Looking for ideas for your favorite PA student or future PA student? Perhaps you want to partake in retail therapy for yourself? If you are buying a gift, make sure you know how the individual likes to study (strictly computer or hand written notes), their interests, what do they current have now, etc. I will offer a range of gift ideas from very affordable to ‘my bank account is going to hate me.’ Remember, you don’t have to spend money either– a well thought out sentimental item or even a powerful quote can go along way in PA school.

Gifts Less Than $100

1. Favorite type of pen: To a normal person, this would be a horrible gift, but to any medical professional student, a pen is simple amazing. There are too many pens to list, but some great go-to pens are Piolet G2, Pilot Precise V5, Pilot Frixion erasable pen.
2. Field Notes: Super simple, very durable, and cheap pocket size notebooks that are perfect for rotations and helpful to keep track of door codes, lab values, patient logs, etc.
3. Everlast rocket book: I received this as a gift last year and I love it. It’s a reusable book that you can write on and use their application to save your notes in a PDF document. I believe there is a feature that it will recognize writing so you can ‘control + F’ to find a word. They have a couple sizes including a pocket size!
4. Long white coat: If the student is close to graduation, this would be a perfect gift. Just note, some students are very superstitious about this because they believe it can ‘jinx’ them. Some great companies that with form fitting style are Figs or Medelita (which is owned by a PA-C).
5. Clipboard: Perfect for clinical rotations, easily fold-able, easy to add information.
6. Anything coffee/caffeine: When in doubt, get them something coffee related. A coffee mug, coffee beans, espresso machine, KCup machine, French press, Chemex– I think you get the idea.
7. Lapel pin for white coat: This seems very trivial, but you can make this very personalized and sentimental. Many classmates will have an artsy heart, college team emblem, or a logo that shows support to their favorite cause. This is also a way for the student to express themselves within reason and is a great ice breaker.
8. Badge reel: Just like a lapel pin, a badge reel can be used to show personality and have functionality to it! Sports team, monogram, or just to add a pop of color.
9. Crock pot: If they are already a PA student and they don’t have a crock pot, are they even a PA student? This might be the best gift you can ever give a busy PA student. If they don’t have one, they do not know what they are missing! Perfect to prepare food without spending a bunch of time on it.

Gifts More Than $100

1. Stethoscope: This tends to be one of the most common gifted items, and as a result, many current PA students already have a stethoscope. Check to see if they own one already and if not this makes perfect gift because there is nothing like your first stethoscope. Some great brands to look at are Littmann and MDF.
2. Headphones: A good set of noise canceling headphones are particularly helpful when studying in public spaces.
3. iPad Pro: A very pricey gift, but very useful in PA school. It comes in 11” and 12.9”. Gives you the ability to write on PowerPoints, use 3D atlas without crashing, or use it as external monitor with your laptop (Macs only).