Awakened Anesthetist

BONUS: Mastering AA School Admissions: Expert Advice for Aspiring Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants

• Season 3 • Episode 48

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Happy CAA Week 2024 to all my fellow CAAs, AA students and those who hope to be one soon! As a special gift to this community I am answering your most frequently asked questions- spoiler* they are always about the AA admissions process! This is not my area of expertise, so I asked my latest PROCESS guest, Sarah Whitfield, to stick around after her episode and record this BONUS episode. We dive deep into the AA school admissions process and give you the insider knowledge you won't find anywhere else. Sarah has been a practicing Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant since 2018. She currently sits on the AA admissions committee for South University (Savannah campus) where she helps hand select each incoming student. She shares her expertise about the AA school admissions process and so much more on her new website AspiringCAA.com. I highly recommend her website if you are interested in learning more about the CAA profession. Now go do something nice for yourself this week!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast, the first podcast to highlight the CAA experience. I'm your host, Mary Jean, and I've been a certified anesthesiologist assistant for close to two decades. Throughout my journey and struggles, I've searched for guidance that includes my unique perspective as a CAA. At one of my lowest points, I decided to turn my passion for storytelling and my belief that the CAA profession is uniquely able to create a life by design into a podcast. If you are a practicing CAA, current AA student or someone who hopes to be one, I encourage you to stick around and experience the power of being in a community filled with voices who sound like yours, sharing experiences you never believed possible. I know you will find yourself here at the Awakened Anesthetist podcast. Welcome in, Welcome to this bonus episode of Awakened Anesthetist and especially welcome to CAA Week 2024. This bonus episode is purposely coming out this week because I wanted to offer a little freebie or a little gift to you all, the listeners, as well as something that could really help educate those who are on the CAA journey, those who are thinking of becoming a CAA, because what is CAA Week if we're not enhancing our profession in some way? So I had an idea. To ask my just-past process guest, Sarah Whitfield, if she would stick around for a little bit after we finished recording her process episode to chat about the most asked questions that I get asked by prospective AAs, and these are the ones that have really stumped me in the past. I think the game has changed a lot since I was doing my own admissions process for AA school some 18 years ago, and so I asked Sarah to stick around and chat with me about some of your most frequently asked questions. Sarah and I also created a little freebie for you all with the full list of questions that I offer to Sarah for her expert advice. You can get that by following the link in the show notes of whatever podcast app you're listening to me right now. You can also find it at aspiringcaacom under the resources tab. You will see a link to just an instant download. You don't have to put in an email. There's no paywall. We really want it to be free and accessible for everyone, and the other place to get this is if you follow me on Instagram. You'll see a link to this document in my link in bio, or you can DM me and I'll send you the direct link to the PDF. So again, this is the most frequent asked questions about the AA school admissions process. These questions come directly from you all, the listeners, and from those who I speak with on Instagram or who email me. If you've listened to Sarah's process episode, she talks about aspiring CAA and her journey to founding this website, which is really about spreading the message of the CAA profession and also delivering really accessible expert advice about what it feels and looks like and what the process is to apply to AA school from an insider perspective. So it's really a can't miss resource. I think this PDF we created is really going to help you if you're a prospective AA student and wanting to dive just a little bit deeper into the information that maybe you can find just by Googling. So I really encourage you to go to Instagram, the show notes or aspiringcaacom to get your hands on this frequently asked questions about the AA school admissions process. And if you want to stick around and listen to this podcast episode, you'll hear Sarah and I diving into two of really the most most asked questions from this PDF. And Sarah gives a little bit more behind the scenes, a little bit more of her insider knowledge, and I think it's really going to show you the breadth of knowledge that Sarah has to offer on her website and also through this CAA week freebie that we collaborated on. So thank you so much to Sarah Whitfield and to aspiringcaacom. I know that as CAAs, it is so important to hear our name certified anesthesiologist assistant spoken and to find resources that are made by us and for us, and the work Sarah is doing is really moving the needle forward. So thank you and I hope you all enjoy this episode CAA week. So, Sarah, welcome once again to Awakened Anesthes podcast. Thank you so much for having me back. You are so welcome. I loved our initial conversation. I'm really glad to have created this collaboration with you. So let's dive in. I want to pull out a couple of the questions that I get asked so frequently that every time I'm like I really wish I had a better answer or I knew a little bit more about the admissions process to give a more robust answer. And the first one that I want to dive into is about shadowing. I get so many shadowing questions. I don't know if you feel the same in your work at aspiring CAA. I do.

