PAEA Board Moves Forward in Retreat

At its traditional two-day January planning retreat, the PAEA board welcomed new board members, revised the Association’s strategic plan, and reviewed progress on a number of projects and initiatives. The retreat was held at the Hyatt Regency Savannah, the property that will host the PAEA Annual Education Forum later in the year, allowing the board and staff to learn the lay of the land and to begin planning locations for events at the Education Forum. The Education Committee will also meet at this hotel in the spring, when specific room planning will begin. The board welcomed President Elect Justine Stand and new Director at Large Connie Goldgar to their first meeting of this board (Strand has previously served as director at large).

Strategic Plan
Much of the retreat time was spent reviewing and updating the Association’s strategic plan, in response both to member feedback received following the Education Forum last year, and to changes in the health care and educational environments. Several of the plan’s key assumptions were revised in recognition of changing conditions in health care and education in this country and around the world. "It was interesting to see how much has changed even in the year since we first developed the plan,” said PAEA President Dana Sayre-Stanhope, “particularly in the areas of international credentialing, pressures driving reorganization of health care delivery, workforce shortages and changing population demographics, and an increasingly prescriptive regulatory environment.”

The board approved the revised plan at its formal meeting at the end of the retreat and the plan is now posted on the PAEA Web site (members only). Over the next several months, committees will be working on the areas of the plan that are relevant to their activities, as well as doing their own strategic planning.

Presence at AAPA Annual Conference
PAEA will not be offering educational sessions at the AAPA Annual Conference this year. After learning that the Education Committee had received only a handful of proposals for the sessions this year and reviewing the Association’s overall meetings activities, the PAEA board decided to approve the Education Committee’s recommendation to cancel the sessions this year. In addition, the board will not hold a formal board meeting in San Antonio; dates and locations are being considered for a replacement meeting later this summer. This decision should also allow PA educators who attend the AAPA Annual Conference wearing multiple hats to focus their attentions on other activities, such as the House of Delegates, student and alumni activities, and CME. The PAEA president will address the House of Delegates and the AAPA Board of Directors as always, and the Faculty Development Institute’s (FDI) Advanced Clinical Coordinators Workshop will be held in San Antonio on May 23 and 24, as scheduled.           

In addition, the Association will be hosting a booth in the exhibit hall, with a focus on providing information to clinical PAs who are interested in precepting PA students.

Motion Follow-up
The board reviewed the motions that were passed by the membership at the 2007 Education Forum:

• The Core Cultural Competencies for Physician Assistant Students has been posted on the PAEA Web site

• The issue of the clinical doctorate will be a piece of the visioning project now being developed by PAEA in collaboration with other PA organizations

• The Faculty Development Institute will consider options for further regionalizing its workshops at its next meeting, in April. Two workshops will be offered in Chicago in April.

Other Projects

• Visioning project – The board reviewed progress relating to a proposed project that would use a series of colloquia to review the PA practice and education environments, drawing on expertise and perspectives from a wide range of organizations and professions. Preliminary agreement has been reached among the four PA organizations that would participate in the project, and the boards of the four organizations are now considering more detailed plans.

• Content management system – The board heard an update on the new system that will be used to revamp the Association’s Web site and create discussion groups and other interactive features that will enhance member communications. A vendor has been selected and planning meetings are now being held with staff to assess needs and develop a structure for the site. The site is scheduled to be launched in May.

• PAEA/NCCPA workgroup on testing products – The board discussed results of a survey of PA programs assessing interest in development of new testing products. The workgroup will report more formally to the board following its meeting in late January.

In other actions, the board:

• Appointed Walt Eisenhauer, Lock Haven University, as a member of the Governance Committee

• Appointed Dan O’Donoghue, University of Oklahoma, as a member of the Finance Committee

• Directed staff to consider options for hiring a professional parliamentarian for the 2008 Education Forum