| Description |
- This is the report of an ad hoc committee appointed by Dr. Barnes Woodhall, Vice Provost, Duke University to evaluate "programs within the Medical Center designed to bring new types of personnel into the health field." The committee concentrates on a new member of the health team called a "physician's assistant." A brief description of the role and training is provided. "This program calls for intensive training in areas which complement available talents without attempting to replace available talents." The report discusses selection of students including pre-requisites, the curriculum divided into a didactic and clinical phase, course descriptions, organization and faculty, certification (by the Medical Center), and utilization of students and graduates. The report ends by stating three unsolved problems: (1) should the model be viewed as vocational training with set limits or should it be an open-ended model that would "see what they are capable of?" (2) skills are easy to teach but judgment is more difficult to teach - so PAs should be supervised and (3) where do PAs fit on administrative structure of hospital wards - what should be their relationship with nurses?
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