Innovations in Health Care:
Recognizing Physician Assistants
[ Past Winning Programs ]    [ About the Program ]    [ Application Form This .PDF file must be viewed using Acrobat Reader ]

Dear AAPA member:

We are delighted that you have chosen to apply for this recognition. The Innovations in Health Care Program was established to recognize unique and new interventions or enhancements in clinical practice and in PA educational programs. To help with your application, we are proud to describe some of the past programs that have won:

On the Road Health Care

The Artel Medical Center's program was developed to give truck drivers across the country medical attention nation-wide while on the road. PAs have established medical centers at truck stops across the country.

Pediatric Reading Initiative

In 1998, PA Robert Smith of South Troy, NY, began to purchase books to give to his young patients upon completion of their well-child visits. He gave away 600 books in that first year. His program, the South Troy Center's Pediatric Reading Initiative, works to promote child literacy and parental involvement in reading, thereby creating more self-sufficient lives and better health.

Health Care in Firehouses

The Community Health Outreach Project in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, an economically depressed area with a medically under-served population, focuses on firehouses as venues to deliver health assessments, screening and education to the community. PA students are involved in the project to gain experience in the social, economic, political and cultural components of rural communities.

Community Service Program

The George Washington University PA program in Washington, D.C. developed a required course to introduce PA students to community-based services through weekly seminars. Each student is matched with an agency where he or she participates as a volunteer on a monthly basis for 18 months in order to prepare for future practice.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM [ top ]

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), the Physician Assistant (PA) Foundation, and Pfizer Inc, are pleased to announce the Seventh Annual Innovations in Health Care Recognition Program. Through this initiative, AAPA, the PA Foundation, and Pfizer continue their commitment to support physician assistants in developing innovations in clinical practice and in PA education programs. Such innovations are more important than ever in meeting the demands of today's changing health care environment.

GENERAL AWARDS

Awardees will be recognized and provided a cash award to support further development or implementation of the practice or curriculum enhancements.  Two awards of $5,000 each will be made for projects that have been in existence for two years or more.  One award of $3,500 will be made for a project in existence for less than two years.

Both PA programs and clinical practices are eligible to apply for these awards.

HEALTH DISPARITIES

A special focus area this year will be health disparities, including projects that focus on multicultural, socioeconomic, insurance coverage, and technological issues as they relate to health disparities. Two awards of $3,500 each will be presented in this category.

ELIGIBILITY

Winners must demonstrate the use of an innovative approach in clinical practice or in a PA education program and show how the solutions have been successfully implemented. In other words, your group should have recognized a need, established goals to meet that need, and successfully implemented a program to attain those goals. The applicant must be a PA, a member of AAPA, and integrally involved in the PA program.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We are looking for the degree to which your program meets the following criteria:

In addition, the committee seeks to recognize programs that promote as many as possible of the following principles:

Clinical Practice: Educational Programs:

All applications This .PDF file must be viewed using Acrobat Reader and photos become the property of AAPA, PA Foundation, and Pfizer Inc.

Winners will be notified in late December 2005 and will be acknowledged throughout the year by both AAPA and the PA Foundation.

 

 

Last Revised: 8/4/05