Mock Board Exam Writing Groups in Physician Assistant Education: A Method to Enhance Curriculum and Mentor Junior Faculty.

ABSTRACT: Ensuring students are prepared for the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE) is an institutional priority for all physician assistant programs. While many factors predicting PANCE performance have been investigated, exploration and discussions of interventions to improve PANCE performance are limited. Repeated exposure to board-style questions has been shown to improve board scores in similar populations. Currently, existing question banks cannot be used to generate secure summative examinations, and commercial question banks may perpetuate inequitable access among physician assistant (PA) students. To address this issue, the University of Oklahoma Physician Assistant program used a community of practice model to create a mock board exam writing group. The group was created to facilitate the development of 9 PANCE-style exams to bolster students' clinical preparedness and PANCE performance. These writing groups also provided a platform for junior faculty to receive feedback and guidance from senior colleagues, thus facilitating and promoting mentorship. This article highlights the potential benefits of mock board exam writing groups in PA education and provides insight into their development and implementation.

Emergency Critical Skills Training for Pre-clinical Physician Assistant Students: Mixed Method Comparison of Training Method.

Introduction: The fast-paced nature of physician assistant (PA) programs warrants an emphasis on high-fidelity, critical care skills training. Generally, manikins or task trainers are used for training and assessing. Soft-preserved cadavers provide a high-fidelity model to teach high-acuity, low-opportunity procedures; however, their effectiveness in PA pre-clinical training is not well understood. Objective: This study compared procedural competency of task trainer and soft-preserved cadaver trained pre-clinical PA (pcPA) students in completing tube thoracostomy, endotracheal intubation, intraosseous infusion, and needle thoracostomy. Methods: A randomized controlled study was conducted with pcPA students (n = 48) at a midwestern program. Participants were randomly assigned to cadaver trained (CT), task trainer (TT), or control group (CG). We assessed procedural competency using skill-specific rubrics and performed qualitative analysis of student comments regarding skill-specific procedural preparedness. Results: Intervention groups surpassed the control group on all skills. The CT students exhibited significantly higher procedural competency compared to TT-trained students in endotracheal intubation (p = 0.0003) and intraosseous infusion (p = 0.0041). Thematic analysis of student comments revealed pre-training students consistently felt unprepared and lacked confidence to perform needle thoracostomy, tube thoracostomy, and endotracheal intubation. Post-training perceptions, CT/TT, focused on preparedness and confidence. The CT group also consistently described the impact of realistic simulation. Conclusion: High-fidelity training with soft-preserved cadavers may be the most effective way to prepare pcPA students to perform endotracheal intubation and intraosseous infusion. Student perspectives on procedural preparedness highlight the importance of multidimensional, realistic training methods. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01575-0.

Transformation and Closure for Anatomical Donor Families that Meet Medical Students.

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine has conducted an annual Anatomical Donor Luncheon where families of the anatomical donors met anatomy dissection groups of medical students. The luncheon presented an opportunity for donor family members to share the life story of their loved one with the medical students prior to the start of the anatomy course. This study was designed to understand the impact of the Anatomical Donor Luncheon on families of the donors. Seven families in two different focus groups were included to explore the reactions and attitudes of the donor families to meeting the medical students. Conversations were digitally recorded and transcribed. Qualitative analysis of textual data were coded by three investigators using the Constant Comparative Method. To provide evidence of validity, a form of member checking was utilized. For further triangulation, an analyst not involved in conducting the focus groups or analyzing the data, re-coded all data. This analyst used categories and themes identified by the original analysts, ensuring validity of the themes and any negative cases (data not supporting or contradictory of the established categories and themes). One meta-theme and three sub-themes were identified. The meta-theme was Donor Family Participants Experience Transformation and Closure, and sub-themes were Motivators for Participation, Optimal Venue Factors, and Optimal Medical Student-Anatomical Donor Family Interactions. Study findings indicated the Anatomical Donor Luncheon facilitated closure on the death of their loved one, and transformed their apprehension about the luncheon and body donation into an attitude of gratitude and appreciation.