Wellness in a Physician Assistant Curriculum: An Experiential Model

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Health and wellness promotion and disease prevention are goals that are often included in expert committee recommendations for the improvement of health care delivery and health professional education.1 The challenge for physician assistant (PA) education has been to incorporate these goals into an already intense curriculum with students who are frequently overwhelmed by the volume and scope of program requirements. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an experiential wellness project on the perceived wellness of first-year PA students utilizing self-selected, common lifestyle interventions. The competencies for the PA profession developed jointly by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA, formerly APAP), and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) include specific objectives promoting wellness and patient education to maintain health and prevent disease.1 Healthy People 2010 advocates the inclusion of competencies in health promotion and disease prevention in health professional training school curricula.2 The General Professional Education of the Physician Report identifies the importance of lifestyle in determining health and wellness and recommends that medical school curricula emphasize health promotion and disease prevention as well as the development of values that engender concern for individuals and society.3 PA education has incorporated these goals. A survey of 108 PA programs by Perkin et al found that more than 90% of responding programs includJohn Laird, ND, is assistant professor; Susan Hawkins, MSEd, PA-C, is assistant professor and interim program director; Mark Hertweck, MA, PA-C, is assistant professor; and Brenda Swanson-Biearman, MPH, RN, is assistant professor in the Chatham College PA Program, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.