My second rotation was Emergency Medicine in New York Presbyterian Queens, located in Flushing, NY. The ER saw a combination of mainly Asian, Hispanic, and Black patients with complaints that ranged from falls to stroke like symptoms and chest pain, to status epilepticus and cardiac arrest. I found that the Emergency Department was a great place to learn to interview patients, broaden my differential, and learn how all aspects of the healthcare team come together to treat patients in emergency situations. I would often head over to the trauma room when a code was called to learn about the high acuity cases that would come in and the steps that would be taken to stabilize these patients.

One of the downsides of this rotation was that the ER was mainly resident-run. Although there were no issues with me finding patients to interview and assess, I would have to persistently ask to do procedures because of the priority residents had over PA students. Fortunately, there is a section of the Emergency Room called ED South that is mainly run by PAs and NPs. I found all the PAs and NPs in the ED to be very welcoming to us PA students and willing to take the time to teach us about the more complicated cases that we would see. They would help me understand why certain treatments were preferred over others and would also give me tips on how to improve my interviewing and presenting skills. This is also where I was able to practice most of my procedures!

Some procedures I was able to do include:

• Suturing lacerations on finger, hand, eyebrow, forehead and nose
• Suture and staple removal
• Incision and drainage of abscess on the upper thigh
• Wound irrigation
• Insertion of IVs
• Ultrasound guided IV
• Venipunctures
• Ingrown nail removal
• Assist in reduction of displaced femur
• Assist in reduction of displaced elbow

I valued my time in the ER and with the patients that I interacted with, and felt I learned so much in the span of 5 weeks! I hope in the future, NYPQ will allow more PAs to work in the main section of the Emergency Department. I have seen how much the residents appreciate the floating PAs they work with and would expect that they would welcome PAs as a permanent part of their team with open arms. Not only would it improve the health care team and patient outcome, but PA students would also get a chance to learn first-hand what the role of a PA is in the ED. I am grateful for my time at NYPQ and will continue to advocate for PAs to be further integrated into the ER healthcare team.