Call for Motions

Member faculty are encouraged to submit motions on issues that impact the Association up to 45 days — until September 22, 2005 — before the business meeting scheduled for Saturday, November 5, from 4:15 to 6:00 p.m., during the APAP Education Forum in Puerto Rico. Prior to this date, all motions should be submitted to the respective regional consortia chair with a copy to Eileen Evans, eevans@apap.org. The process is outlined more fully in Walter Eisenhauer’s article, “Minor Revisions in Governance Policies to Be Enacted at
APAP’s Education Forum,” appearing in this issue.

Faculty are being contacted by the chairs of their regional consortia and encouraged before the start of the forum to participate in dialogue on motions that have been submitted.

The role of the consortia is to

• Vet the motions
• Allow for the collegial discussion of motions that will make them as useful to as many programs as possible
• Gather consensus for motions

Consortia can provide feedback to the author of a motion, including implications he or she may not have considered, and wordsmithing or other suggestions to guarantee that motions be presented at the business meeting in the most refined and advantageous form possible.

Motions Received to Date

The following motion was received at APAP on June 21, 2005:

Whereas there is increasing pressure from physician assistant clinical affiliates to require criminal background checks and other screening of students (e.g. drug screen), and

Whereas there is a lack of a national uniform approach to this problem which considers liability issues, confidentiality and cost to students, and other important factors, and

Whereas it appears from discussions at APAP meetings and the PA faculty listserve that there is a need for guidance to PA Programs and general consensus on best practice,

Be it resolved, that the APAP Board convene an advisory group and work with stakeholders including the American Hospital Association, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and member programs concerned with the criminal background check and related issues, to collect additional relevant information, explore implementation options, and develop guidelines for use by member schools.

Submitted by:

Anthony A. Miller, M.Ed., PA-C
Shenandoah University

P. Eugene Jones, Ph.D., PA-C
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Consortia chairs

Walter Eisenhauer, APAP director at large, is the board liaison to the consortia. Feel free to contact him at weisenha@lhup.edu.