Augsburg University Physician Assistant Program
Augsburg University first year students had a successful end to spring semester. We studied hard to wrap up History & Physical Exam Skills, Pharmacotherapy, Clinical Medicine, Research Tools, and Clinical Practice Seminar. We had a collaborative afternoon with DPT students from Concordia University, continued learning physical exam skills, and gained more confidence using ultrasound. We are looking forward to our final didactic semester this summer.
This spring, our class held a food drive and donated to Community Emergency Service Food Shelf in Minneapolis. We participated in the MAPA CME student track, including the Challenge Bowl. We celebrated holidays and making it through chaotic exam weeks together, and ended the semester with a potluck. We are excited to welcome the incoming class this summer before starting clinicals in September!
Megan is a first-year PA student at Augsburg University. She previously worked as a critical care research assistant at Regions Hospital and as a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility. She loves to spend time outside with her family, friends, and dog Kirby.
Augsburg University Physician Assistant Program
First year students ended our fall semester strong. Despite being in a hybrid setting for the last few weeks, we had many opportunities for hands on lab practice. These physical exam skills included intubation, chest tube placement, various suture techniques, ultrasound, and basic life support.
Our class does our best to stay engaged with each other, even as COVID-19 guidelines continuously change. Our health and wellness chairs host yoga before class twice a month, students led tours for accepted students during an open house, and our student society held activities during PA week and various holidays.
We are now diving into spring semester and are ready for the remainder of our didactic year!
Megan is a first-year PA student at Augsburg University. She previously worked as a critical care research assistant at Regions Hospital and as a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility. She loves to spend time outside with her family, friends, and dog Kirby.
First year students at Augsburg started off with a strong summer semester, and we are in full swing with fall courses. We are all thankful to be in person! To kick off the semester, we participated in Augsburg’s Day of Service through volunteering at Feed My Starving Children. We also had our White Coat Ceremony in September, where we committed to upholding the values of a Physician Assistant.
Our student society is in the midst of planning for PA week. We will be having activities every day to acknowledge and honor our future profession. One of our events for PA week includes lunch with the undergraduate Augsburg Pre-PA club.
We are only in the beginning of our educational journey, and we are excited to see what comes next!
Megan is a first-year PA student at Augsburg University. She previously worked as a critical care research assistant at Regions Hospital and as a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility. She loves to spend time outside with her family, friends, and dog Kirby.
Since the October 2020 program update, the Augsburg student society has been hard at work bringing together donation efforts. The first-year class was able to donate to the Ronald McDonald house this past fall while finishing their fall semester classes virtually. It was a challenge pivoting to all virtual classes, especially performing final physical exam check offs, but they all made it to winter break.
The beginning of spring semester our first-year class hit the ground running by picking up where they left off from fall semester. The first few units were HENT, mental health, neurology, orthopaedics, and rheumatology. The biggest change to our schedule has been the ability to attend in-person classes full-time! As a class we have been able to form stronger bonds and become a more cohesive cohort.
Most recently, our class continued their commitment to service work and donated to Bags of Hope, a non-profit committed to providing hope and comfort to children who are displaced from their homes due to neglect, poverty, homelessness, or abuse. We were able to donate clothing and hygiene products to stuff into backpacks for this important endeavor.
We are all anxiously awaiting clinical year to start and cannot wait for our summer to begin. Here’s to another great year!
Aaron is a first-year PA student at Augsburg University. He and his wife, Hannah, have two energetic children. Lillie turns 8 this month (October) and Rowan turns 2 in December. Aaron loves spending time with his family, and the outdoors.
In May, first-year PA students were introduced to the program with all of their courses being taught virtually. The online format was taken in stride by the staff and students. Unfortunately, the usual schedule including cadaver lab as part of the anatomy course had to be postponed. Luckily, the students have time in the cadaver lab this fall semester to learn clinical procedures. During the fall semester, students were allowed back on campus as part of a hybrid teaching model including three days of on-campus instruction, and two days online. Everyone is glad to finally be in-person and make new friends and connections. Zoom fatigue is real!
PA week is upon us, and we are all very excited to celebrate as students. Our student society has been hard at work trying to keep everyone mentally and physically healthy, involved in our community, and up to date on everything PA related. This is just the beginning of our journey, and we are looking forward for what is to come!
Aaron is a first-year PA student at Augsburg University. He and his wife, Hannah, have two energetic children. Lillie turns 8 this month (October) and Rowan turns 2 in December. Aaron loves spending time with his family, and the outdoors.
Augsburg students started off strong this spring with service work at Second Harvest Heartland! Our students have been hard at work to continue helping others and finding creative ways to continue helping from our homes. Our first-year class has been hard at work learning orthopedics and rheumatology and has now moved on to nephrology. While we have met unexpected challenges this semester, online lectures have been a fun change to the routine and have featured several adorable pets and appearances by our youngest member, the sweet baby our classmate has welcomed. We look forward to meeting these new challenges and maintaining the strong work ethic we have already built. Looking back on this in the future, we will have quite a story to tell about our time during PA school!
Miranda is a first-year PA student and MAPA representative at Augsburg University. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2016. Prior to PA school she worked at a local hospital caring for patients in the ICU as a nursing assistant and telemetry technician.
Winter break was a welcome opportunity to relax and enjoy the joys of living in Minnesota in winter. Now, spring semester has kicked into high gear for Augsburg students. A celebratory first week back potluck/baby shower offered a chance to reconnect as we began our HEENT unit. Students also volunteered time collecting stuffed animals at our annual Teddy Bear Toss during the Augsburg Women’s Hockey game. The 40 stuffed animals that were collected will be donated to Children’s Minnesota for the wonderful children and staff that allow our students to rotate to their locations.
Miranda is a first-year PA student and MAPA representative at Augsburg University. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2016. Prior to PA school she worked at a local hospital caring for patients in the ICU as a nursing assistant and telemetry technician.
Midway through the fall semester has seen the first-year students working through two rounds of simulated patients and learning to intubate from an Augsburg graduate. As the fall semester concludes, first year students will be finishing the pulmonology and gastroenterology units and moving forward to the next set of classes after winter break. Second-year students have made their way back to campus for end of rotation exams this semester and have shared their wide variety of experiences during clinical rotations. Additionally, current students have been helping with prospective student interviews and enjoying being an interviewer, rather than being the interviewee.
Miranda is a first-year PA student and MAPA representative at Augsburg University. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2016. Prior to PA school she worked at a local hospital caring for patients in the ICU as a nursing assistant and telemetry technician.
Our first-year class was thrilled to begin the second semester of PA school this fall. Summer semester flew by in a storm of getting to know one another and learning the expectations of a PA student. We began the fall semester by volunteering at Feed Our Starving Children and packing 67 boxes of food to go to Angola. Recently, we were excited to have our White Coat Ceremony and share the experience with family! Second year students started their first rotations this fall after finishing their didactic years during the summer. We are excited they will be able to translate the skills they have learned in school to the community!
Miranda is a first-year PA student and MAPA representative at Augsburg University. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2016. Prior to PA school she worked at a local hospital caring for patients in the ICU as a nursing assistant and telemetry technician.
