What will non medical school PA Programs look like ..

[SocialMedicine]

in 10 years .....  Will PA schools within these non medical schools start to open faculty clinics ? Will they be expected to deveop other degrees and educate undergraduates in A and P ? hire PA workforce researchers ? manage residency programs for PAs ? What will maturity look like or will they remain the " same old "? Any anecdotes ? 

[gbrothers98]

in 10 years .....  Will PA schools within these non medical schools start to open faculty clinics ? Will they be expected to deveop other degrees and educate undergraduates in A and P ? hire PA workforce researchers ? manage residency programs for PAs ? What will maturity look like or will they remain the " same old "? Any anecdotes ? 

I teach part time at a nonmedical school program locally.

It has had it share of struggles, keeping good faculty and also good rotation sites have been issues.

Regardless, their grads have a > 90% pass rate on the PANCE and are getting jobs across the country.

They already have a separate campus and teach A and P there. If they hired researchers, they would be ground breakers since there are currently none locally.

 

That said, there will be a contraction or at least a plateau at some point of PA programs. The only way to continue growth is to reconsider the numbers of the physician workforce downward or expand the PA concept more abroad. There is also the definite workforce pressure for good faculty. Whom will make it will be anyone's guess. There have been very successful programs in the past that have folded regardless of med school affiliation and some nonaffiliated that have survived just fine.

 

Doubt a nonmedical school or center related program could successfully manage a residency program unless they offered some sort of certificate to individuals already employed and the PAs involved used their site to serve as their 'residency'. This has been done in the past for bridge master's degrees (UNMC distance option a good example), would only take a small change to make this happen for those institutions already set up for online distance degrees. This would likely be a viable alternative to residencies. 

 

I am not knowledgable about residencies but anecdotally they seem to be serving a purpose of training a small amt of PAs for local employment in a large system. I think attendance at residencies are a tough proposition given the high debt load students are graduating with and lack of residencies (only 12 listed in Emed accepting 1-4  PAs at a time, less for other specialties). Programs wouldnt manage residencies unless they get something out of it, primarily money. That would throw the paradigm on its head, going from pay a below median salary in exchange for working one like a dog to one gets to pay for their residency. I think most grads would intuitively tell that concept to go pound sand.

 

It will be an interesting workplace for the next 10-20 years.

 

G Brothers PA-C

[SHU-CH]

I have been at a "non-med school" institution for the past 10 years. We are housed within a School of Health and Medical Sciences and I find that most of the other professional programs share our concerns (namely providing solid basic science education and finding quality clinical placements). Being housed with allied health programs affords a nice opportunity to talk about interprofessional education and the healthcare team. We also have the opportunity to share instructors where appropriate, such as in anatomy.

 

It has been my experience (at least locally) that you can find the instructors for basic science coursework fairly easily. The tricky part is finding PAs who want to get involved in teaching hands-on skills and clinical reasoning. We need to look out for our profession's health and growth.

[SocialMedicine]

in my experience it is NOT easy to become adjunct faculty. When I was about to complete my public health degree I wrote a letter with CV to several program administrators and Directors declaring my interest in becoming involved in any capacity. Nobody responded. The following year I did this again with feedback from one program.Shortly after joining a PA Department I went to a conference where members of these same programs were complaining they could not get preceptors or physical exam instructors. 

 

I think PA programs would be well served to develop a formal structure for per diem and part time faculty. Perhaps an academic promotion structure with commensurate salary. Some benefits although keeping in mind budget constraints. Make physician and PAs in the community want to be a part of the organization.