Speaker 2:

That is one of the top questions I get as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I'm not quite sure why shadowing, you know like it feels like it's just really hard to get placed as a shadow student, as a prospective AA student, and I'm not sure if that's so different because of what some are calling like the tic-tac phenomenon or just this really intense growing interest in the CAA profession, or if it's always been difficult. Do you have a handle on that at all?

Speaker 2:

I think it's become more difficult because of COVID. Most hospitals just really just about all hospitals shut down their shadowing programs during COVID and a lot of them have not reopened or if they have reopened, it has not fully reopened. I'll give you an example of the hospital that I work at. The only way that I can have a prospective AA student shadow me is if they already have a job at the hospital. So if they already have a job as an anesthesia tech or if they already have a job as a you know a patient transporter or you know, pct, then they can come into the OR and shadow me. But they're not just letting anybody come in and shadow. I really think COVID is the big reason why shadowing is now so challenging to get.

Speaker 1:

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, thanks for. I just think it's nice to know that it's hard for everyone, like it's not just uniquely hard for you personally, whoever's out there struggling, and then to follow up with that shadow. It sounds like most schools require about eight hours. Is that sort of average for most of the admissions process?

Speaker 2:

Yes, eight hours is the minimum that schools want to see. They just want to make sure that you've actually gotten into the operating room, that you have seen somebody do anesthesia, that you've witnessed it firsthand, so that you know what you're getting into. You know, as a faculty member, we want people coming into the program who know that they want to do anesthesia and they're committed to it. So, yes, the eight hours is a minimum, but I think it's always helpful when people have more, because an eight hour day is not really going to expose people to the full extent of anesthesia and what CAAs do. So I think the more shadowing you get, the more types of anesthesia you get to see. So maybe you'll get to see a general, maybe you'll see a regional and a MAC case as well. So from the admissions side of things, I think you can't have too much shadowing. Really, the more the better. But the flip side of that, at the same time we understand that it's hard, and so if you can't get a lot of shadowing, we're also understanding of that as well.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, in the PDF you kind of dive into this a little bit more. Any experience in the admissions process from your personal standpoint with someone who maybe had 100 shadow hours versus having just the minimum eight, like in real time, does that really matter? When someone's interviewing, do you think that you have just as good of a chance getting into AA school with eight hours of shadowing versus a hundred, let's say, I think it's hard to answer that question as a hard and fast yes or no.

Speaker 2:

When an admissions committee looks at an applicant, we really look holistically and shadowing is just a small part of that. So, absolutely, I have seen people get an acceptance with the minimum eight hours of shadowing and I've seen people get accepted with a hundred hours of shadowing. So my recommendation would be if you only get the eight hours of shadowing, just try to maximize that. Make sure that you're picking up on as much as you can. Look at the anesthesia monitors. Make sure you talk with the AA your shadowing Okay, what is this line here's the PLETH and here's the Pulse Ox and here's the blood pressure and ask about the drugs that they're using. Try to pick up on all right, what drugs are they using for induction? What's that white drug? What medication are you using to keep the patient paralyzed and immobilized during the procedure? I think it's not so much holding yourself to a strict requirement and rather just get as much as you can, and even if as much as you can is the minimum, that's okay. Just try to Maximize it and get as much as you can out of it so that you're sure that you want to be an anesthetist, because ultimately, that's why there is the shadowing requirement. It's not really to try to impress us per se, it's so that we can look at somebody and say, oh yeah, okay, okay, yeah, they know about the CA profession, they've seen it and we can be sure that they're sure that they want to do it.

Speaker 1:

