Evaluating the effectiveness of the PA Foundation's Mental Health Outreach fellowship.

OBJECTIVES: Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is designed to help the general public acquire the knowledge and skills needed to respond to a person in a mental health emergency and offer support to someone in emotional distress. Through the PA Foundation's Mental Health Outreach Fellowship, 16 physician assistants (PAs) were selected to become MHFA instructors and teach the course to members of their local communities over 1 year. METHODS: MHFA course evaluations, completed by course participants, were reviewed to determine the effectiveness of the PA fellows as instructors. RESULTS: The fellows' mean evaluation instructor presentation score was 4.82 and the mean course content score was 4.75. The national mean for instructor presentation was 4.72 for presentation and 4.66 for course content. The maximum possible score in each category was a 5. CONCLUSIONS: The PAs selected for the Mental Health Outreach Fellowship were effective MHFA instructors. Benefits to having a PA serve as the instructor include positively affecting communities by increasing the public's mental health literacy, reducing the stigma associated with mental illness, increasing visibility and promotion of the PA profession, and enhancement of a PA's individual career through education and service.

Key Factors Leading to Program Selection: A Survey of Physician Assistant Program Interviewees.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine which factors had the greatest influence on physician assistant (PA) interviewees' decision to choose a PA program to attend. The information in this article may assist PA programs in making their program more attractive to potential applicants and also may help applicants identify programs that will best fit their needs. METHODS: Applicants who interviewed with a PA program were asked to rate 33 different influential factors when choosing a program to attend. RESULTS: Respondents most highly endorsed quality of faculty and staff, first-time Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination pass rates, and morale of faculty and staff. Results varied by demographics, including marital status, age, and sex of respondent. Results also varied from pre-PA students. CONCLUSIONS: Although there are numerous factors involved in program selection, PA programs may want to focus on the quality and morale of their faculty and staff to help improve the likelihood of attracting and retaining the highest quality applicants.