By Jan McCaleb, MPA, PA-C, and Lysa Diggins, MMS, PA-C

The healthcare industry is rapidly evolving alongside the development of artificial intelligence, the expansion of an aging population, and increasing healthcare shortages. This is soon to be accompanied by the retirement of many of our nation’s healthcare leaders (Lee et al., 2019, Smith & Bhavsar, 2021). To address these challenges, it is imperative that clinicians expand their roles to fill leadership vacancies that will be forthcoming. Physician Assistants/Associates (PAs) have a unique opportunity to fill these leadership gaps. PAs already play a key role within the industry providing support and guidance on many interdisciplinary care teams. PAs are filling the voids, not only in primary care and the surgical suite, but also in the boardroom. Physician Assistant (PA) students represent the future of our profession. Developing creative and visionary PA students that can address the industry’s shortfalls and challenges must be a priority for every PA program.

The Physician Assistant Program at South University, West Palm Beach, is mentoring PAs in transformational leadership skills to address these evolving challenges in healthcare. The PA program supports student and faculty competency development within the leadership realm by encouraging and supporting membership in our state and national professional organizations. South enables both students and faculty the ability to attend conferences and specialty training to further develop their leadership acumen. The American Academy of Physician Associates [AAPA] (2021) highlights the competencies required for modern PA practice including those required to lead. By encouraging our students and faculty to embrace these opportunities, we honor the depth and breadth of modern PA practice as set forth by our national organizations.

In addition, South’s model of service-based learning focuses on many leadership competencies including; professionalism and ethics, quality improvement, interprofessional collaboration, and understanding evidence-based practice and its intersection with social determinants of health. The PA program aligns the master’s Capstone project with these crucial leadership domains. Using an experiential learning strategy, the Capstone project allows students to partner with agencies within the local community that support priority populations. After choosing a national health initiative from Healthy People 2030 (2024) students use classroom skills to assess their community partner’s needs. The PA faculty assist the students in navigating through a real-world, but low-stakes, quality improvement initiative. Thus, assuring the demands of high-stakes patient care will be successfully navigated in the future. The project has engaged several community partners including the Palm Beach County Food Bank, Roosevelt Middle School, Resilience Recovery Resources, Compass Community Center, and CPR Florida.

Ideally, every PA program should establish a plan to address the increasing depth and breadth of the PA profession. Entry-level PA leaders must have comparable training and competency to other healthcare professionals seeking to fill the upcoming leadership voids. It is essential that students enter the profession prepared to prioritize local community healthcare needs with a sustainable and innovative approach. South University welcomes new ideas and partnerships that support this mission and vision. With the ongoing support of South University’s dynamic leadership team, we will continue to graduate entry-level PA leaders.

Jan McCaleb is the Assistant Program Director at South University West Palm Beach PA Program and Lysa Diggins is the Director of Didactic Education. 

References:

American Academy of Physician Assistants. (2021). Competencies for the physician assistant profession: Assessing PA competencies. AAPA. https://www.aapa.org/download/90503/ 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2024). Healthy People 2023: Building a healthier future for all. Health People 20230 website. https://health.gov/healthypeople 

Lee, E., Daugherty, J., & Hamelin, T. (2019). Reimagine Health Care Leadership, Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century. Journal of perianesthesia nursing: official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, 34(1), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2017.11.007 

Smith, K., & Bhavsar, M. (2021). A new era of health leadership. Healthcare management forum, 34(6), 332–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/08404704211040817