Duke Physician Assistant Program News

As I am writing this blog, it has been 220 days since the beginning of the lockdown. It has been 90 days since the start of my first semester in Physician Assistant (PA) school. Within these 220 days, my life has changed in ways I never would have imagined, more so within the last 90. This is the story of a student beginning PA school in the midst of a global pandemic.

Eleven North Carolina clinicians—also preceptors to Duke University medical, nursing and PA students—completed a Primary Care Training and Enhancement Program Faculty Development Mini-Fellowship, offered by the Duke Physician Assistant Program. The fellowship was held remotely over three days this fall.

Mini-fellowship participants were:

I’ve had the best day today. I woke up to a fresh pot of coffee and enjoyed a cup on the patio; Durham's weather has shifted from the unforgiving humidity of summer to a much gentler, calm fall climate. I finished breakfast and then geared up for the first virtual lesson of the day: Viruses that Changed the World. Can you think of a more engaging, appropriate topic for 2020? After appreciating every word, I felt such gratitude for public health and the roles of physician assistants (PA).

Effective today, September 1, 2020, the name of the PA Division in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health has changed to Division of PA Studies.

Division Chief Patricia McKelvey Dieter, MPA, PA-C, says this change more accurately reflects the expansion of programs and the variety of work done within the division.

“It also reflects the growth of the PA concept nationally, internationally, and within Duke Health, and it more accurately describes the role of the division in studying PA education, practice, and research,” Dieter says.

The Duke Physician Assistant (PA) Program held its graduation and certificate ceremony on Aug. 21, with a live-streamed ceremony.  

Initially scheduled to take place in Duke Chapel, program leadership knew they could not re-create the feeling of a celebration in such an iconic location. Instead, they tried to find unique ways to honor each of the 89 students. 

Each August, the incoming class of the Duke Physician Assistant Program finishes their orientation week with a ceremony to celebrate the significance of health care's ubiquitous white coat.  

Usually, the white coat ceremony is a private event that takes place in the classroom, with faculty advisers symbolically helping students into their white coats for the first time. This year, it took place via Zoom and was live-streamed to friends and family.  

Soon, I will finish my last clinical rotation as a Duke Physician Assistant (PA) student. I am writing this from the floor of my empty apartment, after packing everything I own into a U-Haul for my move back to Maryland. Two years ago, I looked at this same empty apartment on move-in day, imagining how different my “PA student life” would be from the one I left behind.

As the COVID-19 global pandemic moves into August, what everyone hoped would be a time-limited issue is becoming the country’s new standard. Masks have become a fashion statement as well as a political flashpoint. All are tired of Zoom meetings, and desperate extroverts are socializing across yards.

At the Duke Physician Assistant Program, leaders are leaning into challenges while looking for opportunities to re-imagine the structure of students’ education, not just for the immediate crisis, but for the future.