APAP Honors Student Writers and Faculty Researchers

By Eileen Evans

APAP held its awards ceremony on Thursday, May 22, during the Semiannual Meeting in New Orleans to honor the student winners of the APAP Student Writing Competition and faculty whose research proposals were selected for funding as part of the NCCPA/APAP Research Grants Program. Richard Dehn, Research Institute co-chair, moderated. He introduced Leslie Kole, editor in chief of Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAAPA), which provided cash prizes, lodging, and travel funds for the student winners. Dehn acknowledged APAP’s indebtedness to JAAPA, which for the last three years, has made competition possible.

More than 150 entries were received for this year’s APAP Student Writing Competition. Winners who took first place were designated as the Nyquist winners, in commemoration of J. Peter Nyquist, for whom the APAP Student Writing Competition was originally named. Three student authors shared the spotlight: Chad Jeffery, Dorian J. Carroll, and Vanessa Arena from the Philadelphia University PA Program won first place and a $500 check for their submission, “Pulmonary Embolism: Current Recommendations for Diagnosis and Treatment.” Speaking for his prizewinning team, Mr. Jeffery encouraged other students to work closely with their faculty advisors, as they had with faculty person Denis Tekippe, who not only encouraged the students to enter the competition, but contributed invaluable guidance and feedback.

Lauren L. Louters from the University of Iowa PA Program came in second and Kole presented her with a $300 check for her submission entitled “Major Depressive Disorder in Children: A Review of Its Prevalence, Presentation, Impact and Treatment.” Louters said that she chose the topic of depression in children due to the fact that, despite its high prevalence among American children and the extent to which it affects them and their families, only one-third receive appropriate treatment. In her presentation Louters attributed this outcome to numerous factors including the spectrum of symptoms depending upon the child’s developmental stage, lack of objective tests for mood disorders, and other causes that her paper addresses more fully.

Lizabeth O’Connor from the LeMoyne College PA Program was selected as the third place winner and received a check for $200. Commenting on the writing process, O’Connor said that her submission, “The Dynamics of Caregiving: An Overview of the Caregiving Experience and the Effects of Services on Those Providing Care,” allowed her the opportunity to present an important health care issue on which PAs could have a positive influence. O’Connor said that an awareness of the many complex facets of caregiving and knowledge about community resources would allow PAs to assist the geriatric population.

The three winners gave brief, but impressive, presentations of their work, and Kole observed that the quality of student entries has improved over the years. She urged junior faculty in particular to begin writing for clinical venues by reviewing existing literature, analyzing it, and framing it for their colleagues. “One of the best ways to learn,” Kole advised, “is to write.” Dehn congratulated Kole on her pending retirement after 16 years of dedicated service and praised her contributions to JAAPA. He called her visionary and credited her promotion of research and the values of scholarship and for having defined JAAPA and, as Dehn put it, “making it what it is.”

Dehn introduced I. Keir Todd and praised his impressive work for a third year in coordinating the writing competition and the judging processes for the numerous student entries. Todd, a faculty person at the PA program at Oregon Health and Science University and chair of the APAP Student Writing Committee, extended his thanks to the cadre of reviewers who assisted him in selecting the winners and thanked the students for their contributions to PA literature. He said that it was incumbent upon faculty to encourage students to write and claimed that the best student writers tend to become PA faculty.

Faculty Winners of the NCCPA/APAP Research Grants Program

Since 2001, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) and APAP have jointly sponsored the NCCPA/APAP Research Grants Program. Two faculty proposals were selected to be funded, and Dehn made these presentations on behalf of the partner organizations. Venetia L. Orcutt of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of PA Studies, received a certificate and a funding check for her proposal, “The Doctoral Pipeline in PA Education.” Marshall Blesofsky of the Primary Care PA Program at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California was awarded a certificate and a funding check for “Teaching Professionalism in Physician Assistant Education.” Dehn said that the 2003 grants cycle that culminated in late March 2003 was the NCCPA’s third year of supporting faculty engaged in research. Dehn commented that the NCCPA’s role in providing funding support for research related activities within the profession was critical in creating opportunities for faculty and could not be overstated.