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Abstract: Standardized entrance exams are used in many health professions as one way to objectively measure knowledge and facilitate comparisons across student groups. The physician assistant (PA) profession has historically not employed a profession-specific entrance exam, and the idea was never seriously explored until the Physician Assistant College Admissions Test was developed recently by a commercial assessment publisher, with field testing in some volunteer programs in 2018 and the exam's first administration in May of 2020. The 2020 Physician Assistant Education Association Presidents Commission chose to investigate the issues raised by a consensus-derived, PA-specific entrance exam to stimulate more informed discussion on the efficacy of such an exam. While it may have the potential to enhance efficiency in PA admissions and reduce variability in admissions requirements, a PA entrance exam would also likely introduce new challenges, including increased costs, impact on the diversity of the applicant pool, and incongruence with an increasingly holistic admissions process. The biggest barrier would likely be the lack of current consensus on the knowledge, skills, and attributes that matriculants need to be successful in the program and in clinical practice. Development of a consensus-derived PA entrance exam would be a complex, expensive, and time-consuming endeavor, requiring considerable attention to technical issues of psychometric quality, process transparency, and legal defensibility. Changes being made to health professions admissions practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the dropping of test scores as a requirement by some institutions, may make some of the issues raised in this paper more timely than ever., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Physician Assistant Education Association.)

Issue: There is limited information and consensus on the future of clinical education and the key factors impacting allied health (AH) clinical training. AH deans identified both opportunities and challenges impacting clinical education based on a proposed educational model., Methods: From July 2013 to March 2014, 61 deans whose institutions were 2013 members of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) participated in a three-round Delphi survey. Agreement on the relative importance of and the ability to impact the key factors was analyzed. Impact was evaluated for three groups: individual, collective, and both individual and collective deans. AH deans' responses were summarized and refined; individual items were accepted or rerated until agreement was achieved or study conclusion., Results: Based on the deans' ratings of importance and impact, 159 key factors within 13 clinical education categories emerged as important for the future of clinical education. Agreement was achieved on 107 opportunities and 52 challenges., Conclusions: The Delphi technique generated new information where little existed specific to AH deans' perspectives on AH clinical education. This research supports the Key Factors Impacting Allied Health Clinical Education conceptual model proposed earlier and provides a foundation for AH deans to evaluate opportunities and challenges impacting AH clinical education and to design action plans based on this research.

The interest to pursue doctoral degrees in the health professions is increasing exponentially. Some reasons for this increase include innovations in curriculum and instructional strategies, competency-based assessment, particularly at the postgraduate level, and accreditation requirements. Through various electronic search methods, interviews, review of documents and site visits, 24 structured doctoral programs were identified worldwide that offer a PhD in health professions education (HPE) or medical education. A number of other programs were also identified that do not follow a structured curriculum; however, through supervision and guidance, candidates could complete a number of publishable projects thus meeting the requirements for a doctorate degree. Also, some institutions train fellows for doctoral degrees in HPE without necessarily advertising or labeling the programs as a PhD in medical or HPE. There are also discipline-specific PhDs, such as medicine and dentistry, which focus on education. For example, a student interested in studying surgical technical skills could be directed to take a PhD in kinesiology. It is time for institutions and individuals to start thinking about disciplinary diversity and not focus exclusively on studies of medical education.

The educational system for medical technologists (MTs) has gradually shifted from a three-year technical school system to a four-year university system. It is worthwhile for MTs to advance to a graduate school, in order to improve their routine-work skills, performances, and also to advance their own research as well as to learn how to direct younger MTs. Recently, MTs who advance to the graduate school as adult graduate students are increasing. In this article, the current states and future aspects of the graduate school of Iwate Medical University are reported. In our Department of Central Clinical Laboratory in Iwate Medical University Hospital, three of my colleagues have completed the master's course of the graduate school as adult graduate students, and three are currently attending the school. Nevertheless, none of them has advanced to the doctor's course yet. The primary reason why they do not advance is the heavy burden on any adult graduate students physically, mentally, and financially to study in the graduate school and carry out routine duties at the same time. Thus, in order to encourage MTs to go or to graduate school education, it is important to arrange systems which will enable MTs to advance to the graduate school as adult graduate students. I believe there are three key elements to make this possible. Firstly, prepare easier access to curriculums for MTs to study special fields and learn special skills. Secondly, arrange an increase in the salary scheme depending on the degree attained from the graduate school. Thirdly, provide financial support for graduate school expenses. In conclusion, it is expected that a large number of MTs will advance to the graduate school if these changes for a better educational environment are made.

