A lot of pathology and Physician Assistant Exam questions concern the small and large intestines. Here you see conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ischemic bowel, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), celiac disease, and diverticulitis. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a diagnosis of exclusion after other conditions have been ruled out.

When you're preparing to take the PANCE or PANRE, you may feel like you have to know an endless amount of information. How will you ever remember all the details of so many diseases and conditions? Here, you can review some useful mnemonics that will not only help your recall as you prepare for your physician assistant exam but also improve your clinical acumen.

A common scenario you deal with clinically and for the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) is inadvertently finding a lung lesion on a chest radiograph. You’re looking for something, and bam! There it is. What do you do about it? You assess the lesion on the radiograph: Check the other lung findings to make sure that you’re just dealing with a pulmonary nodule.

These practice questions are similar to the actual questions you may see on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) exam that have to do with preventive medicine, epidemiology, domestic violence, and ethics. Example PANCE Questions You’re seeing a 19-year-old woman who has been sexually active for the past two years.

In your practice and for the Physician Assistant Exam you’ll likely deal with the bones a lot. You should know about three big bone disorders, namely osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and osteomyelitis. Bone thinning: Osteoporosis Osteoporosis, which is a loss of bone density, occurs most commonly in women after menopause.

The Physician Assistant Exam will expect you to know about the kidneys and their job of regulating potassium levels. When the kidneys are not functioning correctly, the body can end up with an excess or shortage of potassium. Hypokalemia: Not enough K Hypokalemia (a low potassium level) is a common electrolyte abnormality that can derive from a variety of causes, such as diuretics and diarrhea.

The Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) will expect you to be familiar with different types of anemia, like macrocytic anemia, normocytic anemia and aplastic anemia. Make sure you know the basics. Vitamin deficiencies: Macrocytic anemias Macrocytic anemias are associated with a large MCV, usually > 100 fL. The two most common causes are vitamin B12 and folate (folic acid) deficiencies.

There are some basic principles of medical ethics that you should be aware of and may see on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Medical ethics is a hot-button issue in medicine. Many books have been written about the subject. As a healthcare professional, you deal with ethical issues every day. Practice ethical principles Medical ethics come into play with every patient you see.

Eczema and dermatitis refer to anything that causes skin inflammation, and the causes are covered on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Dermatitis is a nonspecific term that refers to skin inflammation. Eczema, a type of dermatitis, has some characteristic skin findings — the skin can be flaky, itchy, scaly, and red.