Tag Archives: Allied Health

Neuroscience Symposium set for Sept. 19 at Bartle Hall

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2014 Neuro SymposiumThe University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City will present the Saint Luke’s Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute, 2014 Neuroscience Symposium on Sept. 19 at the Bartle Hall Convention Center.

The symposium is for primary care physicians, family physicians, neurosurgeons, neurologists, neurointensivists, psychiatrists, nurses, case managers/social workers, pre-hospital personnel, and other health care professionals. It will focus on the multidisciplinary approach to patients with neurologic disorders and review current treatment paradigms.

Nursing and pre-hospital care breakout sessions will be tailored to address inpatient nursing challenges and the diagnosis and management of neurologically injured patients for first responders.

To register and learn more go to https://cmetracker.net/UMKC/Catalog (case sensitive) or contact the University of Missouri-Kansas City Continuing Medical Education Office: 816-235-6808 or cmeoffice@umkc.edu.

This symposium is jointly provided by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City.

Health Sciences students gather in team learning environment

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Students from the UMKC Health Sciences Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Health Studies and Pharmacy gathered in the School of Medicine's Theater C and other classroooms across the Hospital Hill Campus on Feb. 21 for an afternoon of interprofessional education classes.
Students from the UMKC Health Sciences Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Health Studies and Pharmacy gathered in the School of Medicine’s Theater C and other classrooms across the Hospital Hill Campus on Feb. 21 for an afternoon of interprofessional education study.

Providing quality patient care in today’s world is becoming a team effort. Health care educators are taking a team approach to teaching it as well.

More than 560 students from the UMKC Health Sciences Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Health Studies and Pharmacy participated in an afternoon of interprofessional education on Friday, Feb. 21, with synchronized classes in classrooms throughout the Hospital Hill Campus. Classes included teleconferencing with UMKC School of Pharmacy students on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Mo.

During the classes, pre-assigned groups of students from seven disciplines — dentistry, dental hygiene, medicine, physician assistant, nursing, graduate nursing, and pharmacy —  learned about patient safety and worked together to solve problems in small and large groups.

Stefanie Ellison, M.D., assistant dean for curriculum at the School of Medicine, is one of the curriculum organizers.

“This won’t be just a one-day event,” Ellison said. “This will create a strong foundation for interprofessional education and collaboration at UMKC.”

Interprofessional education involves students from two or more disciplines learning together, with the charge of cultivating collaborative practice to provide patient-centered care.

“While interprofessional education is required by a number of accrediting boards, large scale instructional activities are rare, making this instructional activity unique,” said another of the curricular organizers, Linda Garavalia, professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Pharmacy. “UMKC has been awarded interprofessional education grants for clinical experience but that involves a smaller number of students. This will add interprofessional education to classroom learning for a large number of students.”

Inaugural class of UMKC School of Medicine Physician Assistants begins courses

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Members of the School of Medicine's inaugural class of the Master of Medical Science - Physician Assistant program gather for a group photograph following orientation on Jan. 10.
Members of the School of Medicine’s inaugural class of the Master of Medical Science – Physician Assistant program gather for a group photograph following orientation on Jan. 10.

A group of 14 students are part of the inaugural class of the School of Medicine’s new Master of Medical Science-Physician Assistant program that kicked off its first classroom activities on Tuesday, Jan 21, with lectures in anatomy and ethics.

A joint student orientation with this year’s incoming class of Master of Science in Anesthesia students on Jan. 10 covered information from the Office of Student Affairs covering financial aid and other resources. Students later broke out into individual meetings covering program specific information.

School of Medicine Dean Betty Drees, M.D., addressed the two classes during the orientation session.

“As time goes on, I think it’s critical for us to have these programs in the medical school because with the changes in the health care delivery system, more and more health care is going to be done in teams, not by individuals. And making sure that we have education programs here for the whole team to meet the workforce needs in our own state is really critically important. I think you will see in your careers that what you do will become increasingly in demand as we go to a more team-based approach to health care.”

