The American population is aging. In one century, life expectancy in the US rose from 47 to 78. In 2050, 20% of the U.S. population will be older than 65. With this in mind, we must identify ways to improve the quality of the final days of life. In this episode, we explore how the PA profession contributes to palliative care, focusing on symptom management, quality of life, and communication with JAAPA Authors Rebecca Jones and Natalie Mohammad. 

Additional resources mentioned during the podcast available here: 

Palliative Care for PAs: Physician Associates in Hospice & Palliative Medicine (PAHPM) PAHPM - Home

CAQ in Palliative Medicine & Hospice Care Specialty Certificates - NCCPA

End of Life Training and Serious Illness Conversation Guides

Ariadne Labs Serious Illness Conversation Guide: Serious-Illness-Conversation-Guide.2023-05-18.pdf

RE-MAP: REMAP: A Framework for Goals of Care Conversations | JCO Oncology Practice

Training Courses for breaking bad news & having serious illness conversations

Vital Talk: Home - VitalTalk

PalliTalk: PalliTALK and WeTALK Communication Workshops | Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin–Madison

End of Life Education (from nursing)

ELNEC: End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC)

Join our hosts Joe and Kim as they interview three influential leaders in the Physician Associate/Assistant (PA) profession: Jim Cawley, Rick Dehn, and Rod Hooker. These guests have made significant contributions to PA education, research, and workforce development.  Join us as we discuss the evolution of the profession since its early days in the 1970s and what has led to its success.

HAPPY PA WEEK! To celebrate, AAPA President Jason Prevelige, DMSc, MBA, PA-C, DFAAPA shares with us strategies to leverage advocacy efforts in the PA profession. Our co-hosts also describe the current crisis in healthcare, and discuss the future of the PA profession in a team-based model, the future of modernized PA practice laws, and modern advocacy efforts that can help bridge that gap in PA practice laws. They highlight how PAs Go Beyond, and are specially equipped to be an advocate for modernized healthcare, and policy change, while reminding us of the essence of our profession.

We know that many PAs switch specialties during their career; however, little is known about the PA and employer's experience. Tune in to hear what JAAPA authors, Eliana Ward-Lev, Clair Kuriakose, and Jay Navoa discovered through their research on this topic. To learn more, check out their publication “Career flexibility for PAs: What makes switching specialties successful?” from the May 2024 JAAPA issue.

Be sure to follow JAAPA on social media! Their Instagram handle is @jaapaonline. 

Join us as we welcome the newest JAAPA podcast team member, Joe Harrison. Kim and Martine discuss Joe’s background, interests, and why he joined the podcast. They also discuss their “why” of medicine and “why PA”. Finally, they discuss and summarize an important article by PA Daniel Eisner on esophageal cancers from the April 2024 JAAPA issue.

Be sure to follow JAAPA on social media! Their Instagram handle is @jaapaonline. 

Constructive feedback can be a valuable tool to help improve working relationships among colleagues. In this episode, Martine, Kim, and Joe are discussing with PAs Alexandra Gallant and Laura Erdman the results of a peer feedback platform that they were able to develop and initiate in their academic hospital system with their research team, aiming to improve collaboration between PAs, NPs, and physicians, and clinical practice. Thank you for listening!

Resources:

Learn more about OTP here: 

https://www.aapa.org/advocacy-central/optimal-team-practice/

In this episode, PA Lindsay Nourse speaks with us about the challenges faced by breastfeeding mothers who are physician associates (PAs), highlighting the key findings. The podcast explores how these barriers affect breastfeeding duration and practices among PA mothers and discuss potential improvements in healthcare workplace policies to better support them.

See also this infographic for the pump act from an AAPA caucus, PAs for Women Empowerment (PAWE).

In this episode, PA Angela Meredith speaks with Clay, Kim, and Martine about how clinicians, particularly PAs, can be prepared to handle the issue of human trafficking.

Learn valuable information you can use to help patients who may be at risk, important factors to consider implementing at your facility, and useful resources you can utilize today. Don't miss this valuable conversation.

Guest: Angela Meredith, DMSc, PA-C

Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/angelameredith

Resources for everyone:

• National Human Trafficking Hotline - home base of 24-hour hotline: 888-3737-888. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en

*This is also where you can download the decision-flow chart “Framework for a Human Trafficking Protocol in Healthcare Settings” at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/resources/framework-human-trafficking-protocol-healthcare-settings

• Polaris Project - online training, human trafficking 101: https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/

Resources for clinicians:

• American Hospital Association - includes ICD10 codes: https://www.aha.org/combating-human-trafficking

• SOAR - AMA cat 1 CME credits, train.org  - SOAR to Health and Wellness: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/training/soar-health-and-wellness-training

And for online training: https://www.train.org/main/search?type=course&query=SOAR

• Jones Day for reporting and educational requirements. Scroll down to access the pdf: https://www.jonesday.com/en/insights/2021/09/human-trafficking-and-health-care-providers

• Coalition Against Trafficking in Women:  http://www.catwinternational.org

Summary: We’ve all been asked to explain what a PA is, and then probably received the follow-up question of “do you need to go back to school? Or complete a residency or fellowship?” We all have our spiels ready. But the landscape as it pertains to PA fellowships is changing. For this episode, we were joined by Maura Polansky, Bart Gillum, Jon Messing, and Max Rooney as they discussed their recent JAAPA publication: “Describing the landscape of integrated clinical education programs for PAs and NPs. We hope you enjoy, thanks for listening! Be sure to follow JAAPA on social media! Our Instagram handle is @jaapaonline. Let us know your thoughts on the articles we reviewed in the comments section!

JAAPA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaapaonline/

Onboarding new graduate PAs and NPs has become a hot topic, especially given the provider shortages and financial shortfalls our healthcare system is experiencing. Onboarding is also an emerging area of research, and in this episode, we sit down with PA Nathalie Ortiz and NP Hilary Barnes to discuss what they have learned about the onboarding experience for PAs and NPs in primary care.

Thanks for listening!

Be sure to follow JAAPA on social media!

Their Instagram handle is @jaapaonline. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaapaonline/