Monday, September 18, 2023
Photos by Cindy Davis Meixel, writer/photo editor
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physician assistant program hosted an open house on Sept. 15 to showcase recently completed renovations that promise to provide a true-to-life setting for hands-on education.
Throughout the Physician Assistant Center, updates provide equipment and spaces that mirror the scenarios students will encounter in the clinical rotations they complete during their final year of study. New spaces include a Family Medicine Lab, a Women’s Health Lab and an Emergency Medicine Lab.
Students, special guests and employees gather outside the Physician Assistant Center at Pennsylvania College of Technology to hear remarks by Joshua A. Bower (at podium at right), director of the physician assistant program, at the start of an open house celebrating recent renovations to the center.
“These upgrades will enhance learning and allow us to expand our curriculum, as well as increase the level of realism and medical decision-making in our clinical simulations,” said Joshua A. Bower, director of the physician assistant program. “With these upgrades, our students will be able to learn, grow and even make mistakes in the safety of our labs so that they can shine when they set foot in the clinic, from day one of their rotations.”
The center’s updated Assessment Lab is equipped for large-group instruction and provides space for specialty instruction, with an area designated for pediatrics and adolescents, as well as laparoscopic trainers, a surgical table and scrub sink, and simulation manikins of various “ages” that can be programmed to mimic illnesses. Students can practice using handheld ultrasound technology on several manikins.
The lobby resembles a waiting room and provides a space for students to meet, work or relax between classes.
The Family Medicine Lab is equipped with the same exam table, tools and look of a typical family doctor’s office.
The Women’s Health Lab is equipped with an advanced obstetric patient simulator – a manikin that helps instructors to immerse students in a full range of obstetrical events, from early pregnancy complications and high-risk deliveries to postpartum emergencies and general nursing care. An accompanying “baby” manikin can also be programmed.
The Anatomy Lab, where students learn using cadavers, was enhanced with updated operating room lights and an overhead camera for instructor demonstrations.
The Emergency Medicine Lab, construction of which was supported by the Dr. and Mrs. Arthur William Phillips Charitable Trust, provides three emergency room beds, electrocardiogram machines and other actual or simulated ER equipment.
In the Emergency Medicine Lab of the college's Physician Assistant Center, students (in blue shirts) engage guests during an open house unveiling the center’s extensive renovations. From left, are: Sarah L. Fetterolf, of Millmont; Erin T. Braxton, of Berwyn; and Phillip Silvagni, of Williamsport. The manikin is HAL, an advanced, multipurpose patient simulator.
Bower recalled his first day in an emergency room as a physician assistant student.
“Monitors were beeping, lights were flashing, and a nurse was yelling for me to turn off the monitor, silence the IV pump and move the patient’s bed from one bay to another,” he said. “This was a surreal experience for me because I knew the medicine, but I didn’t know the mechanics of the room.”
He learned quickly and enjoyed a successful rotation in emergency medicine.
“After that experience, I thought of the opportunity students would have if they had more access in lab to the real-world medical equipment they would later use throughout their clinical practice,” he said.
“Now, the students will be even more prepared to enter their clinical year due to the newly renovated space with identical equipment they will use in hospital- and office-based settings,” said Kathryn A. Plankenhorn, who received a combined bachelor’s/master’s degree in physician assistant studies from the college in August and plans to begin work as a certified physician assistant at UPMC Primary Care Pine Street in Williamsport in November. “Even though it is so simple, knowing how to work the beds in the emergency room and being familiar with the laparoscopic tools for the surgical setting will ensure that students will feel comfortable and confident when entering their clinical year.”
“The net effect will be a better student experience, a better preceptor experience, better clinically trained graduates and a better trained PA employee for our clinical affiliates,” Bower said.
Penn College offers a Master of Science in physician assistant studies. According to the American Academy of Physician Associates, the PA profession is one of the fastest growing in the country, and the demand is so high that three quarters of PAs receive multiple job offers upon graduation. To learn more about Penn College’s PA program, call 570-327-4519.
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Recounting the challenges and rewards along his road from student to PA program director, Bower also looks ahead to the successes that will follow the center's upgrade.
Physician assistant studies students listen intently.
"The individuals in which you have invested will be health care providers soon, and the advancements the program has received through this wonderful renovation will ensure that they are even more prepared to enter their clinical year, and their profession, upon graduating," Plankenhorn told assembled benefactors. "I can only imagine the excitement the prospective high school and pre-PA students, as I once was, must feel when touring the newly renovated PA program."
The lobby of the renovated PAC welcomes open house guests with refreshments on the back counter and a line-up of class photos through the years, beginning with the inaugural graduating class in 1998.
The Assessment Lab is spacious and bright, attracting guests, employees and students.
PA student Monique M. Freer, of Williamsport, shares her excitement with visitors.
A tiered classroom heightens the learning experience.
Bower tours UPMC’s Melissa Davis (in blue), vice president and chief operating officer, medical group operations, and Tammy Button, administrative assistant.
John M. Confer, a member of the Penn College Foundation Board of Directors, enjoys listening to students’ career enthusiasm.
The Emergency Medicine Lab replicates the look and feel of a modern hospital emergency room, familiarizing students with what Bower calls "the mechanics of the room."
Outside the Anatomy Lab, Gabrielle R. Henry, of McClure, and Meghan M. DeLay, of Fleetwood, converse with open house visitors.
Students are framed in the doorway of the Women’s Health lab.
In the pediatrics area of the Assessment Lab, Ricardo C. Calla (left), who graduated from the college’s physician assistant program in 2000, interacts with PA students and faculty, including instructor Cheressa Mix (in dress). Calla is a member of the college’s Physician Assistant Advisory Committee.
An area set up to familiarize students with the operating room, including a scrub sink, surgical instruments, OR lights and laparoscopic trainers
Calla is standing to the left of the skeleton in this Class of 2000 photo that adorns the PAC lobby wall. The alumnus is a certified physician assistant working in critical care and neural critical care on a per diem basis for UPMC Harrisburg and on a locum tenens (fill-in) basis for other hospitals in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
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