Precepting Physician Assistant Students

If you are interested in precepting Physician Assistant students, please contact our Clinical Site Coordinator at  tiffany.gardner@unthsc.edu 

Preceptor Application Packet

Preceptor Responsibilities Include

Preceptor responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Orient students at the onset of the rotation with the practice/site policies and procedures and review the expectations and objectives for the rotation.
• Provide ongoing and timely feedback regarding clinical performance, knowledge base, and critical thinking skills. This should be done informally with the student at a designated time twice weekly. Spend time with the student each week in a candid summary discussion as to whether each is meeting the other’s needs and expectations, and what changes need to be made in the roles and relationship. Feedback should formally be reported to the program in the form of end-of-rotation evaluations.
• Demonstrate clinical activities to aid in the development of clinical skills and ensure proper patient care.
• Delegate to the student increasing levels of responsibility for clinical assessment and management as appropriate to the student’s experience and expertise.
• Participate in the evaluation of clinical skills and medical knowledge base through the following mechanisms:
  • Direct supervision, observation, and teaching in the clinical setting
  • Direct evaluation of presentations (including both oral and written)
  • Assignment of outside readings and research to promote learning.
• Dialogue with the clinical team during site visits to evaluate student progress and assist the learning process.
• Audit charts to evaluate the student’s ability to develop appropriate and complete progress notes, histories, physical examinations, assessments, and treatment plans after each visit.
• Complete and promptly return the evaluation forms provided by the program reflecting on student knowledge and skills as well as their improvement throughout the rotation.
• Maintain an ethical approach to the care of patients by serving as a role model for the student.
• Model cultural competency through interactions with patients.
• Provide timely feedback to the student and the program regarding student performance.
• Promptly notify the PA program of any circumstances that might interfere with the accomplishment of the above goals or diminish the overall training experience.

Precepting is an integral part of the a PA’s education.  Physicians (MD/DO), PAs, and Nurse Practitioners can precept PA students.  Clinical mentoring offers you the opportunity for professional and personal development while mentoring PA students during the clinical phase of their PA program education. Preceptors serve as role models for the students providing guidance and  teaching.

Click here to access the full Preceptor handbook.

Clinical rotations are assigned by the program faculty based upon the needs of the student and upon availability of clinical sites. The PA student is not required to arrange, provide or solicit their own clinical rotation sites.

• Adjunct Faculty Status
• Earn CME credits
• Recognition awards
• Opportunities to guest lecture
• Access to our online Gibson D. Lewis Library resources
  • Gibson D.Lewis Library Research Services include:
    • Over 120 databases and more than 36,000 journals
    • Point of Care Tools  Up-To-Date (with CAT1 CME), Pubmed, LexiComp, Micromedex, VisualDX, Research Databases, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Complete, Cochrane Library, Global Health, PsycINFO, PubMed Scopus, SportDISCUS , and Web of Science.
    • Journals American Family Physician, Annals of Internal Medicine, BMC Family Practice, BMC Medicine, CMAJ, Family Medicine, JAAPA, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, JAOA, JPAE, JAGS, Lancet,New England Journal, PLOS Medicine, Pain Medicine, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Physical Therapy, Spine, Stroke, and many more.Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library serves as the designated Regional Medical Library (RML) for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region (NNLM SCR). The NNLM SCR applies to the the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

If you are currently a preceptor and would like to utilize the Lewis Library resources, please email Tiffany Gardner

Claudia Garcia, BBS, Senior Project Coordinator
Claudia.Garcia@unthsc.edu

Ms. Garcia works with the Director of Clinical Education and the Clinical Site Coordinator to schedule practicum rotations for clinical year PA students. In addition, she assists with student credentialing and hospital affiliations. She provides course support to the clinical phase of the program.

Tiffany Gardner, BBA, Clinical Site Coordinator tiffany.gardner@unthsc.edu

Ms. Gardner is the Clinical Site Coordinator for the program. She works to recruit and retain clinical sites and preceptors for our students.

Katherine Davis, BBA, Administrative Coordinator katherine.davis@unthsc.edu

Mrs. Davis supports the program with setting appointments, maintaining department files and other data related documents as well as working with guest lecturers and assisting with purchasing. She supports both didactic and clinical portions of the program.

Veda Womack, MBA, PA-C, Director of Clinical Education veda.womack@unthsc.edu