Emory's nationally ranked Physician Assistant (PA) Program held its first annual Learning Society Olympics in celebration of National PA Week (Oct. 6-12). Members of the Class of 2015 took part in the competition at the Emory School of Medicine.
Participants in the event were divided into six teams representing each of the learning societies. The competition consisted of an academic bowl and outdoor relay race events. Each society was assigned an event, and the students developed questions and activities with topics ranging from radiology to dermatology to electrocardiograms.
"We generally encourage collaborative learning throughout our curriculum, but this time, we wanted to mix it up – to blend learning with some healthy competition and fun," says William Bryson, academic coordinator for the PA program at Emory and organizer of the competition.
The six learning societies, named after clinicians with ties to Emory or the PA profession, are organized to reinforce team based care. The Emory learning societies are named after Tom Himelick, PA-C, Charles L. Hudson, MD, J. Willis Hurst, MD, Marquitha S. Mayfield, PA-C & Terry Mize, PA-C, Kyle Petersen, PhD, and Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD. The winning team for this inaugural event was the Stead society.
"Learning Societies allow students to have a closer relationship with both their faculty advisors and our curriculum," says Maha B. Lund, DHSc, PA-C, director of the Emory Physician Assistant Program. "They offer a unique approach to learning important critical thinking skills needed to delve deeper into the study of medicine, but just as important, the faculty are able to model professional behavior and an approach to life-long learning that is so vital to their future roles as Physician Assistants."
About the Emory Physician Assistant Program
The Emory University Physician Assistant program has a long, proud history as one of the premier programs in the country. Our mission is to recruit, educate and mentor a diverse group of students to become highly regarded, sought after physician assistants providing compassionate health care of the highest quality. To that end we create an educational environment that promotes an understanding of human needs and ethical issues as well as the acquisition and application of patient-oriented clinical knowledge and skills.