Biostatistics plays an important role in measuring, understanding, and describing the overall health and well-being of a population. Biostatistics as a subject evolved from the application of statistics in various research aspects of biology, biomedical care, and public health. However, with a recent increase in number of health and pharmacy related research, the demand for trained biostatisticians is also increasing. The present paper is an attempt to undertake a situational analysis of biostatistics education in India. A systematic, predefined approach, with three parallel strategies was used to collect and assemble the data regarding training in biostatistics in India. Our study results show that there is paucity of programs providing specialized training in biostatistics in India. Only about 19 institutions in India are offering various courses in biostatistics/medical statistics/health statistics/biometry. It is important to look into the current capacity building initiatives in this domain. Some other means for giving importance to biostatistics could be by making it a separate branch/specialization in a majority of the institutions, particularly in medical colleges.

Health promotion core competencies are used for a variety of reasons. Recently there have been moves to gain international consensus regarding core competencies within health promotion. One of the main reasons put forward for having core competencies is to guide curriculum development within higher education institutions. This article outlines the endeavours of one institution to develop undergraduate and postgraduate curricula around the Australian core competencies for health promotion practitioners. It argues that until core competencies have been agreed upon internationally, basing curricula on these carries a risk associated with change. However, delaying curricula until such risks are ameliorated decreases opportunities to deliver dynamic and current health promotion education within higher institutions.

Recent unprecedented growth in Saudi population challenged its infrastructure and intensified demand for higher education and healthcare. In response, both the government and the private sector founded numerous colleges and universities, increasing the overall number from 8 to 49 institutions of higher education. A significant portion of the expansion has been in the health professions higher education, which also included the establishment of new teaching hospitals and other medical training facilities. As part of this growth, practice (clinical) doctorates have conspicuously made their presence felt in Saudi Arabia. The doctor of pharmacy is the first clinical doctorate that has been formally adopted as the terminal professional degree in the field. Others are in the works. Results are presented using descriptive methods. Data were collected from reviews of the literature and individual institutional websites of Saudi colleges, universities and salient governmental regulatory and national accrediting agencies. This article will introduce clinical doctorates, their status and state of implementation in the American health professions higher education system as a possible model. The article will review the current status of clinical doctorates' implementation in Saudi Arabia. It will conclude with a recommendation for concerned stake holders, including policy makers, educators, and practitioners.

The Interdisciplinary Family Health course at the University of Florida Health Science Center is a course for beginning health profession students designed to teach core values, such as community-based family health, health promotion and disease prevention, and teamwork in the context of home visits. In addition, the course provides a valuable service to volunteer families by helping them identify useful community resources, and by formulating wellness care plans for prevention of illness and stabilization of chronic illness. In this article, the authors describe the historical development of the course, which began as a grant-supported pilot course for 20 medical students in 1996. After several additional grants helped fund an expansion involving other colleges, the course was given institutional support in 2001 and currently includes over 400 students and 70 faculty from four colleges working to improve the health status of over 150 local volunteer families. The theoretical constructs and objectives of the course were developed collaboratively by dedicated faculty from five Health Science Center colleges over seven years. In addition to benefiting the community and students, the course has encouraged an atmosphere of collaboration among faculty and colleges that has been a tangible benefit to the academic health center. The development and continuing support of this course demonstrates that barriers to such efforts can be overcome by dedicated faculty and administration.

Online degrees in the health care professions are becoming more popular everyday. Teaching online is a convenient and flexible part-time job for health care professionals, but it is different than teaching in a classroom. As demand increases so will the opportunities for health care professionals to teach online courses from their home. What should part-time faculty expect when they teach online?

The Minnesota Rural Health School (MRHS), which operated from 1996 to 2003, was the University of Minnesota's first initiative that provided rural, community-based, interdisciplinary health professions education. The newly funded Minnesota Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is now coordinating interprofessional rural clinical education at the Academic Health Center level for the university. The service-learning curricular component is one of the most lasting legacies of the MRHS. This article provides a descriptive summary of the initial 61 service-learning projects completed by students from various health professions who participated in the MRHS and indicates the type of projects that have continuing effects. The seven community site coordinators affiliated with the MRHS completed a survey analyzing service-learning projects performed in their communities. Student interest was predominant in selecting 28% of the 61 projects, community interest was paramount in selecting 10%, and a mixture of both student and community interest contributed to 62% of project selection. Thirty of the projects were designed as single interventions, and the remaining 31 projects have ongoing impact. Students demonstrated interprofessional group synergy and significant creativity in addressing multiple community health care issues and needs, within time constraints of only ten to 12 days in which to develop and implement a service-learning project. Two project examples are described in detail to illustrate the challenges and successes of this type of civic engagement.

This article provides a conceptual framework for understanding changes occurring in the accreditation process for institutions of higher learning in the Slovak Republic. Health sector transformation is occurring rapidly throughout the Central and Eastern European region as former socialist states are experimenting with market-oriented approaches. Educators and universities are playing an important role in the development of knowledge, skills and abilities of current and future health practitioners. Accreditation is viewed as an important process in the continuing development of quality health service management curricula and preparing competent practitioners for the health care field. Historical considerations are examined as well as future directions for accreditation in the Slovak Republic.

