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Mobilizing Physician Assistants
The School of Health and Medical Sciences at Seton Hall University has proudly implemented a community outreach program titled “Mobilizing Physician Assistants: Educational and Professional Outreach to Underserved Urban Communities.” The goal of this initiative has been to address socioeconomic inequality, educational disparities, and shortages of healthcare providers within urban communities local to the University. The new state-of-the-art Interprofessional Health Sciences Campus, completed in spring 2018, is home to the Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, The College of Nursing, and The School of Health and Medical Sciences’ seven programs. The Physician Assistant (PA) program has since partnered with its neighbor, Clifton Public High School, to propel this project, achieving educational and professional exchange with high school students in this urban community. The project is designed to introduce underrepresented students to the PA field, increase awareness among PA students about the need for outreach to underserved communities, engender a diversity pipeline into the PA profession and University, and increase the presence of clinicians in underserved urban communities.
The “Mobilizing Physician Assistants” project creates a forum for educational and professional opportunities to be delivered to underrepresented high school students, informs them about opportunities within the PA field, and introduces them to the clinical work undertaken by PAs. In working with Clifton High School guidance counselors, 25 students in grades 10-12 who qualified as underrepresented students with an interest in the life sciences, medicine, health care and health-related fields are accepted into the program. Students are enrolled in the program for one year and complete a series of workshops to earn a Certificate of Completion. The Certificate serves as a representation of the practical knowledge gained and a resume-builder for college applications and professional opportunities. A total of 19 Seton Hall PA students, as well as the project’s two lead Principal Investigators (PIs), participate in the project as workshop facilitators over the course of the year.
The project commenced in October 2018 with an initial workshop that introduced high school students to the PA profession and its scope of practice. Participating high school students engage in small, hands-on group workshops to learn about some of the skills that PAs apply in clinical practice such as measuring blood pressure, applying ACE bandages and utilizing knot-tying techniques. Students also explore their goals in entering the PA profession or healthcare field, and PA students and facilitators provide guidance on meeting those goals. In May 2019, the programs fifth and final workshop will conclude with participant poster presentations to their high school student body detailing a disease process they studied throughout the program under the mentorship of Seton Hall PA students. As large, urban communities often encounter difficulties in meeting the complex healthcare demands of their diverse populations due to shortages of physicians and healthcare workers, we envision this program as a means of creating a direct conduit for exchange and impact into communities with increasingly complex and exigent needs. ■
– Mirela Bruza, MS, PA-C, and Vanessa Rodriguez, MS, PA-C
