Sean Conroy started his career in the lab, but had a burning desire to enter the clinical side of medicine as a physician assistant. After completing the first two years of book work, he spent a year learning from doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and others on the front lines of medicine in hospitals and clinics across the state of Nebraska. He entered his first family practice rotation as a well-spoken but inexperienced PA student, and in under a year was bedside with severely ill and injured patients in one of Nebraska’s busiest level-one trauma centers.
This memoir follows Conroy around the state, from one rotation to another, as he grows in knowledge and maturity. It tells the tales (some humorous, some harrowing, and occasionally heartbreaking) of patient encounters in wide variety of settings with individuals from all walks of life. From the delivery of a newborn, to the terminally ill at the end of their lives, and many in between, Through the Eyes of a Young Physician Assistant will leave you laughing and crying and with a deeper appreciation of PAs.
Sean Conroy was born and raised in McCook, Nebraska. He matriculated first from Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska with a bachelor’s in biology (human biology option), then the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska with a bachelor’s in clinical laboratory science. He concluded his studies with a master’s in physician assistant studies from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. He has practiced medicine in Kansas in primary care, including family practice and emergency medicine, since 2010 and a physician assistant at Manhattan Urgent Care in Manhattan, Kansas.