Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Physician Assistant/Associate Program Graduates from 2010 to 2012 and 2019 to 2021.

Introduction: To assess the racial/ethnic diversity of graduates of US Physician Assistant/Associate (PA) programs compared with the diversity of the populations from which they draw students and to assess diversity changes over time among PA graduates.

Methods: We calculated proportion of Black or Hispanic PA graduates nationally and by school between 2010 to 2012 and 2019 to 2021 using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and compared it with the diversity of the 20 to 35-year-old population using the American Community Survey. We created benchmark populations for each school based on whether the school was public or private, with in-state/out-of-state proportions provided by the Physician Assistant Education Association.

C4Tech: Virtual connections between the classrooms, clinicians, and community clinics to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Aim: E-learning technologies are becoming vital components of medical and health professions education, as highlighted during the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) considers education technologies essential to forming connections between education and healthcare delivery systems, which promote evidence-based practice and continuous learning and quality improvement in healthcare. There is a lack of evidence-based models to guide the integration of technology in medical and health profession education, in particular models that form synergistic linkages between healthcare education and delivery systems.

Connecting Classrooms, Clinicians, and Community Clinics Through Technology (C4Tech) for Active and Collaborative Learning.

Purpose: This pilot study investigated the level of cognition that physician assistant (PA) students achieved through adoption of an innovative blended learning model that connects the classroom, clinicians, and community clinics through electronic-learning (e-learning) technologies (C4Tech) used in a PA course. This education intervention aimed to facilitate authentic learning collaborations between PA students and practicing clinicians that would result in higher-order cognition related to the manifestations of social determinants of health and health disparities.

Methods: A case study approach was adopted to assess levels of cognition and changes in those levels resulting from application of an innovative blended learning model.

Improving health disparities in PA practices: A quality improvement initiative.

Objective: To assess a quality improvement initiative designed to highlight awareness of health disparities and improve healthcare practices among participants.

Methods: Data were collected from 102 clinically practicing PAs over a 2-year timespan via the quality improvement initiative Outside the Box: Reducing Health Disparities. As part of the program, participants reviewed 10 random charts in their practice, documenting how they identified and/or managed common health disparities.