In anticipation of changes in the health care field, Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine will accept 30 graduate students from a variety of backgrounds into its new Physician’s Assistant program in June 2010.
Former Feinberg Dean Lewis Landsberg conceived the idea for the program when he observed how well Yale University’s PA program was integrated into the medical school. Landsberg said NU’s program will benefit Feinberg and Northwestern Memorial Hospital while also meeting society’s need for more health care providers.
“(PAs are) a way of increasing the health care manpower at a time when there is an increased need to have more people involved in taking care of our population,” he said. “It provides a good career for people interested in health programs who aren’t able to go to medical school.”
After 24 months of classroom and clinical training, PA students receive a Master of Medical Science degree. Program Director Jim Van Rhee, who formerly worked as a Physician’s Assistant, said the profession has “phenomenal” growth potential.
“(PAs) are licensed practitioners of medicine, they just work under the supervision of physicians,” he said.
Van Rhee said “lots” of applications for the program are starting to arrive, and there has already been a great deal of student interest.
Applicants come from a variety of backgrounds, but are required to have completed a series of prerequisite courses and have hands-on patient care experience, according to the program’s Web site.
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor senior Margaret Wilson is a prospective student for the PA program at NU. She will graduate with a degree in Biopsychology in April and has worked at the University of Michigan Health System as an electrocardiogram technician.
Wilson said she decided to pursue a career as a PA about halfway through her freshman year of college because the training and nature of the work fit her needs and career goals.
“Being a PA gives more time with patients, and you don’t have to specialize,” she said.While Wilson plans to enter straight into a PA program after college, many people become Physician’s Assistants as a second career.
James Mangerson has worked as a staff technologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital since graduating from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse in 2007 with a degree in Nuclear Medical Technology. He said his decision to apply to the PA program is based on his experience working at the hospital.
“I want to be able to have a larger role in the patient care decision-making process,” Mangerson said.
Russell Robertson, chair of Feinberg’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, said the establishment of a PA program at NU will help the medical school and hospital move into the future. Robertson serves as chair of the Council on Graduate Medical Education, which provides the U.S. government with information on physician workforce trends.
He said there are currently insufficient numbers of physicians, a problem that will become more pronounced with the passage of health care reform legislation as more people will be seeking health care.
“When you look at current legislation, there is little that will expand provider workforce,” Robertson said.
He said a PA program will prove to be valuable at NU. The medical school is currently engaged in a review and revision of its curriculum, and Robertson said he hopes this will result in an opportunity for PA and medical school students to work together, preparing them for the “team-based” future of health care.
“I applaud the medical school, and I am grateful to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for being open to this,” Robertson said.[email protected]
