It has been 6 years since I began working as a Physician Assistant. I actually still can’t believe it, when the NCCPA sent me a letter reminding me that I had to recertify and take my boards I figured they must have miscalculated, yet it is true, I have been working 6 years in the field, and am 6 years older I suppose as well. On this date, we as PA’s have to recertify, it is a “chance” to see how much we know or find out how much we have forgotten.  In reality there is quite a bit of both, probably more of the latter.

This also has had me thinking a lot about my next six years, it is hard to sit there and study for 8 hour blocks and not think, “where will I be the next time I sit to take this exam” or “is this where I should be now”?

I absolutely love my job, I consider myself to be privileged in this matter, how many people can go to work each day and look foreword to being there? I am surrounded by wonderful supportive people, doing something I truly believe in. I am grateful for my work, for the fact that the organization I work for does not train us to be cogs in a wheel, gives us freedom to be more than just pushers of patients and providers of “numbers” and provides us with the autonomy we need to be able to do the kind of work I have always felt Pa’s and D’s were meant to do in the first place.  We are empowered to serve our community, care for our patients like we would care for our family, devise treatment plans that are patient specific, bring our ideas and our character to our job and the freedom to be “artists” each day. It is easy to get caught up in the complaints of any workplace, and maybe it is the economy that provides more gratitude for what we have, or maybe it is six years of more life lived, or maybe it is the community in which I work. A community that is fueled by long labor intensive work. I am humbled by their love and commitment to family, I am jealous of their ability to find peace in the face of such adversity. I am reminded that as Seth Godin says in his wonderful book Linchpin, that finding happiness in work is not about finding a job that matches your passion but about making your passion match your job. In other words, find something you enjoy well enough, and then bring your passion to it to transform that into something remarkable and meaningful.  You don’t have to get what you want when you want what you have!

So, as I prepare to take my test, and pour through medical review books and 3 cups of Seattle’s Best Coffee I am reminded of what it took to get here, reminded of the work I have left to do, and how time seems to go by without a moments notice. I hope that when I do this again in 6 years, I will be able to be proud of where I am,  bringing passion to my work. I am reminded of a quote by Gandhi:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

To bad he didn’t have any advice for how to pass your board exams, or maybe that is it!