- Joined
- May 9, 2003
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After reading through many posts in this forum I find myself fascinated by the notion of a PA to MD bridging program. My interest stems primarily from what I see as a severe need for an increase in primary care providers to meet the needs of society. A society that is already hurting from a lack of physicians. A situation that will only be exacerbated as the baby-boomers get older. I don't feel very comfortable with doctorates in nursing or the sometimes relentless push to "expand scope of practice," but a truly legitimate and accepted bridging program would be of great value to society.
I came upon the website of Dr. Stead the founder of the PA profession, he details a very insightful plan that would allow midlevels to take a sort of correspondence based course over the internet, while being mentored by a physician. You can check out the details here
http://easteadjr.org/guest.html.
In essence it would allow midlevels to attain an MD degree without having to begin as an MS1. He sets forth various criteria, such as a minimum age of 27, a masters degree, --and perhaps most interestingly-- a required commitment to practice primary care in their home community.
I would be interested to hear peoples reactions to his position paper, since there have been some really interesting discussions on this topic previously.
I came upon the website of Dr. Stead the founder of the PA profession, he details a very insightful plan that would allow midlevels to take a sort of correspondence based course over the internet, while being mentored by a physician. You can check out the details here
http://easteadjr.org/guest.html.
In essence it would allow midlevels to attain an MD degree without having to begin as an MS1. He sets forth various criteria, such as a minimum age of 27, a masters degree, --and perhaps most interestingly-- a required commitment to practice primary care in their home community.
I would be interested to hear peoples reactions to his position paper, since there have been some really interesting discussions on this topic previously.