Kimberly Nicole Kurtz, MPA, PA-C
 Personal
Background
 Tips on Getting Into College and Grad
School
 Explaining Physician Assistant Role and
Career Outlook
 Specifically what I do as a Vascular
Surgery PA
 Questions
 Benicia High School, 2002
• Cumulative GPA 4.33, Senior Year 4.5
• SAT score 1250
• Cheerleader, Key Club/Honors Club, Part-time job
 Diablo Valley
College, 02-03
 Santa Barbara City College, 03-04
• William Oliverius Scholarship for Excellence in
Biology
• Volunteered 4-6hrs week at Cottage Hospital
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Cancer Research Internship, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI –
Summer 2004
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University of California, San Diego, 2006
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BS – Human Biology, GPA 3.6
Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority
Crew Team
Teacher’s Assistant, Into to Nutrition Class
MCAT score 29R
Part-time job, Customer Service Representative
Observed Surgical Procedures
What to do next??
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Medical School?
Physician Assistant School?
Pharmacy School? Podiatry? Optometry?
Masters of Nursing?
Medical Device/Pharmaceutical Rep?
 PA
school
• Approx $50,000/year X 2.5yrs = $150,000
• Master’s Degree
• Can start working as soon as you pass PANCE exam
 Medical
School
• Total average cost of attendance $67,000/yr
• X 4yrs= $268,000
• Average residency pays $50,000 - $80,000/yr X 5 yrs
• At least 2 years of fellowship for surgical specialties
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Front Office Medical Assistant, ENT and Medical
File Clerk for Pain Management
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Clinical Back Office Medical Assistant, Bay Area
Surgical Specialists, Walnut Creek, CA
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GRE
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Anatomy class
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CASPA application
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Visit Schools, School Interviews
 Samuel
Merritt University, Oakland, CA
• Master Physician Assistant Degree, 2010
• Didactic Curriculum – 1.5 yrs, condensed
medical school
• Clinical Rotations – 1yr, nine 5-week long
rotations
 Geriatrics, Pediatrics, Women’s Health, Internal
Medicine, Family Medicine, Emergency, Surgery
 2 electives – Vascular Surgery and Plastic Surgery
 NCCPA
Certified - Jan 2011
 California
State Medical License – Jan
2011
 DEA
Certified
• Controlled Substance Course
 ACLS/BLS
Certified
 “A
physician assistant (PA) is a medical
professional who works as part of a team
with a doctor. A PA is a graduate of an
accredited PA educational program who
is nationally certified and state-licensed
to practice medicine with the supervision
of a physician.” - AAPA
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“By design, physicians and PAs work together as a team, and
all PAs practice medicine with physician supervision.
Supervision does not mean, though, that a supervising
physician must always be present with the PA or direct every
aspect of PA-provided care.
PAs are trained and educated similarly to physicians, and
therefore share similar diagnostic and therapeutic
reasoning. Physician-PA practice can be described as
delegated autonomy. Physicians delegate duties to PAs, and
within those range of duties, PAs use autonomous decisionmaking for patient care. This team model is an efficient way
to provide high-quality medical care. In rural areas, the PA
may be the only healthcare provider on-site, collaborating
with a physician elsewhere through telecommunication.” –
AAPA
 Prescribe
medication, including narcotics
 Order labs, tests, radiologic scans,
nursing care, etc.
 First- assist in surgery
 Perform in-office surgical procedures
under his/her scope of practice
 See patients in the office
and hospital independently
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Not much difference from the patient perspective
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Nurse practitioners are trained in the nursing model
• Patient care centered
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Physician assistants are trained in the medical model
• Diagnosing and treating disease
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NPs tend to stick in family practice, women’s health,
pediatrics
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PAs are more widely distributed among specialties
 PA
profession was created to improve
and expand healthcare
 First
PA program at Duke University
• Graduating class 1965
• Navy corpsman from Vietnam
 More
common on east coast
 Currently
86,500 nationally certified PAs
 First-year PA students – 6,630
 Graduating PA students – 5,964
 In California, 6,723 practicing PAs
 20% of US population lives in rural areas
• Only 10% of doctors are
in rural areas
• 17% of PAs practice in
Rural areas
 The
Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts
that PAs will be the second-fastestgrowing profession in the next decade,
increasing from 74,800 in 2008 to 103,900
in 2018.
