A united front: University of Alaska Anchorage and University of Washington join forces to graduate PAs for work in Alaska.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: EDUCATION

Getting physician assistants (PAs) to work in rural Alaska is one thing. Keeping them there presents an entirely different set of challenges.

Since MEDEX Northwest and the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) began collaborating to offer Alaska students PA training in Anchorage, this is expected to change.

Although based at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine in Seattle, which is also the school that the program is accredited through, after completing the initial six-week quarter from July to August, Alaska students receive all training at the UAA campus and ultimately graduate from that school, too.

Up to 20 students may be admitted to the Anchorage training site of the program annually. Applicants are evaluated on their previous clinical experience and their commitment to practice in Alaska, particularly in underserved areas, in addition to their overall academic performance.

Students spend their junior year of the PA program at the UAA training site where they receive intense clinical and didactic instruction. Their senior year is spent in training sites primarily in Alaska with additional options throughout the WWAMI region, which includes and is an acronym for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. WWAMI is a collaborative medical school among universities in these five states and the University of Washington School of Medicine. The clinical placements call for 35-40 hours a week in supervised clinical training and 10-20 hours a week in self-study. After completing the MEDEX PA program, students are eligible to sit for the National Certifying Examination for Physician Assistants. UW grants a Physician Assistant Certificate upon completion of the program and UAA awards a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Sciences.

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CLOSING THE GAP

In the past, Alaskans who wanted to become PAs were unable to complete their entire training in their home state. Although MEDEX actively recruited Alaskans and used clinical training throughout Alaska, the program required students to complete their didactic year of classes at UW; leaving home and family for a year was impossible for many potential students.

At the same time, the need for PAs continues to be increasingly inadequate statewide and the shortage is only growing, in part due to the downhill effect from the lack of primary care physicians and surgeons practicing in remote communities. The problem is so severe that a State commission recommended...