be the perfect balance, with just enough resources but not too much material to get through when studying. My favorite two books are the notorious PANCE Prep Pearls and Comprehensive Review for the Certification and Recertification of Physician Assistants.
As for practice question banks, I utilized Blueprint PA (formerly Rosh Review) throughout my clinical year. If you’re searching for clinical year Qbanks, check out this bundle deal for PANCE and EOR prep!
The bundle includes:
👩💻 PANCE Qbank – 3,800 NCCPA-formatted questions with explanations
🩺 Rotation Qbank bundle – 1,750 questions with explanations
💪 PANCE Power Packs – 600 “must know” high-yield questions for the PANCE
📈 Plus personal analytics, extra support, Rapid Reviews, and more!
4. Optimize your clinical time.
Showing up to clinicals is one thing, but soaking up your experiences is another. It’s important to be fully immersed in what you’re doing during clinicals, as it’ll help you grow enormously as a PA.
Every patient case is an opportunity to quiz yourself on your medical knowledge. Try to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient independently, and compare this to what your preceptor does. You’ll be impressed at how much seeing disease processes in real life will help your retention and understanding.
5. Take notes at clinical.
While you’ll likely need to write down all your patient interactions during rotations, be sure to go beyond that with your note taking.
For example, if you’re reminded of a topic you need to review while on rotation, make sure to write this down to review later. Note any clinical pearls or clues given to you by your preceptor. These are excellent learning opportunities and will help you become the best provider possible.
6. Prepare to fall behind.
Although it may not be ideal, interruptions happen and even the most meticulous plans need to be revised. Perhaps your preceptor invites you to a pharmaceutical dinner or you get the chance to stay late at clinical for an interesting case. (You should never pass up these educational and networking opportunities!)
Alternatively, maybe something personal unexpectedly comes up, or you’re simply not feeling well, so you have to take an unanticipated break. No matter the circumstance, things will come up that interrupt your schedule throughout your clinical year.
Given this, I always recommend blocking some “make-up” time at the end of every week to catch up on topics you fall behind in. If you anticipate this, you can get back on track before falling further behind. (This is where the smart PA Study Planner tool comes in handy, too—it’ll automatically rebalance your remaining study tasks at the click of a button!)
And, if for some reason you don’t fall behind that week, use this time for some much needed rest and relaxation. 🧘♀️
7. Focus on the bigger picture.
The most important piece of advice I can give you for working through the stress that comes with change is to focus on the big picture. Soon you’ll be practicing independently as a provider, and when that time comes you’ll flash back to experiences you had during your clinical year.
No matter which rotation you’re on, soak up all that happens. Not everything you see during clinicals will be pertinent to your end of rotation exams or the PANCE, but it may all show up at some point in your career. So while you’re working hard every day, remember the end goal you’re working towards to stay motivated.
Final Thoughts
The difference between didactic vs clinical years comes down to learning from patients rather than relying solely on books/courses. This is a big transition, and we hope these tips help you along the final stretch of PA school! We’re cheering for you here at Blueprint 🤩
