Shawna in first semester of PA school at Emory
My last major update was during the early months of the pandemic in 2020. Much has changed since then. When I closed my practice in February 2020, I thought I was going to continue as an acupuncture practitioner. The pandemic forced a change in those plans, as it made so many of us confront new realities and reassess our priorities.
Here I explain a bit about how I got to where I am now, studying to become a Physician Assistant (or PA, also known as a Physician Associate), and where I hope to be headed next.
Plans change
The initial plan in early 2020 was to transition out of private practice and work for a larger institution. I am so proud of my time in practice and the work I got to do for patients as an acupuncturist. However, being an entrepreneur and business owner was more stressful than rewarding for me. I wanted to find a way to stay in medicine and focus on providing excellent patient care instead of devoting my energy to marketing and operations.
When I was studying acupuncture, the terminal clinical degree was a masters. Soon after I graduated, the clinical doctorate became available and I knew I wanted to complete that both for my own sense of accomplishment and to be a strong candidate for hospital practice. I was accepted to my alma mater for the transitional doctorate program, a completion process to effectively convert my masters to a doctorate with a focused set of coursework.
The most exciting aspect of the doctoral program for me was a new practical experience at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital providing shonishin (insertion-free pediatric acupuncture). I always enjoyed this aspect of acupuncture but hadn’t had a chance to provide it much in my adult-focused practice. I signed up for a continuing education course (CEU) in early March and prepared to start the doctoral program in May.
We all know what happened next. In both my pediatric shonishin class and BLS/CPR class, we washed our hands more, sat farther apart, and whispered nervously. During the latter class, we found out that San Francisco was shutting down and entering quarantine. In an eerily quiet city, I also started IVF treatments the next day.
As the doctoral program faced delays and the prospect of the hospital externship faded, IVF failed as well. I entered the darkest period of my life. Most of us weren’t in a good place that year. The idea of working with children or staying in fertility medicine gradually became unthinkable to me. I had to completely reconsider what I might do with my personal and professional life, now so intertwined.
Why PA?
I reflected on my goals, strengths, and what I could make progress on during quarantine. While I briefly considered leaving medicine, I knew it held work I loved and was well-suited to. As I considered where else I might turn within medicine, I thought about what I loved about acupuncture and what had not been as successful for me. I missed being part of a team. One of the simultaneous rewarding and lonely things about running my own practice was that while I had complete control over treatments and the patient experience, I didn’t have coworkers. This introvert really missed people (I guess I was becoming an ambivert)! So it was strangely ironic that having come to that conclusion, I was now stuck in my apartment and beginning to take recorded online classes (so no teacher or classmates either).
I had looked into a number of different roles in medicine and found that a PA had the mixture of autonomy, flexibility, and teamwork that I was looking for. By design PAs work with other healthcare professionals. We have collaborating physicians and, depending on practice location, work with many other professionals from pharmacists to nurses to social workers. PAs can diagnose and treat, write prescriptions, and perform procedures, even assisting in surgeries. I liked that the training was as a generalist but there were opportunities to specialize, just like with acupuncture. PAs can also switch specialities with ease, compared to other providers who require academic retraining to transition.
Applying to PA school required taking a number of prerequisite courses so I effectively went back to college pre-med from home. I took online classes with lab components from my living room and a number of standardized tests and wrote a lot of application essays. I also worked as a medical scribe in a primary care clinic to surround myself with the medicine and processes I would need to become familiar with. That preparatory process took over two years, but it was a very productive way to spend the pandemic years!
What are you doing now?
Shawna Day One at Emory University’s PA Program (July 2023)
In June 2023, my husband, our car-loving rescue dog (the best addition during the pandemic), and I drove cross-country and moved to Atlanta, GA. I have started the 29 month graduate program at Emory University to become a physician assistant (PA). My 50+ classmates and I recently finished our foundation (first) semester, which included a full cadaver dissection and practical courses in conducting medical interviews and physical exams. Much of it was review from acupuncture school, but in additional depth as we will be doing different things with the information.
In January 2024 we begin our didactic or classroom year of study, divided into modules. First is psychiatry, then dermatology, infectious diseases, etc. Each module will cover the major conditions and interventions with some practical instruction as applicable (casts for orthopedics, lumbar punctures and suturing, etc). I’m looking forward to the opportunities for us to talk with and examine real patients within each module. This kind of clinical exposure brings our learning to life and makes it feel more applicable to our future work. Plus, it reminds me why I am doing all this work: to get back to excellent patient care.
Where do you see PA taking you?
I plan to stay open regarding my specialty/ practice area as I still have a lot to experience in school. The most obvious thing for me to do is go into primary care because it is the most similar to what I was doing before and would most likely allow me to treat patients holistically. I like the idea of being back in an area where I can create relationships with my patients and their families over time.
Other areas that interest me right now:
Oncology: meeting someone on their worst day and providing them with comfort, information, and options feels like a good use of my skills. This area is prone to burnout so I will have to take extra care of myself, but I know PAs who absolutely love it and find it so rewarding they would never do anything else.
Hematology: in many ways, related to oncology (and often grouped together). But blood and blood disorders specifically have always interested me. There are always new therapies being developed and I like the idea of always learning something new.
Neurology/Neurosurgery: Neuroanatomy and function is simply fascinating. Again, meeting someone on a scary day and helping to walk them through it feels appropriate and rewarding for me. And I have heard this area described as particularly related to root causes, which aligns well with my way of thinking from Eastern medicine. If it’s a stroke, for example, what kind and what prompted it must be determined to identify the right treatment. As far as surgery goes, I have not yet been in an operating room, but I suspect I may enjoy using my hands and performing or assisting in procedures.
Hospitalist: A sort of inpatient primary care. The team who ties things together and clarifies and communicates and coordinates. A person may be admitted to the hospital with bladder cancer but they still need their diabetes and hypothyroid conditions managed. Someone has to make sure all the individual decisions make sense as a whole and that the patient understands what is recommended.
We shall see what else seems to fit as time goes on!
Where does acupuncture fit into this?
I will always be an acupuncturist first. My background and the way of thinking I was trained in shapes how I’m learning and approaching allopathic / Western medicine now. I may find a way to use acupuncture and moxibustion in my practice as a PA or they may be therapies I practice part-time outside of my PA role. I can’t be sure yet, but life is full of surprises so I will trust that somehow the threads will weave together.
ABOUT SHAWNA
Shawna Seth, L.Ac., Dipl. OM. is a California state licensed and nationally certified acupuncturist. She is currently in the process of becoming a physician associate (PA) as well because of the benefits to patients found in both systems and their points of intersection. Shawna ran an acupuncture practice in San Francisco focused on promoting women’s health, particularly surrounding menstrual health and fertility. She believes in using the gentlest effective methods possible to guide her patients to balance. Get in touch with your questions or comments. To learn more about Japanese medicine and the world of acupuncture, follow her blog A Cuppa Qi.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post and throughout this site are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent any university or other organization the author may be affiliated with.