Articles & Books From Physician Assistant Exam

Article / Updated 06-20-2023
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.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-13-2022
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.
Article / Updated 05-13-2016
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.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Cystic fibrosis is an abnormality of exocrine gland function. It’s important for the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) that you understand that this is a disorder of the cystic fibrosis transregulator gene and it messes up the normal flow of the chloride channel. Because the movement of chloride also affects the cellular movement of water, the person may have a lot of thick mucus production.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
You will need to know a few things about lupus for the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE). Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or just plain lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can involve multiple organs and body systems, including the joints, heart and pericardium, lungs, brain (in lupus cerebritis), and kidneys.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Schizophrenia is a psychosis on the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) in which the person has significant problems with thinking. The symptoms become so bad they can overtake a person’s life, and the person experiences a detachment from reality. In addition to confused thinking, the affected person often experiences delusions and/or hallucinations.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Hyperthyroidism is a condition the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE) will cover Hyperthyroidism refers to an overactive thyroid gland. Hyperthyroidism has many causes, but the most common is Graves’ disease. Like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease is an autoimmune condition that usually affects young women.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
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.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
There are different types of myeloproliferative disorders, but for the Physician Assistant Exam (PANCE), focus on polycythemia vera Polycythemia vera is a myeloproliferative disorder (MPD). Myeloproliferative disorders are diseases of the bone marrow that involve increased cell turnover.. Polycythemia is the exact opposite of anemia — too many red blood cells are being produced.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
In anemia, the body has a reduced quantity of red blood cells. One of the best ways to classify anemia is by the MCV, or mean corpuscular volume, which is expressed in femtoliters (fL). The MCV helps you think about the cause of the anemia and how to evaluate for it: Microcytic anemias (low MVC, Think TAIL: thalassemia, anemia of chronic disease, iron deficiency anemia, lead poisoning.