FSU College of Medicine 2018 annual report 2019 Annual Report | Page 21

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PA PROGRAM HELPING TO BUILD FLORIDA’S WORKFORCE
The College of Medicine’s halls were abuzz with more
things to keep them alive longer,” he said. “That means more the main reasons why I chose the PA route, one of which
students than ever in fall 2019. Joining the first- and second- medications, more complications and so on. So, who’s going was being able to have the flexibility to work in different
year medical students at the central campus was the School to care for them? The family doc, the nurse practitioner, specialties of medicine.”
of Physician Assistant Practice’s first full-enrollment class, as the PA – working together to manage those patients in the well as the 50-member PA Class of 2020. outpatient setting. I think that’s really the future.”
Meanwhile, members of the Class of 2019 were at their
PAs work under a physician’s supervision and in close
The collaboration is key, Zedaker said.
“I give a lot of credit to the staff, regional campuses, deans
and faculty,” he said. “There were a lot of unknowns. They
regional campuses – nearing the end of the med school’s first partnership with nurses, physical therapists, occupational had never trained PAs before, and what they’ve done has
PA rotations using the same clerkship model as the M.D. therapists, behavioral health professionals, administrators been phenomenal.”
program. Rotations cap off the 27-month PA program after a and others. The profession was created in the 1960s to help year of acquiring clinical knowledge at the central campus. combat a shortage of primary-care physicians.
“One reason we started thinking about this six or seven
But not everyone in the medical community had experience
The first class of PA students graduated with a Master
of Science in Physician Assistant Practice on Dec. 14 and
became eligible to sit for the Physician Assistant National
years ago was that, without it, I didn’t think we could produce working with PAs. Some faculty members initially had doubts Certifying Exam and apply for state licensure to begin
the workforce that the country really needed for primary about the additional students and workload. After all, adding practice. Now that the program has grown to full enrollment,
care,” College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty said. the program required the coordination and cooperation of it will accept 60 students into each class.
The inaugural class of PA students arrived in August 2017.
Since then, PA students have found their home within the College
hundreds of clerkship faculty spread across the campuses.
Ben Kaplan, internal medicine clerkship director in Orlando,
“This is a great add to our mission of producing … well,
I used to say ‘producing the doctors that Florida needs the
of Medicine, said Class of 2019 student Holly Garza-Shaw. “The said his M.D. colleagues are impressed with how quickly the most,’” Fogarty said. “But now, it’s ‘producing the workforce
faculty, med students and community clinicians at my regional PA students have adapted to the regional campus framework. that Florida needs the most.’”
campus, Fort Pierce, welcomed us with open arms,” she said. “When you’re giving faculty these students who are hard- The aspiring PAs now even share learning communities working, dedicated and well-trained with a solid knowledge
with the medical students at the central campus.
“I think the dean’s view and the view of Student Affairs
base, they’re going to start trusting those students very
quickly and get over that initial skepticism,” said Kaplan.
has been to provide similar services to both the PA and med Through the med school’s clerkship model, PA and M.D.
students – not creating an ‘us and them’ environment, which students learn one-on-one with community physicians and
has been great,” said Jim Zedaker, founding director of the other health providers.
School of Physician Assistant Practice. “It reinforces the team
“Having an extensive range in clinical preceptors –
concept, not only for the PAs but medical students as well.” physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners – has
Learning the dynamics of the health-care team is key, helped me better understand my role and the responsibilities
Fogarty said.
“Patients today have tremendous interventions and other
I’ll have once I graduate,” Garza-Shaw said before her
December 2019 graduation. “It also re-emphasized some of