Physician Assistant Program: 2021 end of year message

Dear Colleagues,

As I sit down to write our Physician Assistant Program 2021 End of Year Message, I must confess that I am feeling somewhat daunted. I wonder: how can I possibly summarize the past year? How do we all find renewed energy to embrace the coming academic year? And yet, even in the face of all the challenges and pandemic fatigue, there is much to celebrate – and perhaps even more reason to take time to reflect and take heart from the many accomplishments and champions that our program has witnessed over the past 12 months.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly, our students have prevailed; they have shown adaptability and determination. The class of 2021 has successfully completed all of their clinical requirements to earn their BScPA degree. During this past year, some worked with COVID+ patients, navigated outbreaks, and all learned to care for patients virtually and in-person. Each one of them completed the UofT Health Sciences COVID vaccine curriculum and became ‘vaccine ambassadors’ for their patients, peers and community. One of our students was recruited and actively involved with the ORNGE initiative to provide vaccination clinics in the far North. They are already moving quickly into securing and starting their first job as a Physician Assistant, joining the healthcare system at a time when they are needed more than ever.

The class of 2022 is returning from a much-needed holiday after completing their intensive didactic first year of the program and they are eager to begin their clinical placements on Sept 27^th. They have excellent role models to follow, as they too develop their clinical skills and experience in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.

In November, we celebrated the 10^th graduating class of the PA Program, Class of 2020, at our virtual convocation. Like many of our virtual events this past year, it was a very special occasion for our graduates and their families, who were all able to share in the tributes.

And last week, we officially welcomed the incoming class of 2023 to the PA Program – we held our second virtual Stethoscope Ceremony on August 30^th. It was a wonderful event, including very relevant and encouraging messages from all of our Consortium of Physician Assistant Education partners (NOSM, Michener Institute of Education at UHN and Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Family & Community Medicine, UofT), CAPA, and our PASA student leaders.

The pandemic has, without question, created many challenges and compromises in medical education, but it has also inspired a number of innovations. This year, the PA program conducted two virtual OSCEs led by Dr. Peter Tzakas, our Program Director. The first OSCE, piloting the virtual platform, included 12 stations. Our final evaluation OSCE in June evolved to 15 stations, the largest virtual OSCE known to date. This also marked the first year in which all our final OSCE evaluators were physician assistant educators, underscoring another milestone in that our academic pool of PAs has grown considerably over the past few years.

Dr. Tzakas and Sharona Kanofsky, our Academic Scholar and Research Lead have studied the outcomes and impacts of the virtual platform for the OSCE and have demonstrated many positive results that will be shared in upcoming conferences and possible publications. We anticipate that the virtual OSCE will remain as one of our ongoing student evaluation tools for the future.

For the second year, we conducted our admissions Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) virtually. In collaboration with the MD and MRS program, we piloted a new online program which was a great success.

As in any year, faculty and staff have undergone changes as people advance and move in different directions. A big thank you must be extended to several of our faculty and staff who finished with the program this past year – they have all contributed greatly to the PA Program over a number of years:

• Kevin Penney: Course Director, ePBL and CS2
• Chris LeBouthillier: Course Director, Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures 1 and 2
• Trish Marr: Course Director, Pharmacology
• Sharon Naymark: Academic Coordinator
• Misung Yim: Program Assistant

We are delighted that one of our recent graduates has assumed the position of Academic Coordinator, Aurthi Muthukumaran – not only does she bring a wealth of knowledge about our program, she is highly skilled, creative and innovative. Aurthi is also a practicing Physician Assistant in the Emergency Department at Scarborough Health Network.

After 9 years, Dr. Peter Tzakas has stepped down as Course Director for Medical Foundations 1 & 2. In his ongoing role as the Program Director, he will have more time to meet the growing demands of the program, as well as to develop new curricular planning. Dr. Tzakas has been a much-valued teacher and he established a very strong, foundational learning experience for our students.

We welcome our new faculty Course Directors moving forward:

• Dr. Jordana Boro: Course Director, Medical Foundations 1 & 2
• Dee Naidu: Course Director, Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures 1 & 2
• Claire Ann Suarez: Course Director, ePBL

We also have two new staff members who have joined us during the pandemic - Carla Gomez is our new full-time PA Enrollment Assistant. Carla was kept exceedingly busy, with an unprecedented number of applicants to the program this past year – 978 - resulting in a diverse and exciting new class.

Larysa Stjepanovic joined us in her role as Program Assistant in January – a great addition to our team.

It is no small feat to onboard as a new faculty/staff member virtually in the midst of a global pandemic and we send a big thank you to Melissa Rodway, our Program Coordinator, for guiding and supporting all of our new faculty and staff through this process.

The following faculty were recognized for their excellent contributions this past year:

Dr. Peter Tzakas was awarded the DFCM Faculty Development Program Award.

Our program faculty awardees are:

• Rising Star: Kimberley Chung Tak Chean
• PA Role Model: Sahand Ensafi
• Excellence in Teaching: Drew Gould
• Preceptor Award: Dr. Raj Basker

Sharona Kanofsky is a 2021 recipient of University College Alumni of Influence Award.

We have also welcomed new committee members this year, all of whom are recent graduates of our PA Program:

• Dan Vermunt – Management Committee
• Renee Roy – Evaluation & Assessment Committee
• Harrison Elliott – Admissions & Selection Committee

We all hope that the coming academic year brings us relief and resolve from the pandemic and a calmer future. I feel very fortunate that however events may unfold, we are facing the future together – with the remarkable people in our PA Program, with our partners, colleagues, and medical education community and of course, our students.

Sincerely,

Leslie Nickell, MSW, MD, CCFP
Medical Director, BScPA
BScPA Program, University of Toronto

The Bachelor of Science Physician Assistant degree (BScPA) is a full-time professional, second-entry undergraduate degree program, based in the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Learn more: https://www.paconsortium.ca