Initial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Physician Assistant Education.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted United States (US) health professions educational programs. Physician assistant (PA) programs were forced to respond to rapidly changing circumstances early in the pandemic. This study describes the impact that the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic had on PA programs in the United States.

Reasons for unsuccessful research submissions to JAAPA.

Objective: PA authors face many barriers to publication and may benefit from additional transparency in the editorial decision-making process. This study examined the most common reasons for rejection of original research submissions to JAAPA.

Methods: Senior JAAPA editors conducted a thematic analysis of reviewer and editor comments and used these broad themes to classify the reasons for rejection of original research manuscripts submitted to JAAPA.

Primary care workforce paradox: A physician shortage and a PA and NP surplus.

Objective: Primary care workforce projections continue to predict significant physician shortages. An oversupply of primary care physician assistants (PAs) and NPs also is predicted. This paradox calls into question the assumptions that underlie workforce projection models, which likely underestimate the primary care contributions of PAs and NPs.

PA program characteristics and diversity in the profession.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to identify PA program characteristics that may be associated with higher or lower percentages of underrepresented minority students in PA programs.

Methods: Data from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) 2002-2003 and 2012-2013 annual surveys were analyzed. Bivariate correlation coefficients and multiple regression modeling were used to identify relationships between program characteristics and percentages of black and Hispanic students.

Physician Assistant Educational Research: 50 Years On.

The physician assistant (PA) profession began as an experiment in medical education. Initial research on the PA profession was performed primarily by health service researchers and medical educators who sought to measure the impact of the introduction of early PAs into practice. The introduction of PAs, health care providers who shared the practice of medicine with physicians, was a revolutionary step in health workforce policy, and its impact became a relevant topic of investigation.

Research on the PA profession: The medical model shifts.

Physician assistant (PA)-focused research arose in response to the idea that an assistant to the busy physician could improve healthcare delivery. The process of answering questions about the profession has involved multiple approaches and various scholarly disciplines. In the course of this undertaking, what emerged were three stages of examination of PA behavior.

Synthesis of Mono- and Dinuclear Vanadium Complexes and Their Reactivity toward Dehydroperoxidation of Alkyl Hydroperoxides.

Several vanadium(V) complexes with either dipic-based or Schiff base ligands were synthesized. The complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis, IR, H, C, and V NMR spectroscopy, as well as mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, they were tested toward their catalytic deperoxidation behavior and a significant difference between 4-heptyl hydroperoxide and cyclohexyl hydroperoxide was observed.

Payment source and provider type in the US healthcare system.

Greater use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) to meet growing demand for healthcare in the United States is an increasingly common strategy to improve access to care and control costs. Evidence suggests that payment for services differs depending on the type of provider. This study sought to determine if the source of payment for a medical visit varies based on whether care is provided by a physician, PA, or NP.

Total and semi-syntheses of antimicrobial thuggacin derivatives.

The total and semi-synthesis of 13 new macrolactones derived from thuggacin, which is a secondary metabolite from the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum, are reported. The thuggacins have attracted much attention due to their strong antibacterial activity, particularly towards Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This study focuses on 1) thuggacin derivatives that cannot equilibrate by transacylation between the three natural thuggacins A-C, 2) the roles of the thiazole ring, and 3) the hexyl side chain at C2.

Ambulatory and chronic disease care by physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

As the US population increases and ages, more patients require care. A reengineered health care system relies on physician assistants and nurse practitioners; however, the extent to which they care for medical conditions is marginally known. We analyzed ambulatory visits by provider type and diagnosis focusing on chronic diseases to identify differences in patients seen by each type of provider.

Total synthesis of the antibiotic elansolid B1.

The antibiotic elansolid B1 was prepared by a convergent strategy that relied on a highly diastereoselective, biomimetic intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition (IMDA) that furnished the tetrahydroindane unit. Other key features are a double Sonogashira cross-coupling and a substrate-controlled Yamamoto aldol reaction.

Ruthenium carbenes supported on mesoporous silicas as highly active and selective hybrid catalysts for olefin metathesis reactions under continuous flow.

In the search for a highly active and selective heterogenized metathesis catalyst, we systematically varied the pore geometry and size of various silica-based mesoporous (i.e., MCM-41, MCM-48, and SBA-15) and microporous (ZSM-5 and MWW) versus macroporous materials (D11-10 and Aerosil 200), besides other process parameters (temperature, dilution, and mean residence time).