The Physician Assistant program received provisional accreditation status from the Accreditation Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant in September. Provisional status indicates that the plans and resource allocation for the proposed program appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA standards if fully implemented as planned. Provisional accreditation does not ensure subsequent accreditation status and is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class.

Kathie Ervie, M.P.A.S., P.A.-C., serves as program director and Beverly Graves, M.D., ’83, is the program’s medical director. Two additional faculty members joined the program in November. Holli Paulk, M.B.A., M.P.A.S., assistant teaching professor, serves as the program’s clinical coordinator and is involved in curriculum development, lectures and clinical instruction. Brad Dirks, M.Ed., P.A.-C., also an assistant teaching professor, is involved in curriculum development and didactic instruction.

The School received nearly 100 applications to be part of its first MMS-PA class and about 40 were interviewed. At least 80 percent of the class each year is expected to come from the instate application pool. The program is looking to accept up to 20 students for its second class in 2015, Ervie said.

Class lectures for the PA program will begin on Jan. 21, primarily in a third-floor classroom of the medical school and students will begin early clinical rotations and patient interactions shortly thereafter at Truman Medical Center, Saint Luke’s Hospital, the Kansas City Health Department and other area clinics.

The Anesthesiologist Assistant program began in 2008 with an inaugural class of four students. The program has since graduated 24 Anesthesiologist Assistants and will celebrate its fifth graduating class this May. It accepted 13 students into the program this year.

Physician Assistant program announces new faculty

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Holli Paulk
Holli Paulk
Brad Dirks
Brad Dirks

Two new faculty members have joined the School of Medicine’s Masters of Medical Science Physician Assistant program as it prepares to welcome its inaugural class next January.

Holli Paulk, M.B.A., M.P.A.S., assistant teaching professor, will serve as the program’s clinical coordinator and be involved in curriculum development, lectures and clinical instruction. Brad Dirks, M.Ed., P.A.-C., also an assistant teaching professor, will be involved in curriculum development and didactic instruction.

Paulk received her B.S. Physician Assistant degree and an M.B.A. from South University in Savannah, Ga., received a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Her 10-year career as a Physician Assistant has featured a focus in gastroenterology, hepatology, liver transplant and also in health care administration.

Paulk came to Kansas City from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, and currently works with the liver transplant program at Saint Luke’s Hospital.

Dirks graduated from the Nebraska Medical Center Physician Assistant program and obtained a Masters in Education/Counseling from Wichita State University. He has worked in Family Practice, Orthopedics and Neurosurgery. For 11 years, Dirks was the associate director of the Psychiatry Fellowship for Physician Assistants at the Cherokee Mental Health Institute in Cherokee, Iowa, and managed an inpatient and outpatient psychiatry practice.

He lives with his wife Kathleen in Belton, Mo., and has three adult daughters.

MSA students stay involved with community service

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ZOMBIES_MSA
School of Medicine MSA students spent an evening at Worlds of Fun dressed as zombies to help raise money for a global health charity. Pictured are: (front) Jenna Gaughan, Abby Gezella, Juveria Nayeem, Courtney Haanpaa; (back) Landon Streed, Colin Warnock, TJ McManus, and Amanda Sharp.
MSAService
MSA students spent an evening at the Harvesters food network preparing food and drink packages for local food banks. Pictured are (front) Juveria Nyeem, Abby Gezella, Jenna Gaughan, Kyle Harlan; (back) Colin Warnock, Amanda Sharp, Courtney Haanpaa, TJ McManus, Landon Streed, and Tyler Werth.

From raising money for a global health charity to helping with a community food network, students from the School of Medicine’s Master of Science in Anesthesia program have busily put their competitive nature to work in an effort to capture the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants Cup, a competition to recognize the most community-involved Anesthesiologist Assistants program in the country.

