Kelsy Hopkins, MMS ‘23, had been working closely with a cardiac patient in the office for several months, helping to ease their concerns about certain diagnostic tests and treatments. Unfortunately, the patient was eventually hospitalized.
“I had heard from a classmate who had the patient in her care team that the patient was asking to see me,” said Hopkins. “It meant a lot to me that I had built that type of connection in a short period of time during a stressful time in their life. The patient valued our patient-provider relationship.”
It helps to have a big, compassionate and empathetic heart when it comes to dealing with cardiac patients, as graduates of the Salus at Drexel University Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program can attest. And, February, American Heart Month, is the perfect time to spotlight the contributions of the program’s alumni to cardiac care.
According to Kaitlyn Carmo, MMS ‘21, patients are really scared and intimidated when they have heart problems.
“Being able to have a big heart and empathize with them is huge for us working in cardiology,” said Carmo, who earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Penn State Harrisburg and played basketball for the university for four years. “This is something we do every day and not a lot of things scare us. We deal with really sick people, so I think being able to be that calming presence for someone who is having the worst day their life is a huge aspect to the job.”
Both Hopkins and Carmo work for Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia (CCP), the largest single-specialty cardiology practice in the country, although they are in different offices. Carmo works in the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, office while Hopkins works out of the South Philadelphia office. Carmo works in electro-physiology, a further subspecialty that includes dealing with patients who have heart arrhythmias, pacemakers and defibrillators. Hopkins works with all of the cardiologists in her office, seeing follow-up, post-discharge, and new patients.
Both PAs point to the Salus/Drexel PA program as preparing them for the rigors of working with heart patients.
“The faculty did a really good job of putting us in a lot of different clinical settings and through that, helping us to figure out how to be versatile and how to adapt to different patient populations and different specialties,” said Hopkins, who graduated from Sacred Heart University with a biology degree and was also a member of the field hockey team for four years.
She added that the faculty were realistic about what students should expect about their jobs as PAs.
“If you weren’t succeeding in some aspect, the faculty was very approachable (for questions) and cared about their students,”she said.
Carmo said the Salus/Drexel PA faculty also emphasized professionalism, which she thought was a huge aspect of her training at the University.
“You are told to show up on time and dress professionally,” she said. “That was a point of emphasis and I think it really helped me and my classmates be prepared for working in the profession.”
Both alumni enjoy their current jobs, plan to stay as long as they can and consider themselves fortunate to be working with cardiac patients.
“When it comes to the heart, people automatically think the worst things and get really freaked out and worked up,” said Hopkins. “I like being able to educate them on what’s happening, on prevention and how they can live their best heart-healthy life.”
Carmo agreed, adding that a cardiac PA career is challenging but rewarding.
“It’s definitely a specialty that has a lot of depth to it, and there is always something to learn,” she said. “There is something new every month it seems in the PA world. It’s a great need for our patients and there’s always work to be done.”
