PA Educators at the Table: Taking Responsibility for Increasing Collaborative Activities

Kirsten Thomsen, PA-C
Director at Large

During our Annual Education Forum in Tucson last month, PAEA liaisons to various external organizations came together to discuss the Association's strategic plan and to consider how PAEA can increase its collaborative activities with these and other organizations. During this conversation it seemed to me that we educators must begin to see ourselves as liaisons whenever we attend meetings. The opportunity for PAEA to be recognized for its expert leadership in medical education — the goal of PAEA’s strategic plan — can be facilitated by each of us contributing our voices as PAs and as PA educators when opportunities arise.

Having recently attended the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting and sessions at the American Public Health Association, I find myself thinking how important it is for PA educators to “be at the table,” so to speak. It is critical to find opportunities not only to present at a variety of medical meetings, but also to ensure that we take advantage of these occasions to learn from each other. Just to attend is not enough; instead, we need to find ways to dialogue with a variety of other educators and health professionals, whose insights may be helpful to PA educators and to PAEA.

The importance of such communication was underscored for me when I learned from a New Mexico colleague, Scott Obenshen, MD, how in the 1970s he and a couple of other physicians from the University of New Mexico traveled to Duke and Wake Forest universities to observe how the PA programs delivered their curricula. He told me that it was a result of those opportunities to dialogue with PA educators that the University of New Mexico School of Medicine developed its primary care curriculum in organ system modules.

As Dr. Richard Krugman, the keynote speaker in Tucson, pointed out, physicians learning from PA educators is not new. Yet, in order to facilitate dialogue about a variety of educational issues, we must come together to talk. Each of us could ask ourselves whether we introduce ourselves at medical meetings and take advantage of these opportunities to exchange ideas about the education of our future health care providers.

It would be my challenge that we see ourselves as liaisons for our profession and as members of PAEA whenever we attend conferences. Sometimes this can involve simple practical details: For example, I was surprised to see in the AAMC list of presenters the name of a colleague without her PA credential after her name. It reminded me of the inquiry I had made to Institute of Medicine personnel about PA educators who are members or who have participated on panels only to be told that no PAs were found; in fact, several PAs have participated, but they are listed with other degrees that they also hold. It would be helpful to the profession to be sure that our PA credentials are included so that PAs are identified as being at the table; if people do not know who we are, we cannot be counted.

We also need to share more information about opportunities for PAs and PA educators to take part in policy dialogues. For example, it was in 1978 that we last had a PA educator or clinician accepted to the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship when the only PA ever to do so, Bill Stanhope, spent a year with this prestigious fellowship.

As our Web site and communications infrastructure expands in the coming months, the Association will be disseminating more information about opportunities for communication and collaboration with external organizations, and I would like to encourage all educators to share information that they believe their colleagues would be interested in. You can send information to info@PAEAonline.org.

Also at the Tucson conference, the PAEA International Affairs Committee, which held a day-long meeting there, hosted a large number of foreign visitors, educator liaisons from various countries who used this chance to speak during the meeting with PAEA members. It was a perfect demonstration of the power of information sharing and its importance in our reaching the goal to which PAEA aspires — to be leaders in medical education. Join us in the effort and at the table.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead