FSU College of Medicine 2018 annual report 2019 Annual Report | Page 23

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IMMERSING PA STUDENTS IN A UNIQUE MODEL:
A CAMPUS DEAN’S PERSPECTIVE
(As senior associate dean for regional campuses and the class of medical students who arrived in 2003 under similar It was also a year that could not have turned out better.
founding dean of the Pensacola Regional Campus, Paul scrutiny as a part of our distributed-campus model. These students integrated seamlessly into the campus
McLeod has been heavily involved in what once was It takes a special group of students to handle this year of and the community. They performed at such a high level
considered to be an experimental approach to medical firsts. They must be bright, disciplined and possess the grit that more than one of our clerkship directors and faculty
education. There were many doubts about having to push through the tough times. They must be resilient commented how they could not tell them apart from the
community physicians serve as the primary teachers for enough to handle the inevitable bumps in the road for a medical students based on the clerkship performance.
FSU M.D. students on clinical rotations, but that model new program. Sometimes the bumps probably felt more like They managed everything that was required of them with
has worked exceptionally well. As the College of Medicine craters, but they persevered. So much was resting on their excellence and professionalism.
prepared to send PA students into the community setting shoulders. So much was riding on their performance. A few for the first time it raised some familiar concerns. McLeod skeptics in the medical community would love to see them As we bid them goodbye in their role as students, I hope
reflects here on the first year of that effort). fail and say, “I told you so.” If they did poorly, the faculty everyone will join me in thanking and congratulating the
may refuse to take our future PA students. Looking back, it FSU COM founding class of PA students.
was a very high-stakes year. – Paul McLeod, M.D.
Twenty-nine brave young professionals made their way
to our communities in January 2019 as the first class of
FSU College of Medicine PA students. Their journey was
not without risk. Questions were many and could only
be answered based on their performance. Would they be
welcomed by the staff, teaching physicians, medical students
and medical community? Would the program that has
worked so well for our medical students also work for them?
Would there be PA faculty members to teach and mentor
them? Would they be prepared for the clerkships and to
pass the exams? Would they have the time to do all that was
required of them? Would they be able to find a job?
No doubt, there was a huge cloud of uncertainty in the air
the day they arrived. This scenario is reminiscent of the first
So here we are, taking this opportunity to say “well done.”