2023 has been a busy year in admissions and recruitment. We were pleased to host three Open House information sessions and participate in a variety of recruitment opportunities including MSU Spring Showcase, Admitted Students Day, and the Physician Assistant Education Association’s Virtual PA Education Fair. Advising a variety of prospective students and discussing their interest in furthering their medical education is always exciting. Interested future applicants can now schedule advising appointments online via the department website.

On July 15^th, the CASPA application officially closed for consideration to the cohort beginning in January 2024. The Admissions Committee will notify candidates of their standing and issue interview invitations after the application verification deadline of August 12^th.  Interviews will be held in September.

Be sure to stay up to date on MSU PA department news via our social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram.

2023 is going very well with the clinical cohort. Students are having wonderful experiences at their clinical sites; they have returned at EOR with lots of excitement about things they are getting to see/diagnose and about the procedures they are gaining experience performing. We continue to get glowing reviews from preceptors about how well students are doing while working with them. It’s such an honor to be part of a program that consistently hears from the community that clinicians love working with our students, and in some instances say our students are their absolute favorite.  

Students are currently in their 5th rotation, so they are starting to gain confidence and are thinking more and more about what is to come after graduation, which will be here before they know it. A few have already had conversations with providers about possible job opportunities. We are currently in the process of beginning to plan students’ directed (or elective) rotations. It’s always exciting to see what areas of medicine students are the most interested in getting a little more experience in.  

We are always pleased to see students take interest in participating in conferences and leadership opportunities. We have had several clinical-year students attend portions of both AAPA and MOAPA conferences/activities this year.  

Students that attended the annual AAPA conference in Nashville, TN:  

Billy Bailey, Jessica Cobban, Kaci Hultz, Sadie Turner, Regan Wilson, and Skylar Wimberly.  

Students that attended the annual MOAPA conference were:  

• Poster presentations: Sehun Park and Regan Wilson 

• PA student challenge bowl: Kaci Hultz, Amberly Langford, and Sehun Park 
• General session and workshop attendance: Billy Bailey and Chris Foster 

Two MSU faculty presented at the conference this year as well. Professor Maben spoke on Updates in Overactive Bladder, and Professor Cook spoke about Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions.  

Cohort 2024 is off to a great start in the summer semester! They have successfully completed the pulmonology section of Clinical Medicine, which has classically been one of the more challenging sections and will continue to progress through other sections, including orthopedics, dermatology, OB/GYN, HENT and neurology.

They have found ways to bond as a cohort and lighten the atmosphere in the classroom with a colorful Friends board displaying photos of all of their fur-babies and have also kept polls going on a whiteboard, such as pancakes vs waffles.

This was the 2nd year that the students celebrated all of the Dermatology knowledge they have acquired by decorating sugar cookie people with their favorite dermatologic condition. This was a fun way to review lots of different skin diseases before their exam.  

They will wrap up the summer semester with sports physicals in Aurora and a 2-week clinical practicum experience. This is an annual event in Aurora, MO in which MSU PA students partner with Mercy Hospital in Aurora to provide sports physicals for local students who will be participating in extra-curricular activities/sports for the upcoming year. This event has been a huge success in the past and we are looking forward to participating again this year.  

 

Upcoming Didactic Year Important Dates:

Sports Physicals: Monday, July 31

Clinical Practicum 1: Tuesday, August 1-Friday, August 11

Fall Semester Begins: Monday, August 21

 

 

 

 

Kaci Hultz and Billy Bailey, the MSU Student AAPA Reps, along with four other classmates recently attended the 2023 AAPA Conference in Nashville, TN.  On Saturday May 20^th they attended the House of Delegates Meeting. The student AAPA representatives were able to get a look at the behind-the-scenes workings of how policies are written and voted on what governs PA’s ability to practice in various states. On Sunday and Monday, the PA student attended various lecture presentation to further their education and refresh on various learning objectives. Highlights included lectures on new diabetic medications and management, cardiac devices, neuroinfectious diseases referral for bariatric surgical candidates, and pain management in the ER.

Three students from the Missouri State PA program also competed student challenge bowl along with 89 other teams from PA programs around the country. They did not place in the challenge bowl, but they had a great time. On Monday evening, they were able to meet and network with other students and PAs at restaurants that were open just from AAPA 2023 Conference attendees.

The AAPA conference also hosted a step-up challenge. The top ten people with the most steps that attended the conference were entered into a drawing to win either a peloton bike or a registration plus hotel stay at the AAPA 2024 conference in Houston. Of the participants, we had two notable winners:  Sadie Turner won first place with the most steps at the conference and won the drawing for the AAPA 2024 conference and hotel stay in Houston. Regan Wilson also placed in the top 10 winners.

All in all, this was a great experience for the students of the Missouri State University PA program. If you were to ask any one of the attendees, they would tell you that it was a great opportunity and would encourage future PA students of the program to attend.

The Didactic and Clinical cohorts celebrated the end of Spring semester by participating in the annual MSU PAS Trivia Bowl. This is the only event of the year where both cohorts get together to enjoy a much-needed fun event and knowledge challenge after their first semester. The theme of the event cheekily included Star Wars to celebrate May the 4th and helped all of the students to embrace their inner Force for the Bowl. Students from both cohorts took time to network and to discuss the challenges of PA school, but they also were able to enjoy pizza, snacks, and yummy deserts before participating in the knowledge-based competition. Ten teams took on a ten-category challenge bowl which covered everything from music and culture to PA School and medicine. Many of the teams dressed in themes, or in-line with the main theme of the event, with a group of Princess Leias from Alderaan winning the best-dressed award. In-between categories, Star Wars trivia helped many team-members win swag from generous community donors. In the end, Planet Bespin came out on top as the MSU PA Program Trivia Bowl Champions of 2023 and won bragging rights for the next 12 months along with some very nice prizes!