 Growing physician shortages
 Aging Population
 More people seeking medical care with
the Affordable Care Act
 US
News and World Report – in Top 50
Careers of 2011
 Money Magagzine, Nov 2010 – 2nd Best Job
in America
 Forbes.com ranked physician assistant
first in its list of best master’s degrees for
jobs.
 Kiplinger’s named PA as one of its great
careers for your future.
 According
to the Medical Group
Management Association (MGMA), the
average annual compensation for
physician assistants is $84,326 in primary
care, and $97,207 for surgical specialties.
 CA SLRP Loan repays students loans up to
$60,000 for 2 years in a rural area
 “Would
you become a PA if you had to do
it all over again?”
• “Yes!” – 88%
• “Definitely” – 52%
• “Probably” – 36%
Source: 2009 AAPA Census
 Vascular
Surgery PA
• Washington Township Medical Foundation
• Hired Jan 2011
2
Supervising Physicians
• John Thomas Mehigan, M.D
• Gabriel Herscu, M.D.
 First-assist in OR
 First-assist in Cath Lab
 Rounding on inpatients
 Write post-op orders and
note
 See patients in office
• New pts, f/u, post-op, pre-op
 Dictate
History and
Physical Reports
 Consult new patients in hospital/ED
 Wound Care Clinic
 On Call 24/7 for nursing orders/questions
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7:15AM – Arrive at hospital, meet up with SP discuss plan for
the day
7:30 – Preround on the computer looking up lab results and
other doctors’ notes
7:45 See a critical pt in ICU, write new orders
8:00 – Scrub into the first surgery, prep pt, and first-assist,
carotid endarterectomy
10:00 – Accompany pt to PACU and write post-op orders and
post-op note
10:10 – Meet up with SP and start inpt rounds
10:45 – Go to Cath lab and obtain ultrasound-guided
percutaneous access into femoral artery, assist in angiogram
11:45 – Scrub into AVF creation, first assist
1:00 – Post-op orders/note
1:15 – Find family and discuss case, give further instructions
1:20 – Pre-op next pt/mark site
 1:30
 2:00
– Finish inpt rounds
– Revisit critical pts, f/u on ordered
labs, return phonecalls
 2:15 – Scrub into toe amputation and foot
debridement
 3:00 – Post- op orders/note
 3:15 – Check on Cath lab pt, and discharge
pt
 3:30 – Wound debridement, lower extremity
 4:00 – Post- op orders/note
 4:15 – Go home
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Including limb savage – lower extremity revascularization, bypass
procedures
Amputations
Carotid endarterectomy
Fistula creation and revision
Embolectomy
AAA repair
Aneurysmectomy
Wound debridement/Wound VAC placement
Temporal artery biopsy
Fasciotomy
Line placement arterial and venous
Dialysis catheter placement, CAPD catheter
Ultrasound guided percutaneous access
Intra-operative fluoroscopy(I do not step on pedal)
Angioplasty and stenting
Vein stripping and ligation
IVC filter placement,
Mediport placement
Tunneled cuffed hemedialysis catheter placement and removal
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Peripheral Vascular Disease /Atherosclerosis
End Stage Renal Disease
Diabetes, Type 2
Chronic Wounds
Hypercoaguable states
Giant Cell Arteritis
Venous Insufficiency
Pelvic Venous Compression Syndrome
Aortic Aneuyrsms
Strokes
Renal Artery Stenosis
Hypertension
Infectious Diseases
Superior Vena Cava Syndrome
 www.aapa.org
 www.capanet.org
 https://portal.caspaonline.org
 Rodican,
Andrew J. Getting into the
Physician Assistant School of Your
Choice. 2003
 www.vascularweb.org