Inaugural class in Scotland

[dkuhns1]

Greetings from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where today I had the honour of attending the first day of class for the first Scottish PA programme.

11 students are enrolled, 9 women and 2 men, and they are being guaranteed employment for their first 12 months post-qualification, and a couple are getting 'bursaries' (grants) of 2,000 GBP/year from the NHS in the Highlands.

There is growing demand for PAs throughout the UK, and especially here in Scotland. I hasten to add that due to changes in immigration regulations it is less likely that there will be many posts for US PAs.

Meanwhile, in London the programme at St Georges, University of London will soon be starting their third cohort, of 24 students. Exciting times for the growth of the Physician Assistant profession across the UK.
Cheers,
D-

[andersenpa]

Curious- are these int'l programs being modeled after the US template (with ARC PA involvement) and if so will there be any reciprocity for them to work in the US?
What is their PANCE equivalent?

[dkuhns1]

The 4 current UK programs are indeed modeled after those in the US but meet different standards. There is no ARCPA equivalent for accrediting them yet.(as there was none in the first days of US programs.)

While a few of the UK grads --numbering well over 100 now-- have expressed interest in working in the US they know that is not an option, nor was it why they were trained, largely at British taxpayer expense. (The pity is that they are therefor not eligible to come to the US to do any post grad residencies.)

British and Scottish students do 'sit' a national qualifying exam, which is comprised of a 200 question MCQ and a 16 station OSCE. Of note is that 90% of the questions on the OSCE have been purchased from the NCCPA and then Anglicized with extra vowels (i.e 'haemetology' & 'paediatrics'), made relevant with appropriate lab values (ABGs are given in KPAs--kilopascals). These proportion is seen as core knowledge for any PA, while the remaining 10% is derived from local NHS protocols and such.

In the meantime, another organisation, EuroPA, representing PAS in UK, the Netherlands and Germany, is developing European-wide standards and as a result mobility across borders here will be easier.

[callofthewild]

@dkuhns1 There is only 2 current UK programs - St Georges London and University of Aberdeen. All other programs have or are now in the progress of shutting down.

[burnpac]

David,

Thanks for the update, and PAs in the UK just make sense. I had the privilege of speaking to the St. Georges class in March of 2010, and I was impressed with the dedication that these young PA students had to the profession with virtually no enabling legislation, history or role models save for a handful of expatriate US PAs working in the UK. They are early in the evolutionary cycle, and told them that the have the 75,000+ PAs supporting them across the "Pond." It is up to them to pick up the mantle of professional leadership and move UK PA concept forward.

[HopefulPA]

Love to see the profession going global.