Mmm, that is such good advice. Yeah, just to always remember that the shadowing is for you, as the applicant, to know that this is what you want to do. One of the negatives of being a CA is that you get this high-level graduate degree to do exactly one job, and so if you get into the middle of it or by the end of it and you say, gosh, I don't really want to do that one singular job, you know you can pivot and there's always other options, but you're not gonna use your CA a degree In any new way. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I think that's a really really good point is that when you graduate from an AA program, you are going to be an AA and you need to be sure that that's what you want to do. There's, like you said, there's really not a lot of places to pivot with that degree and it's also very expensive. So we would, you know, I would hate for somebody to start schools, start paying for you know some semesters or quarters of school and then realize that it wasn't the right career path for them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, I would love to hear your take on one of the other most asked questions and I'm really interested in your response as someone who is an expert in the admissions cycle and have sat on a lot of admissions boards. How often do you see students who didn't get in the first round or their first attempt and they're coming back for a second? Does that happen often and if so, what are you seeing between the two Times that they interviewed or that they applied, that made the difference, and maybe that student then got in the second time, or the third time or the fourth time, I'm not sure.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I have definitely seen students reapply. I think my first piece of advice would really be to ask yourself if you want to be a CAA. And I don't say that to be discouraging. I say that because if you really want to be a CAA, then you're gonna do whatever it takes to be a CAA. But that might require a lot of time and a lot of energy, and so I just would want somebody to be very sure that that's what they want to pursue. So if You're gonna reapply, then I would say really look at all the different aspects of your application and See where you have a little bit of room to improve. If your GPA was low, that's okay. I talked to a lot of people who are concerned about their GPA, and what I really emphasize is an upward trend. So if you have, if you don't have, that upward trend, that it's at that point that I recommend Well, maybe take some post-bac courses. Maybe retake some of these pre-rat courses so that you show the admissions committee that you're really ready for the rigorous curriculum of a master's level anesthesia program. Or maybe look at what kind of medical experience you've had. If you haven't had any, that could be. That could be a really easy place. Well, I say easy, but I do understand that it can be challenging sometimes to find a job within the the medical sphere, but that could certainly be a place that would enhance your application if you can become an anesthesia tech or if you could become, you know, patient care tech or a CNA or an MA or a scribe or a phlebotomist. You know there are a lot of different ways that you can get involved with patient care. Other things that I suggest looking at would be your letters of recommendation. Casa calls those evaluations. Keep in mind that those don't carry over between cycles, so as you're thinking about reapplying, you can think about who you want to write those letters, and one of my biggest pieces of advice regarding this is ask somebody who knows you really, really well. When somebody knows you well, then they can write you a strong letter that doesn't sound too generic. I've read some very impressive letters that give specific anecdotes of ways people have gone above and beyond and really showcase their integrity and their critical thinking process and their resilience, and that's always always really impressive to read. One other tip I would give about letters of recommendation is, when you ask the person who's going to write your letter. Ask them in such a way where you phrase it like this you say would you be comfortable writing me an outstanding letter of recommendation Because you want an outstanding letter of recommendation if they just felt like they could endorse you? But maybe just a recommend, not a, you know, not a highly recommend. You don't want them writing your letter of recommendation, so just ask, phrase it that way up front, so it kind of gives them an out. They could say you know I could write you a letter of recommendation. I'm not sure I could quite do the outstanding part. And then you say oh, you know what, thank you I'll. You know I can. I can keep looking. So those are some tips that I would give for the letters of recommendation. Just phrase it to make sure that they're prepared to write you a great letter. And then I also did want to talk a little bit about the personal statement as well as a re-applicant. I, when I read a re-applicant's new application, I typically look specifically at their personal statement to see what might have been different between their last cycle and this current cycle. So a lot of the personal statement can be the same and I think that's fine. I don't think you necessarily, as a re-applicant, have to rewrite the whole thing. But I think if you include a very intentional you know paragraph or a few sentences, all right. This is what I've done over the past year to really show my interest, to really grow in my medical experience and in my patient care experience, and you know this is what I've done to strengthen my application. I think that goes a long way when you can. Also, I think it's helpful to add in some self-reflection and say this is how you know, this is how I've grown this past year. So that would be my big tip for the. For the personal statement, it doesn't necessarily require a rewrite, but you can certainly ask for feedback from other people. Like you know, you have a CIA friend or there's Facebook groups that I see people post for feedback for their personal statement and I think that's always always a really good idea.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, find your resources.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely. And I think also all the extra curricular things can improve applications as well. So, you know, have you, have you had leadership experiences? Have you done research with your university? You know, do you have volunteering hours? I think all of those things, although they're not technically requirements, I think those are always impressive when we see that, oh okay, this person not only was able to perform well in their didactic courses, but they also have passions and hobbies and skills outside exclusively of, you know, pre-rec science courses.

Speaker 1:

Yes, to see more of the whole person who's applying, because I think there's some really necessary soft skills that are needed in the CIA profession. I could go on a long tangent about this, about self-awareness and, you know, commitment to self-discovery, that it's not all about, you know really being attention to detail and multitasking and, of course, some of those big, obvious things that CIA's need. I think that does put you a little bit extra. That's one of the bits of advice I give is give us some stories that show us self-awareness and, if you're a re-applicant, self-awareness in the re-application process. And, as you said, what's changed, what have you improved? How do you know that you want this so badly that you're willing to do it again, to apply again? Yeah, I just think all that is so helpful and I think the prospective AAs out there are going to really find this document valuable. So I encourage everyone, if you're a prospective AA or you know someone who is, you can go to aspiringcaacom. You can also follow the link in my Instagram profile at AwakenedAnesthetist and find the full list of questions that Sarah answered. Yeah, and I just really appreciate, sarah, you bringing your expertise to this conversation. Yes, yes, absolutely. Be CAA weak everyone. Thanks Mhm. Solo time, solo time.

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Mary Jeanne Roberts, CAA

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