PA Program’s DE Option in its Tenth Year of Success, Expands North

Danielle Rieck, a 2011 graduate of UW–La Crosse, is a volunteer EMT in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, a small rural town near River Falls. Amanda Rynearson is a brain cancer researcher in Rochester, Minnesota. Jeffrey Wood is a firefighter and paramedic in Parker, Colorado, with a wife and three children.

What do they have in common? They’re all first-year students in the UW-Madison Physician Assistant (PA) Program.

Thanks to the program’s unique distance education (DE) option, now in its tenth year, students like Danielle, Amanda, and Jeff can pursue graduate-level PA education while continuing to live and work in their home communities.

Accessible Education, Proven Success

The DE option was established in 2001 to make PA education more accessible, especially for students from rural, urban, or underserved communities.

By taking advantage of flexible scheduling and videoconferencing technology, DE students can complete the program in three years (campus-based students finish it in two). Ninety percent of their education—didactics and clinical experiences alike—takes place away from the Madison campus.

It’s a great option for students “who really want to go to PA school, but who are committed to work or family, and who can’t drop everything and attend a campus-based program,” said DE program director Joel Hill, MS, PA-C.

It’s also a proven success. DE students’ mean score on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) is comparable to, if not better than, their campus-based counterparts. DE students also tend to remain in their home communities after graduation.

A National Leader with Community Connections

According to Hill, other PA programs around the country offer a DE option, but none are as comprehensive as UW-Madison’s.

He chalks this up to commitment and experience. Faculty and staff understand and have adapted to the DE model, and the program has had 10 years to refine the infrastructure.“We have great technology support,” Hill said. ”Without that, it would be impossible.”

Indeed, DE students can get didactic lectures on just about any device—computer, smartphone, iPod—at any time of the day or night. Campus-based student liaisons help provide missing information in the event of a technical problem.

The program also maintains deep relationships with statewide community mentors, who help students stay connected, serve as professional role models, and act as supplementary educational resources.

‘A Dream Come True’

For a student like Danielle Rieck, who hopes to practice in a rural setting after graduation, it’s a perfect fit.

“The distance option truly allowed me to continue providing service to my home community, to stay close to family and maintain important relationships within my hometown—all while studying to become a PA,” she said.

Other students echo her sentiments. Amanda Rynearson called the DE program “a life-changing experience that has an impact on everything I do.” Despite being four and a half hours away from Madison, the support she receives from faculty and classmates is “exceptional.”

“The experience has been the perfect balance of time on campus and time at home,” agreed Jeff Wood. “It’s provided an education every bit as comprehensive as the campus option. For me, it’s truly been a dream come true.”

A New Initiative for Northern Wisconsin

With this success—and a new four-year training grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)—the PA Program is now exploring ways to bring a “hybrid” DE program northward.

The HRSA grant aims to improve PA recruitment, training, and primary care placement in Wisconsin’s medically underserved northern tier—particularly healthcare access shortage areas.

PA Program Director Virginia Snyder, PhD, PA-C, says the new initiative will likely follow a similar model as the current DE program, combining a physical “home base” in Wausau, community-based outreach and recruitment, and proven DE instructional methods. Existing faculty would travel to UW-Marathon County and work with a regional network of community-academic and healthcare partners.

“This initiative is another important form of outreach,” Snyder said. “Although it’s still in the very early planning phases, we look forward to this potential collaboration to improve access to health throughout northern Wisconsin.”