Thank you to everyone who joined our recent webinar, Enhancing Student Preparedness and Achieving PA Program Success. It was a pleasure to connect and share insights regarding how to better prepare students for their clinical experiences while addressing the common challenges faced by Physician Assistant and Physician Associate (PA) programs. For those of you who missed it—or need a quick refresher—here’s a recap of the key takeaways.
Understanding the Challenges
PA programs play a vital role in training future healthcare professionals, but the path to student success is not without hurdles. These are some common challenges we discussed:
- Clinical Rotations Management & Placement: Ensuring students access diverse, high-quality clinical sites and experiences.
- Student Preparedness: Addressing academic, professional, and emotional readiness, especially in a post-pandemic landscape.
- Increasing Remediation Needs: Supporting students with rising remediation requirements in coursework and exams.
- Curriculum and Training Updates: Staying current with evolving accreditation standards and industry expectations.
Preparing Students for Success
Student preparedness is critical to achieving PA program goals and meeting ARC-PA accreditation standards. Here’s how programs can better equip students:
- Academic Preparedness: Offering robust orientations, academic resources, and preclinical support.
- Clinical Preparedness: Providing early exposure to diverse clinical settings, training in professionalism and soft skills, and ensuring regular feedback.
- Emotional Resilience: Helping students develop coping strategies for the challenges of clinical rotations and beyond.
When students are fully prepared, they’re more likely to excel in their programs and in their future roles as physician assistant professionals.
Meeting ARC-PA Standards
We also highlighted how programs are evaluated against ARC-PA standards, emphasizing the importance of:
- Interpersonal communication skills.
- Consistent evaluation and feedback mechanisms.
- Effective clinical training and site management.
Programs that excel in these areas are not only successful but also more likely to achieve and maintain accreditation.
Leveraging Technology to Address Challenges
During the webinar, we explored how technology solutions, like CORE’s comprehensive suite, can help PA programs overcome these obstacles. Here’s how:
- CORE ELMS: Streamlines clinical rotations, manages site/preceptor onboarding, tracks evaluations, and facilitates real-time feedback.
- CORE CompMS: Supports curricular mapping, didactic assessment, and remediation tracking to ensure students meet program and accreditation standards.
- CORE READINESS (Training Content): Includes HIPAA, bloodborne pathogens, infection control, and clinical skills training to prepare students for day one in clinical settings.
Data-Driven Insights
One standout feature discussed was CORE’s robust reporting tools, which provide actionable insights for both student and program performance. Popular reports include:
- Site Availability Reports: Easily manage site capacity and preceptor availability.
- Evaluation Performance Reports: Track individual and cohort performance.
- Student Snapshot Views: Gain a comprehensive overview of student progress, including hours, case logs, and absences.
Key Questions from the Q&A
Here are some of the questions addressed during the session:
- Can evaluations be customized for specific rotations?
Yes, evaluations can be tailored to specific rotations, with options for custom rubrics and case log tracking.
- Is there an additional cost for training modules?
HIPAA and related training modules come at a small additional cost, but completions are tracked seamlessly within CORE.
- What’s the implementation timeline?
CORE offers a 12-week implementation period, with a dedicated client success specialist to guide you through setup and beyond.
Moving Forward
If you’re ready to enhance your PA program with smarter tools and better student support, we’re here to help. Let’s continue the conversation to see how CORE can align with your program’s goals and make a lasting impact on your students’ success. Click here if you'd like to be contacted with more information on CORE.
Thank you again for attending, and I look forward to partnering with you to drive your program forward.