Differences in the delivery of health education to patients with chronic disease by provider type, 2005-2009.

Introduction: Health education provided to patients can reduce mortality and morbidity of chronic disease. Although some studies describe the provision of health education by physicians, few studies have examined how physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners differ in the provision of health education. The objective of our study was to evaluate the rate of health education provision by physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners/certified midwives.

Examining intercultural sensitivity and competency of physician assistant students.

Training in intercultural competency for health care professionals is necessary to bring greater balance to the disparity currently found among those needing health care. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, improvements in cultural competency were measurable in physician assistant (PA) students as they matriculated, using the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge and Skills Survey-Revised as a pretest upon program entry and again as a posttest on the final day of the program. Ninety-three PA students from four successive classes graduating from a private midwest college between 2003 and 2007 participated in the pre and post measurements.