SDPA Student Website Benefits PAs in Training…and Established Derm PAs
A new website dedicated to meeting the information needs of PA students interested in dermatology has benefits for those in training and for the overall dermatology PA profession.
By Lauren R. Zajac MHS, PA-C
Director at Large, SDPA

When I was a student member of SDPA and paying $100 membership fees, I didn't feel it was a valuable investment, nor that the derm fellow member population knew I existed for mentoring. As a student, money is much harder to come by, so it was important to me to decrease the student membership fee from $100 to $25, and then to provide a cohesive site (www.dermpa.org/students/) for students to obtain information they desire without having to email PAs in the field for all the information they are seeking. Some students would take the initiative, but many would be lost in the process. Therefore, the goals of the new Derm PA Student Site are to provide the necessary information to students and make their transition to dermatology as smooth as possible, cutting down on their stress of starting a new job, in a new specialty, in a new career.

The site is now live, with a great deal of content available to dermatology PA students, including articles on practice/professional development topics, links to PDA/mobile technology tools, a student forum, resume guidance, and more.

How will Dermatology PAs overall and the dermatology specialty benefit from this new outreach?
Dermatology PAs and the specialty alike will benefit from this new outreach in maintaining the wonderful reputation we have built in the dermatology community. We are at the point where doctors appreciate and respect us, and call us colleagues. We want to continue to provide our specialty and the patients we serve with qualified and professional new derm PA. With information obtained on the website (such as, “How to Research and Obtain New Derm Rotations,” “How to Evaluate Medical Content on the Internet,” or “How to Write a Derm Specific Resume”), we can continue to be proud to welcome these new members into our family.

What are the most important things that PA students should know if considering dermatology?
Dermatology PAs make up approximately three percent of the clinically practicing physician assistant population, with about 2,200 of us working for board-certified/ board-eligible dermatologists. I see dermatology increasing in popularity, due to its attractive lifestyle of less hours for more lucrative pay due to better reimbursement, as well as the increased popularity of antiaging campaigns worldwide.

It is most important that PA students build a strong medical base in dermatology; the most common conditions are just as if not more important than the cosmetic ones. Acne, rosacea, evaluating melanocytic and non-melanocytic lesions for benign or malignant status, verrucous lesions, and rashes are still the bread and butter of practicing dermatology and need to be respected as such.

What are the most important things that PA students should know if considering dermatology?
When deciding what material should be placed on the website, we brainstormed as a board to determine what subjects we were most asked about by PA students or PAs interested in moving to dermatology. As the website continues to grow, the increasing student member population will most definitely be targeted for ideas in information that they feel is lacking.

How can established Derm PAs get involved in mentoring and guiding students through the SDPA?
In the leadership role, one of the Director at Large positions has become student-focused, and in charge of the new student coordinator, an applied-for position by PA students planning on entering dermatology. The student coordinator is charged with helping facilitate increased exposure of our specialty and its membership benefits to current PA students, as well upkeep of the website and addressing any new student issues that arise. On the fellow member level, PAs can certainly mentor students on elective rotations (a feature on the site) and continue that bond through the end of their PA education and help them land their first dermatology job.

Are there any lessons established PAs can learn from students?
I think that as PAs become more removed from the classroom and maybe some of the excitement of creating those first few patient bonds dwindles, students can help us to learn to listen wholeheartedly to our patients and not pigeonhole ourselves into preconceived diagnoses. Students also can remind seasoned PAs that while our schedules seem to be getting more packed each day, taking that extra minute with a patient can make all the difference to them and how the PA profession is perceived as a whole.