AA students from the School of Medicine recently dressed as zombies and spent an evening scaring guests at the Worlds of Fun Halloween Haunt, helping with admissions and directing guests inside the park. The event was part of a fund-raiser for the Lifebox Foundation, a global health charity that uses technology and training to make surgery safer in low-resource countries across Africa, Asia, South America and the Western Pacific. Funds are needed to provide vital pieces of medical equipment such as the pulse oximeter.

Students spent several hours one evening at Harvesters, a community food network, packaging soda and water for distribution to local food banks. They also donated time to work with a local church’s fall festival, which included participating in activities such as playing basketball with children and helping prepare and serve a meal.

The UMKC MSA program was recognized for the second straight year for having 100% PAC participation at the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting. Last year, the program was one of two such AA programs recognized, and this year it was one of four. UMKC was also the only school that had 100% participation from both its AA training program and anesthesiology residency programs. It was the second year for that recognition as well.

New PA program receives approval to begin classes

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Kathy_Ervie1
Kathy Ervie, M.P.A.S., P.A.-C., program director

The School of Medicine’s new Master of Medical Science Physician Assistant program cleared its final hurdle for starting classes this winter when the program recently received official written notice of provisional accreditation status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).

Provisional status indicates that the plans and resource allocation for the proposed program appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA standards if fully implemented as planned. Provisional accreditation does not ensure subsequent accreditation status and is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class.

Kathy Ervie, M.P.A.S., P.A.-C., program director, said the School received an earlier email notification that the written approval was forthcoming. Provisional accreditation is required before a program can officially admit students and begin classes.

“It was very exciting to receive that email,” Ervie said. “We felt very good about it. We had a site visit with two site visitors here for two days in June. They gave us their observations and we had responded to those.”

Ervie said the program would begin with an inaugural class of 15 students. The School received nearly 100 applications to be part of that first class and about 40 were interviewed. At least 80 percent of the class will come from the instate application pool, Ervie said.

“We have been very pleased with the number of applications we’ve received and they have been exceptional,” she said.

The first class is scheduled to begin on Jan. 14.

SOM taking applications for new Physician Assistant program

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UMKC-med_web_200pxThe University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine is now taking applications for its new physician assistant (PA) program.

The master’s degree PA program, scheduled to start classes in January 2014, is the only one in the Kansas City area. The closest accredited PA programs are Wichita State University in Kansas and Missouri State University in Springfield. Neither is administered through a school of medicine, where future physicians and PAs learn side by side. The training model at the UMKC School of Medicine mirrors the team-based approach of PAs working under the supervision of a physician to improve coordination of care and patient outcomes.

“The new PA program at the UMKC School of Medicine offers a great opportunity for people who want to stay in the Kansas City area and pursue a career in this growing, high-demand healthcare profession,” says Kathy Ervie, director of the PA program at the UMKC School of Medicine and a practicing PA in the Kansas City area. “I didn’t have this type of opportunity and had to go out of state to receive my physician assistant training.”

Because of their general medical background, PAs have flexibility in the types of medicine they can practice. PAs perform physical examinations, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret lab tests, perform procedures, assist in surgery, provide patient education and counseling and make rounds in hospitals and nursing homes. All 50 states and the District of Columbia allow PAs to practice and prescribe medicine.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon recently signed a bill into state law that opens the door for PAs to more readily provide badly needed service to areas of the state where health care is lacking. HB315 will go into law on Aug. 28, changing the required on-site supervision of PAs by a licensed physician from 66 percent of the time to four hours for every 14 days the PA provides clinical service. The previous supervision requirement was one of the most strict in the nation, forcing many PAs to leave Missouri for other jobs.

“This is exciting because it opens the door for PAs to practice in Missouri,” Ervie said. “It will increase jobs in Missouri and we can keep our graduates in Missouri to meet those health care needs.”

Ervie said the law will open the door to making health care more readily available in areas of the state that can’t afford both a physician and a PA.

“That’s why it’s great for our program,” Ervie said. “We can keep those graduates in the state of Missouri meeting the health care needs of the state, particularly in the rural and underserved areas, which is our mission.”

