PAEA Lines Up Events for AAPA Annual PA Conference in San Diego

PA faculty and clinical PAs planning to be present at the AAPA PA Annual Conference may choose to attend any of several PAEA-sponsored events, listed below. See these additional details about PAEA’s presence at the Conference.

Monday, May 24: Presentations by the Education Committee

The Perfect Storm: Casting a Safety Net Around Medical Errors
Presented by: Ellen Mandel, DMH, PA-C
(9:00–9:50 a.m., room 25AB, San Diego Convention Center)

Medical errors have captured the interest of clinicians, payers, and regulators of medical care. Through brief case analyses, this lecture will help clinicians identify typical medical errors and promote self-introspection, leading to safer medical decision making.

The Year in Review: PA Research Literature
Presented by: Roderick Hooker, PhD, PA, and James Cawley, MPH, PA-C
(10:00–10:45 a.m., room 25AB, San Diego Convention Center)

This session will summarize pertinent PA workforce research published over the past year. The presenters will assess the value of the research to the literature and make suggestions as to how this research may be further directed.

Paying It Forward: The Benefits, Barriers, and Balance of Clinical Precepting
Presented by Sandy Hoops, MS, CHA, PA-C, and Toni Young-Pen, PA-C (Note that this workshop will be presented twice the same day:
11:00–11:45 a.m. and 2:00–2:45 p.m., room 25AB, San Diego Convention Center)

This session is for practicing clinicians who are either currently precepting students or are interested in doing so. The discussion will focus on the personal and professional benefits of working with students, barriers to their being in the clinical setting, and methods of integrating them into clinical practice. The presenters will also explore resources to help preceptors get started and continue to develop their clinical teaching skills.

Educational Implications of Health Workforce Issues for PAs
Presented by: Roderick Hooker, PhD, PA, and James Cawley, MPH, PA-C
(1:00–1:45 p.m., room 25AB, San Diego Convention Center)

This presentation focuses on medical workforce issues as they relate to the PA profession. There is broad consensus among health economists that the demand for physicians will increase and, as a consequence, medical schools are increasing their class sizes, as are many PA programs. The presenters will examine the positive and negative implications of the expansion of both medical and PA training in light of the projected demand for and potential output of PA graduates, among other issues.

Each of the above four sessions has been approved for one hour of Category I CME by AAPA.

Monday, May 25

Presentations by Students of Winning Submissions to PAEA Student Writing Competition and Awards Ceremony

Moderator: Robert Hadley, PhD, PA-C, chair of the PAEA Research Institute’s Subcommittee for Student Research Affairs; to be joined by PAEA President Justine Strand, DrPH, PA-C, and JAAPA’s Sarah Zarbock, PA-C, editor-in-chief, and Tanya Gregory, PhD, editor
(3:00–3:50 p.m., room 23A-B, San Diego Convention Center)

The three students winners of the PAEA Student Writing Competition, funded by JAAPA for the ninth consecutive year, will be honored for their prize winning proposals and make brief presentations for faculty and other students.

Tuesday, May 26, and Wednesday, May 27

PAEA Preceptor Booth, Number 409

All PAs and PA faculty, especially those interested in precepting, are invited to stop by the booth and chat with staff, board members, and other volunteer PA educators. One of PAEA’s goals in presenting this exhibit is to collect information on individuals interested in being preceptors who would like to be connected with programs near them.

Wednesday, May 27

Panel Presentation: PAs, Preceptors, and the Health Workforce Shortage
Presenters: Justine Strand, DrPH, PA-C; Robin N. Hunter Buskey, MPAS, PA-C; and Greg W. Mennie, MSEd, PA-C
(11:00-11:45 a.m., room 23C, San Diego Convention Center)

This panel discussion will cover the “big picture” of projected workforce shortages and the opportunities they present for the PA profession. Practicing PAs and PA educators will lead a conversation about clinical training and workforce issues, the benefits and challenges of precepting, efforts under way to match up programs and preceptors, and some tools and resources for preceptors.