A Beautiful PA Life

Join me for this week’s 🪴Thriving PA Community Hour  🤗ALL about professionalism and authenticity – I’d love to hear your story and what professionalism looks like to you! Today’s Podcast Guest Joshua Lumsden, PA-C, MA, MCHS is an internal medicine PA who practices at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, WA. He is president of the Washington Academy of Physician Associates. His clinical i...

🤗You’re invited to join the 🪴Thriving PA Community Hour 🤗 Get the Zoom link here!   Join me and my fellow thriving PAs to celebrate PA week on Monday, October 7, 2024 at 4pm PT/7pm ET! Come for connection, support, and collective healing – and all are welcome – feel free to bring a friend!👯‍♀️ 📓 Get Rachel’s free 🪴Thriving List Template  🎧Listen to Rachel’s interview on Escape the Clinic Po...

Get the Episode 10 deep dive: Nicki’s 5 tips for finding a great massage therapist and maximizing your massage experience, 6 science-backed tips for shifting to the calm of a parasympathetic state. Plus, Nicki’s bullet journal template!  Today’s Podcast Guest Nicki Mercede provides personalized bodywork that supports whole-person healing and trauma resolution. She blends neuromuscular therapy and...

Get the 5 Eastern medicine practices to decrease your stress right here - it's all the juicy insights and impactful changes from this week's episode, delivered right to your email inbox! Episode Breakdown  Join me this episode of A Beautiful PA Life Podcast for an interview with Michelle Dellene, MMS, PA-C, RYT. In this episode, Michelle shares her journey of healing from multiple sclerosis throug...

Get the Burnout Deep Dive pdf here! Join me this episode of A Beautiful PA Life Podcast for an interview with Dr. Allison Smith, PT, DPT, PhD, as she discusses the critical issue of burnout among healthcare providers, exploring its origins, symptoms, and the profound impact it has on individuals and the healthcare system. The conversation delves into the concept of mismatches in the workplace, fro...

Join me this episode of A Beautiful PA Life Podcast for an interview with Tracy Bingaman, PA-C, who shares her journey from experiencing burnout in her own career to taking back her fulfillment and empowering other clinicians to do the same. She discusses the common symptoms of burnout, including exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of futility. Tracy emphasizes the need for PAs to prioritiz...

Episode Pearls Kids just want to be normal! Providing a sense of normalcy and finding joy is crucial for children undergoing cancer treatment. Let’s be more intentional about our conversations with patients and parents. Instead of asking “how are you?” perhaps a better approach might be “how can I help?” Pediatric cancer research needs more funding. Only 4% of federal funding for cancer research i...

Episode Pearls You CAN do hard things, overcome hardships, and achieve your goals. Most medical programs, including PA programs, do not provide sufficient nutrition education! Colleen shares tips and tools in her podcast, Exam Room Nutrition, and her Instagram @examroomnutrition to help busy clinicians with nutrition education. Referring patients to registered dietitians when appropriate can ensur...

Episode Pearls I’ve found that my beautiful PA life looks like much more than being a PA. I’ve found so much joy and fulfillment in embracing the other parts of my identity that exist outside of medicine. Authenticity requires courage—the courage to own your truth and identity. Being your authentic self is exhausting, but so is maintaining a façade and hiding your truth. [By the way, I 100% recogn...

“Ma’am, you have burnout!” with Abby Calabrese Episode Pearls Your career path as a physician assistant (PA) can be nonlinear, and it's important to attune to intuition and make changes when red flags show up—this doesn’t mean you are abandoning a role which was previously serving you. Self-care is not a one-size-fits-all approach and should be personalized to your needs and preferences. Thinking...

Episode Title More than just an "assistant:" We NEED PA advocacy with Kris Pyles-Sweet, DMSc, PA-C Episode Breakdown  Kris Pyles-Sweet, DMSc, PA-C, is a PA with over 25 years of experience in a multiple specialties. She is also the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) and PA practice owner and she joins A Beautiful PA Life Podcast today to share her journey in...

Impactful episode quotes: "You can serve the patients you love without losing yourself." "I want you to love your career and love your life." "I caught my eye in the mirror... the woman that I saw in the mirror, she was not okay." "Rachel, you're a highly skilled PA. What would you tell your patient?" I host a weekly gathering of PAs like you who believe in creating a beautiful PA life - it's call...

Welcome to A Beautiful PA Life Podcast! I'm Rachel La Costa and if you're like me, you might have the sneaking suspicion that burnout might be right around the corner unless you do something different. You became a PA because you want the best of both worlds. You can serve the patients you love without losing yourself. You can thrive after healthcare burnout. And here, you’ll find just the tools a...