Ten years ago I sat nervously around a table in Pennsylvania awaiting the start of APAP’s Leadership Training Institute. Although I had been teaching in a PA program for 13 years, I had not participated in APAP and was quickly convincing myself that everyone else knew each other and wouldn’t notice or care if I quietly slipped out the door and went home.

My platform statement and CV delineate my previous leadership experience. I bring 23 years as a medical educator dedicated to best evidence in practice and a commitment to academic scholarship. I hope to use this background, and my clinical skills to strengthen the organization by fostering a dialogue where we can respectfully explore our differences, challenging us to reach beyond what we do now to what we might accomplish together.

For the past six years, as coordinator of the Basic Skills Workshop I have been privileged to work with hundreds of PA educators and have been impressed by their enthusiasm and sense of commitment. It is my hope to bring together experienced educators and this new group of leaders to work towards creating innovative strategies that promotes our mission and meets our ongoing needs.

Promoting excellence in PA education through enhanced programming and faculty development remains an ongoing APAP priority. I would like to see us create a vision and strategic plan for faculty and leadership development with input from APAP’s Research and Faculty Development institutes, Education Committee, and representative educators. This might include a description of educator roles or competencies providing a framework for professional development and our efforts to improve the quality of our educational meetings. I would also like to see us create a Web-based platform allowing us to share resources and increase opportunities for mentoring.

It is important that PA educators remain active participants in the dialogue that defines quality education and patient-centered care. I would like to see APAP expand collaboration with liaison organizations (HRSA, related health professions and educational organizations and private corporations) to assure that physician assistants have a voice in identifying and implementing strategies that will shape and define our educational future.

We need to strengthen the research culture in APAP in order to support programs that promote diversity in recruitment, selection, and development of qualified students and faculty. We need to increase our efforts to systematically assess, evaluate, and disseminate information on applicants, programs, and graduates across the training spectrum. I would like to see us explore the possibility of establishing an interactive database that would extend beyond the annual report and potentially provide programs and partner organizations with a mechanism for storing, sharing, and reporting information about recruitment, admissions, graduation, curriculum, and accreditation.

Dramatic growth in programs and successful transition to independent management makes this an exciting time in the Association’s history. An underlying paradox of this situation is that it is also a time when programs and members may feel disenfranchised or “left out” of the process. APAP has grown so rapidly that old mechanisms for communication and dialogue may not work effectively. Organizations, however, are only as strong as their members and in order to move forward we need everyone’s active participation. It is time to reassess how the organization can better meet the needs of member programs and at the same time find out what each individual has to offer the organization. It is also a time to empower members with increasing opportunities for voice and participation.

Over the last three years, APAP has created a mission, vision, and infrastructure that assures fiscal responsibility and supports enhanced programming to meet member needs. Successful endeavors like CASPA and Perspective on Physician Assistant Education, along with established commissions and committees, will continue to inform and serve our members. We must combine this existing structure, however, with flexibility as we listen to the emerging needs of both old and new programs. Defining our educational programs and educator needs is always a moving target. Increasing opportunities for dialogue and participation and creating new strategies to support our mission will build trust in an Association that can not only effectively meet our program’s needs but be recognized worldwide for leadership and authority in PA education.

“To pursue excellence, foster faculty development, advance the body of knowledge that defines quality education and patient-centered care, and promote diversity in all aspects of physician assistant education,” define APAP’s mission. Furthermore, APAP has developed clearly articulated goals to:

1. Foster faculty development
2. Promote PA program excellence
3. Facilitate research and scholarly activities
4. Advocate for PA education
5. Maintain and advance the Association

The three most important goals are: promoting excellence within PA programs, faculty development, and advancement of the Association. Faculty development is crucial and the APAP HRSA grant entitled “Physician Assistant Faculty Development Education and Practice” has already addressed some of these issues. The tools resulting produced by this grant were learning objective guidelines, practice management modules, and a study on Title VII funding and PA education. It is in these types of efforts that I see APAP making its greatest contribution in promoting excellence within PA programs.

Faculty development also needs to remain a top priority of the Association. Our institute has done an admirable job in this regard but we can still do more. Within the next two to three years I would advocate for expansion of mentorship programs between APAP, existing faculty, clinical PAs, and students. This will enable those interested in educational careers to develop the necessary mentorship to succeed. Lastly, as we transition to independence as an organization we need to develop a clearer and more robust identity over the coming years that will enable us to lead our profession into the next millennium.

APAP is the lead organization for physician assistant education and as such has certain responsibilities that it must meet in order to better serve its member programs. If we look at this relationship as one between service provider and consumer we can better see a model of how APAP can improve in this area. Firstly, in order to meet needs they must be clearly articulated by the member programs. I would suggest annual program surveys designed in identifying commonalities of need across the board. Once these areas are identified I would then recommend that we work to meet them in the most expedient and cost effective manner. Secondly, I envision a “master educator” resource list that can be compiled as a resource for member programs. At times we all get caught up in reinventing the wheel. If we are able to identify “experts” in key educational and non-educational areas then we can make available services that are benchmarked based on a proven track record. Lastly, APAP can meet member program needs by maintaining the open and constructive forum it has fostered over its existence. Through an active and open dialogue we will all be able to improve and meet the needs of all or our members.

Being with APAP for 13 years, I bring the experiences of those years. I led our own program through the academic rigors of going from a program in “continuing education” to a master’s degreed program in the graduate school. I have “fought the battles” of getting clinical faculty recognized as “bona-fide” graduate faculty.

I have had experience in a “traditional” PA program format (Saint Louis University), and am now leading a “unique” type of program.

Previously, I was a hospital administrator in two rural hospitals and have experiences of: asset management (finding the dollars to do all we want/need to do); working with divergent groups (doctors/accreditation bodies/legislators/patients/employees/boards of directors/regulatory bodies/insurance companies/Medicare and Medicaid); arbitrator/ peacemaker (refer to the previous list!). I have learned to be objective while realizing that, in every decision, people are involved.

Advocate for PA education: many programs depend on federal grant dollars to help fund their programs. With the present trend of decreasing dollars available for higher education, APAP needs to work with the major PA organizations in finding new and innovative ways to assist programs in lobbying efforts to reverse this trend. HRSA has been the major funding entity for PA education. Efforts need to be made to identify and cultivate links with other federal, state, and private organizations to make available funding sources on a long-term basis.

Foster faculty development: APAP needs to work with NCCPA to allow more category I hours for activities directly related to teaching skills. Faculty have limited dollars for CME activities and often must choose between CMEs for recertification and meetings/workshops that improve teaching and other faculty oriented skills.

Maintain and advance the organization: With APAP now becoming an entity completely separate from AAPA, a major task during these first years is to identify and implement those changes needed to assure long-term survival and growth of the organization. Issues such as logo, name change, membership structure, vision statement, goals and objectives need to be revisited and, where appropriate, adapted to the new structure. However, all of this needs to be done with appropriate input from the membership.

To be able to answer that question, APAP needs to periodically query the member programs as to their needs. For me to answer that question, I speak from the perspective of one member program. What I might see as a pressing need for my program can be either a microcosm of all or most of the programs, or might be a need that is quite unique to the UND program.

Looking only at numbers of programs, the organization has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. Networking today is not like it was even 10 years ago. Today we can go to the fall meeting and not know half the people present. Changes in educational requirements, technology, core faculty expectations, and a host of other issues have all impacted programs and today’s needs.

I believe we need to do an extensive survey of member programs to get a clearer picture of today’s needs to help build a future for APAP that all programs can support.