Stay Enlightened and Enlightening with JPAE

Looking for ways to engage your students and stay up to date on the current issues in PA education? Then be sure to check out the December issue of the Journal of Physician Assistant Education (JPAE). It is now available online and will soon be arriving in your mailbox — if it hasn’t already. Here are a few of the articles that you will find in this latest issue.

• Physician Assistant Education Community Assumptions About an Entry-Level Doctorate Degree

There is increasing discussion within the PA community of the potential move to an entry-level clinical doctorate similar to other health professions. This would not be unprecedented as the profession moved from the entry-level bachelor’s degree to master’s degree in the early 2000s. The authors conducted a survey study of accredited, PAEA member programs to explore educators’ thoughts on this continued advancement of the entry-level degree.

• Emotional Intelligence: Changes Over the First Year of Physician Assistant Education

Emotional intelligence is being used more and more in the evaluation of medical learners and of graduates obtaining licensure and hospital privileges. Healthcare providers with high emotional intelligence have been shown to demonstrate better bedside manner, deeper patient-provider relationships, and overall higher patient satisfaction. This JPAE article investigates how emotional intelligence develops throughout the didactic phase of training in PA education.

• Finding Success in Scholarship: How PA Educators Can Overcome Barriers to Publication

Part of the process of promotion in academia is dissemination of ideas through publications and scholarly work. Since many PA educators do not go through a formal education training program prior to becoming educational faculty, this can sometimes seem like a daunting task. The authors of this article look at six key strategies to guide PA educators in finding success in scholarship.

• The Effects of a Pass-Fail Curriculum on a Physician Assistant Program

As medical educators are developing a deeper understanding of how mental health effects learners in their training program, research has increasingly focused on how we grade our students. While a pass-fail curriculum has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety in medical learners, the authors of this article explore how a pass-fail curriculum performed against the traditional grading system on standardized national testing.

• Fewer Words, More Actions: Cultivating an Anti-Racist Environment Strategies/Solutions (CARES) Framework for Physician Assistant Education

In 2020, PAEA held multiple townhalls for students and faculty on how to implement justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and antiracism practices into PA education training programs. In this JPAE article, the authors share the CARES framework to improve these endeavors through intentional actions to support Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students and faculty in PA education.

This is just a sampling of what you’ll find in the December 2021 edition of JPAE. If you want to stay informed and connected, be sure you check out these articles and many others in the latest issue. Also, remember to follow PAEA on Facebook and Twitter for article highlights each week!