Physician Assistant Program Perseveres Through COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted almost every aspect of life globally, with higher education one of many direct targets. Institutions and educators have been faced with urgent crises of how to conduct business as usual while maintaining expectations of high standards and uncompromised goals. As physician assistant (PA) educators at Seton Hall University, we rallied and brainstormed approaches to daily instruction to keep students on track and faculty both effective and sane. We tapped technological resources offered by our university, learned countless new skills, and adapted classroom activities to online virtual platforms. Creativity and flexibility became the norm as we modified the way we did everything while remaining laser focused on the ultimate objectives. Our intention was to provide insight, motivation, and, at a minimum, an example of how to do things differently when faced with roadblocks. We were inspired by an editorial by Mary Jo Bondy, DHEd, MHS, PA-C, former CEO of the Physician Assistant Education Association, in which she called for collective innovation, collaboration, publication, and circulation of stories. With that charge, we assembled a detailed account of how a didactic team within our faculty maneuvered the challenges created by COVID-19, in hopes of adding to the arsenal of small triumphs in this uncharted territory.

Qualitative Assessment of Bias and Comfort in Inclusive Sexual History Taking Skills of Physician Assistant Students.

PURPOSE: Sexual history taking is an integral skill for clinicians, as sexual health is a component of a complete medical evaluation. Medical curricula lack effective sexual history instruction, creating gaps in clinicians' confidence and proficiency. Average sexual and gender minority (SGM) curricular inclusion content is 5 hours over a 4-year span. This study investigated how students perceive their comfort level and biases during a simulated sexual history taking encounter. METHODS: Data were derived from student reflection assignments following simulated sexual history interviews. Researchers analyzed and coded data. Themes were labeled and paired with corresponding quotes from data. RESULTS: Comfort and bias were predetermined main themes, each with eight subcategories that emerged including embarrassment, insight, lack of exposure, comfort/discomfort with sexual subject matter, and preparedness. Students' personal perceptions of comfort and biases represented a broad spectrum within the overarching concepts. CONCLUSIONS: Trainee insight can guide educational and instructional modifications on proficient, inclusive sexual history taking. Exercises with sexual history inter¬views inclusive of SGM populations are essential tools to build student comfort with sexual content topics and diminish potential for invasive biases to undermine the integrity of sexual history taking. Future research is necessary, including implementation of pre and post surveys to gauge efficacy of instruction.

Curricular Inclusion of Sexual and Gender Minority Primary Healthcare Needs for Physician Assistant Trainees: A Literature Review.

Curricular inclusion of sexual health, sexual history taking skills and diversity training in physician assistant (PA) education is historically lacking, with a median of 5 hours of instruction. Communities are increasingly more diverse with 4.5% of the U.S. population identifying as sexual and gender minorities (SGM), but most medical programs do not address specific SGM needs. Trainees are woefully underprepared to properly interview, evaluate, and provide targeted care for SGM patients. This leads to dangerous healthcare disparities in disease prevention, mental health, and substance abuse. Additionally, provider discrimination, biases, and general discomfort in treating this population create significant barriers to proper medical care. The goals of this literature review were to explore the evidence related to medical trainees' knowledge and training gaps within topics of sexual health and sexual history taking in order to make positive productive recommendations for future medical education curricula. The databases used in the search were OpenAthens, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Search terms included LGBT, sexual history taking, sexuality, medical education, medical student, physician assistant student, gay, lesbian, transgender, training, and curriculum. Support from administration, faculty and community members are vital to successful development and implementation of inclusive curricular diversity modifications. Faculty may require robust training prior to leading important SGM health discussions. Integration of sexual health issues throughout all applicable course content allows for broader assimilation into standard of care and can address aspects of trainee discrimination and biases by embodying instead of isolating content. While few, excellent outcome programmatic examples of SGM curricular instillations exist to emulate and enhance. Further research is needed on optimal depth and breadth material criterion, and most effective instructional techniques for quality outcomes.