supporting whatever you do,” Gardner said of Smith.
“ I tell the students,‘ If you decide you don’ t want anything to do with healthcare after this, it’ s all right. But, if you decide you want to pursue medical or PA school, we want to help you make those decisions now,’” said Smith, who has taught 919 undergrads in that course, with 56 more enrolled this fall.“ There’ s probably not a week that goes by that I don’ t hear from a previous student seeking help or hearing that they got into a program somewhere.”
Romero also took the course from Smith, which led to his introduction to affable Associate Professor and Admissions Director Tom Morgan, Ph. D.“ It made the place feel a little more familiar and homier, like you have a community there,” he said, adding that it was a“ no-brainer” to apply for admission.
The approachability and perceived care for the students by faculty and staff is not by accident. In fact, applicants often comment on that perception during the interview process.
“ We often hear,‘ I was surprised at how much you care and how much time you spent and how family-like this felt,’” Smith said.“ That’ s exactly what we want because that’ s exactly who we are.”
Developing that rapport with potential PA students is by design and comes naturally for the faculty and staff Smith has either retained or hired. Inspired by a high school teacher / football coach who insisted that the diversity within the staff was what“ made the team the team,” Smith came to the realization that the diversity of thought and personality would be critical to guiding the PA program when he was appointed interim director early in 2022.
“ There are very different thinkers, different personalities and people who have had different experiences [ among PA faculty and staff ],” Smith said.“ Bringing all of that together lends itself to that sense of care. We had to convey, demonstrate and live with a complete sense of support; sort of that warm caring when it’ s needed, balanced with the dose of reality and what’ s truly expected. When those both occur is when things blossom and completely take off.”
Which is exactly what is transpiring between the recruiting / admissions process, through the grueling 27-month academic track, which begins with 15 months of didactic training on the central campus and concludes with 12 months of clinical education at one on the college’ s six regional campuses.
To date, FSU’ s School of Physician Assistant Practice has graduated 370 students, of which 366 of the 368 who have taken Physician Assistance National Certifying Examination( PANCE) have passed— 99.5 %— and are eligible to practice. Of those, 78 % are practicing in Florida; nearly 30 % in primary care.
Those numbers align with the vision now-Dean Emeritus Dr. John P. Fogarty had envisioned when he launched the program to help offset shortage of medical providers in Florida.
“ Our mission is to provide the healthcare providers and I didn’ t think we were going to be able to do that [ through the M. D. program, alone ]. It was really an easy decision,” said Fogarty, whose 20-year Army career exposed him to the value of PAs in the medical field.
“ The hardest part was to convince the educators to take this on. The regional campus faculty now love it.”
Acknowledging the added academic load of teaching M. D. and PA students simultaneously with its clinical faculty, Fogarty and Littles, his successor, are thrilled with the results. With collaborative medical care the new norm, FSU’ s education model was the perfect fit.
“ What better way to train them for that future than to have it happen when they were students here,” Littles said.“ It was exciting to see another academic program coming into the College of Medicine and
20 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF MEDICINE