Mount Union PA Studies Program Awarded National Research Grant
March 01, 2019ALLIANCE, Ohio –The University of Mount Union’s Physician Assistant Studies Program was recently awarded the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA)’s 2018 Don Pedersen Research Grant for a sum of $7,000 which will allow Mount Union physician assistant students to receive ultrasound training.
Ryan Adler M’11, assistant professor of physician assistant studies at Mount Union and Shannon Crabtree ’11, instructor of medical education at Northwestern University, were the co-principal investigators for the grant. Roger Kunes, assistant professor of physician assistant studies at Mount Union, will also assist with the grant, acting as one of the researchers who will help to conduct, write and present the project.
The title of Crabtree and Adler’s grant submission was titled, “Online Point-of-Care Ultrasound Training for Physician Assistant Students at Resource-Limited Institutions: A Pilot Study.” The grant money will be directed towards purchasing ultrasound training equipment for PA students at Mount Union and Northwestern. Crabtree, Adler and Kunes are then responsible for assessing the effectiveness of integrating this training into the physician assistant curriculum.
The skills students gain with this training will set a foundation for their clinical year upon which they can build.
“Working with another Mount alumnus in Shannon was a great experience,” said Adler. “It shows the strength of the UMU community for graduates to continue to partner with and provide value to the institution. We met via Zoom and telephone conference several times to work together to write and assign different tasks, despite Shannon being in Chicago.”
Data collection for this study will occur during this 2019 spring semester and continue into the summer 2019 semester. The data collection will take place at both institutions with the help of each campus’ students.
“With this grant, we will be investigating effective ways to implement point of care ultrasound training into PA program curriculum,” said Kunes. “The skills students gain with this training will set a foundation for their clinical year upon which they can build. Ultrasound training is being incorporated at other programs around the country, yet Mount Union and Northwestern are in the first wave of programs implementing this technology into their curricula.”
Mount Union’s physician assistant program has been ranked as the best physician assistant program in the state of Ohio by U.S. News and World Report. Mount Union also offers extensive opportunities for hands-on experience outside of clinical rotations. This grant affords Mount Union physician assistant students even more of an opportunity to be exceptional and gain even more valuable hands-on experiences in addition to their rotations.
For more information about Mount Union’s physician assistant program, visit the PA Program page.