REFLECTING AFTER 30 YEARS
There is something about reminiscing that evokes clichés, so forgive me, but “time flies.”
September 1992: I am a freshly trained Duke PA Program graduate beginning my professional career as a Duke PA in the Gastroenterology division. I’m not exactly sure what lies ahead and how it will unfold but I do know that I am well-prepared to meet any and all challenges I may face as a physician assistant.
September 2022: I am ending a rich and fulfilling 30-year career as a Duke clinician and educator. I have had the privilege of not only caring for our patients but also protecting the citizens of our state as a member of the North Carolina Medical Board. I worked to advance and advocate for our profession as a member of the Board of Directors of NCCPA. Time truly flies.
If I’m allowed one additional cliché: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
So much has changed. When I finished our program in 1992, new PA graduates practiced with a temporary license; PANCE and certification were months away. (Speaking of PANCE, it was a written exam with a clinical skills portion back then!). Our class size has grown significantly over the years and now has more than twice the number of students in my Class of 1992. Our faculty has also expanded tremendously, as has the depth and breadth of our curriculum. I marvel now at how much knowledge and how many skills our students must acquire in 2 years. The biggest change in all of education has probably been the incorporation of technology. Virtual textbooks, innovative tools to deliver difficult concepts, simulations: there are almost no areas of the pre-clinic or clinical curriculum that the use of technology cannot enhance.
So much remains the same. Our program continues to be highly ranked and highly regarded. Our faculty and staff remain as dedicated and committed as ever to educating competent and compassionate physician assistants. Our students continue to be among the best and brightest; when I read the many applications to our program each year I am always awed by the depth of their intellect, their altruism and their commitment to improving access to healthcare and health outcomes in underserved and under-resourced communities both globally and domestically. Many of them arrive as skilled researchers who are authors in peer-refereed journals. (It has always been a vision of mine to see our program offer an extended research opportunity to our interested students).
September 2052: I will be 100! I can’t begin to imagine the changes to medical education in general and our program specifically. Will we even be on S. Duke Street?
I am, however, quite confident some things will always remain the same.
Peggy Riley Robinson, MS, MHS, PA-C
Director of Curriculum, Physician Assistant Program
Professor
Department of Family Medicine & Community Health