PAs were created in the mid-1960s due to a shortage of primary care physicians. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts PAs will be the second-fastest-growing profession in the next decade, increasing from 74,800 in 2008 to 103,900 in 2018. The median salary for a PA in 2010 was $86,410 per year. In 2010, it was the No. 2 best job, according to Money magazine.

The UMKC PA program has applied for accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for Physician Assistants (ARC-PA).

The deadline for applications for the UMKC School of Medicine PA program is Aug. 1; students may matriculate pending provisional accreditation approval by the ARC-PA at its September meeting.A bachelor’s degree is a requirement, but not necessarily in life science. Up to 15 applicants will be selected for the program. For more information, go to www.med.umkc.edu/mmspa or call 816-235-1870.

School appoints directors for new Physician Assistant Program

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Kathy Ervie, MPAS, PA-C
Beverly Graves, MD, ’83

The School of Medicine has hired two key faculty to lead the new Master of Medical Science program that will train skilled physician assistants (PA) to meet local and national health care needs. Kathy Ervie, M.P.A.S., P.A.-C. will serve as program director and Beverly Graves, M.D., ’83, will serve as medical director of the School’s PA program.

Ervie completed her Physician Assistant training at Butler University and received her Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska. She has practiced in the areas of orthopaedic and cardiothoracic surgery with staff appointments at Saint Luke’s, North Kansas City, Research and Kansas City Orthopaedic Institute. In addition to serving as mentor and preceptor to PA students, she has also served as past president of the Missouri Academy of Physician Assistants.

Graves, a School of Medicine graduate, completed her residency in pediatrics at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. She joined the School of Medicine in 1986, previously working as a pediatrician and clinical assistant professor of community and family medicine. She also served as an affiliate staff pediatrician at Children’s Mercy and is a neonatal resuscitation program regional trainer.

The PA program at the School of Medicine is designed to address significant local and national shortages of physicians and other health care providers. Saint Louis University and Missouri State University offer the only other degree-granting PA education programs in Missouri.

UMKC School of Medicine has applied for provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), and anticipates matriculating its first class in January 2014, pending provisional accreditation in September 2013. Provisional accreditation is an accreditation status for a new PA program that has not yet enrolled students, but at the time of its comprehensive accreditation review, has demonstrated its preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with the accreditation Standards.

Dr. Banderas appointed associate dean for Graduate Studies and Allied Health

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Julie Banderas, Pharn.D.

The School of Medicine Dean’s Office has announced the appointment of Julie Banderas, Pharm.D., as assistant dean for Graduate Studies and Allied Health.

A tenured professor in the department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Banderas has served as assistant dean for Graduate Studies since 2010. She has been actively involved in developing the School’s initial graduate programs and the corresponding operating procedures and administrative structures.

A member of the UMKC Graduate Council and Graduate Officers Committee, Banderas assumes the administrative duties as assistant dean of Allied Health Programs, which include the Master of Science in Anesthesia Program and the Master of Medical Science Physician Assistant Program that was recently approved the University of Missouri Board of Curators in April.

Banderas has taught clinical pharmacology at the School of Medicine for 18 years and also teaches courses in Responsible Conduct of Research for the School of Graduate Studies.

MSA class to offer hands-only CPR course

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UMKC School of MedicineThe UMKC School of Medicine’s Master of Science in Anesthesia Program Class of 2012 will offer a class in Hands Only CPR for School of Medicine staff from 10-11 a.m. and from 2-3 p.m. on Friday, May 4 in the Youngblood Medical Skills Lab (Ground Floor – School of Medicine).

The class for School of Medicine staff will take approximately 50 minutes.  Reservations for the class are required, but will be accepted until the day before the event.

According to the American Heart Association, training in Hands-Only CPR increases the chance that a bystander will take action in a cardiac emergency. Hands-Only CPR offers an easy to remember and effective option to  bystanders who have been previously trained in CPR but are afraid to help because they are not confident that they can remember and perform the steps of conventional CPR.

To reserve a spot email Laura Begley begleyl@umkc.edu.