The School of Health Related Professions (SHRP) at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been in existence for over a quarter of a century. During this time, it expanded and grew to offering 34 individual programs at the time of its silver anniversary. A concerted strategic planning process over two years has resulted in the School pursuing major organizational transformations to better align itself with the rest of the University's academic health center, to maximize its resources, and to refine its niche in academia. The strategic planning process used and major outcomes are described for the potential benefit of other schools of health related professions desiring to pursue introspection for future survival.

Allied health programs need a new approach and direction to accreditation. The author proposes that individual program accreditation be abolished and accreditation of allied health programs, by regional bodies, become part of institutional accreditation. The allied health accreditation process would thus change from the traditional self-study to an outcome assessment with an emphasis on monitoring change and innovation. Data bases on allied health, established by regional accrediting agencies, would become part of a national data base, which would facilitate the assessment of manpower needs, the equitable distribution of manpower, and the establishment of new educational programs. The competencies and change strategies of the Pew Health Professions Commission are used to specify the outcomes of educating allied health practitioners for the year 2005.

The Health Professions Educational Assistance Act brought infusion of millions of dollars into optometric education at a time when the profession was ill prepared with inadequate space standards and cost studies. The profession presently faces the need to make major curricular changes at a time of severely constricted resources. Optometry, in a dynamic mode, needs to establish acceptable standards consistent with the profession's demands and goals for the 21st century.

Residency education has enjoyed relatively slow but steady growth since its inception in the mid-1970s. A certain segment of recent graduates consider graduation from optometry school as entry level and perceive the need for additional clinical education. The creation of new residency programs and the expansion of existing ones may occur in a variety of settings. For residency education to realize its full potential, optometry must seek federal support for post-graduate clinical education. This would be consistent with federal support provided to other professions for the support of post-graduate clinical education.

Although cigarette smoking has decreased significantly in the last 25 years in the United States, it continues to be a major contributor to morbidity and premature mortality. All 704 U.S.-accredited health science schools were surveyed to determine the existence and scope of smoking policies, smoking cessation programs, and related activities in these schools. The aim was to encourage health care-related organizations, institutions, and professionals to accept leadership roles in smoking prevention and cessation. Of 517 (73%) respondents, 339 reported some form of smoking policy; however, restriction was primarily prohibited in classrooms and elevators. Vending of cigarettes was reported in up to 17% of schools, and smoking-related illness complaints were reported by 31%. Smoking programs and information were minimally offered. Health science schools must be more aggressive in their approaches to dealing with smoking prevention and cessation, and assume a more proactive leadership role toward achieving a smoke-free environment.

During 1989, the members of the College of Health Deans participated in a Delphi study to identify objectives for schools of allied health professions now planning to meet the health care needs in the year 2000. There was consensus among the participating deans that 21 potential developments in health and health care are likely to occur by the year 2000 and that 16 objectives related to these developments are important for schools of allied health.

The purpose of this study was to explore how the primary care (PC) physician-to-population ratio changed from 1975 to 1985 in counties that were served by an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in contrast to those counties that were not. The investigation attempted to determine whether any observed changes in this ratio were dependent upon either degree of urbanization or contiguity to a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). The data source for this study was the Area Resource File. Results indicated that: (a) irrespective of AHEC status, increased degree of urbanization across counties was associated with relatively more PC physicians in both 1975 and 1985; (b) PC physician-to-population ratios increased from 1975 to 1985 for all American Medical Association (AMA) county code categories, regardless of AHEC versus non-AHEC designation; (c) AHEC counties demonstrated greater (or equivalent) absolute improvement for all AMA county code categories except for several categories which represented more urbanized counties; (d) for the least urbanized counties in the AMA code, the percentage improvement in PC physician-to-population ratios for AHEC counties ranged from 3 to 5 percent higher than corresponding percentage improvement in ratios for non-AHEC counties; and (e) AHEC counties showed greater absolute and percentage improvement in PC physician-to-population ratios than did non-AHEC counties for counties not contiguous to SMSAs.

The environment in which schools of allied health must exist is extremely turbulent and chaotic. The key to survival in such an environment lies in the creativity and effectiveness of those involved in the management of educational programs at all levels. In particular, it is the department chairperson who may critically influence the growth or decline of individual programs. This paper utilizes a simple conceptual management model to examine the role of the chairperson in a school of allied health. Goal setting, organizational structure, reward systems, resource utilization and interpersonal relationships are discussed and interrelated with respect to the department, school, university, health care system, state and federal government. The model as applied here reduces the idea of contingency management to a few simple operational steps and allows the chairperson to systematically deal with the changing environment, internal and external. As a consequence, departmental goals may be pursued in a logical, but flexible, fashion.