PA Students Focus on Patient Safety

BILLINGS - The H1N1 flu strain is affecting the curriculum for the physician assistant program at Rocky Mountain College. Doctor Bob Wilmouth, acting director of the PA program, said a lot is happening in the medical community right now and it must be reflected in course work. He created a 3-week program called the Patient Safety Module. It will be taught starting around Thanksgiving. It provides education about a PA's role in health care reform and how to deal with pandemics like the H1N1 flu. "There's several things that are involved," said Dr. Wilmouth. "The first is to talk about the biology of the virus, and then we'll bring in experts from the community from both hospitals to talk about what they're seeing and how they're treating it so our first-year PA students have an understanding of how big this is and how they can take care of it as well." It is the first PA program in the nation to join with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Wilmouth said the goal is to teach students how to avoid preventable errors in medicine. He said he hopes the module is picked up by PA programs across the country. Thirty-five students are enrolled in Rocky's 46-month long physician assistant program.

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