PAEA’s “Transition to Clinic” Virtual Experience is designed for PAEA member programs to assign to their students who are nearing completion of their didactic year in preparation for their clinical year. This activity helps PA students better understand what they might expect on clinical rotations and is best used as an adjunct activity to your own program clinical orientation curriculum.
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Sign Up HereAbout the Curriculum
Overall Goal
This module is intended to help acclimate the student to the vocabulary, pace, environment, types of patients, the preceptor-student relationship, and typical interactions at a clinical site through a virtual world. It allows the student to have a formative learning experience without the stress and high stakes of a clinical rotation.
Course Design
This virtual simulation experience uses the self-assessment and pause, predict, and ponder technique to prepare the PA student to be successful on the first day of a rotation by building student confidence and alleviating the anxiety of the unknown as they enter a new phase in their PA training. This module is designed to provide opportunities for student discussion and faculty feedback.
Length of Curriculum
Students will typically take 1 hour to complete this module plus time allowed for student discussion and faculty feedback. Formative Learning Ideas and Assessments are available in the Faculty Companion Guide, which will be provided to you when you sign up for the curriculum.
The experience consists of three main phases:
- Starting Your Day/ Meeting the Team and Preceptor
- An EMR Review and Rapid-Fire Questions with Preceptor
- Patient and Final Assessment – This is an opportunity to meet with 3 patients, take a final assessment, and explore PAEA student resources.
How was it developed?
The PAEA’s “Transition to Clinic” Virtual Experience Curriculum was developed with input from PA faculty. PAEA produced this module in partnership with a vendor.