Educational decentralization and deployment of physicianʼs assistants

Rural Practice: How Do We Prepare Providers?

“…The tendency of PA program graduates to remain near the site of their medical training led the Stanford-Foothill Primary Care Associate Program to develop a program of decentralized training (Fowles, et al, 1983). Decentralization consisted of replicating stu'dent recruitment, admissions, and classroom and clinical instruction in five designated areas of California, each of which was within or adjacent to an area needing additional primary care services.…”

“…The shared training experiences of students from multiple professions serve to instill the team concept of health care. Encouragement can be found in the increased likelihood of younger physicians to hire a PA (Fowles, et al, 1983).…”