Outcomes

Arkansas' Physician Assistant Week celebrated with governor

April 02, 2019

Students and faculty from the physician assistant program visited the Arkansas State Capitol Oct. 5 to meet with Gov. Asa Hutchinson in recognition of Physician Assistant Week. On Aug. 7, Gov. Hutchinson signed a proclamation declaring Oct. 6-12, 2018, Physician Assistant Week in Arkansas.

“It acknowledges the fact that there are hundreds of PAs that have been trained in Arkansas who are staying in the state,” said Dr. Mike Murphy, director of Harding’s physician assistant program. “What we’re finding when we look at National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants data for Harding is that more than 50 percent of our graduates are staying in the state of Arkansas to practice even though much less than a third of our students come from Arkansas. We’re providing health care clinicians for the state, and recognizing that is a big part of it.”

Harding joined together with students and faculty from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ physician assistant program to celebrate the signing of the proclamation and to speak to Gov. Hutchinson about the training and scope of practice for physician assistants.

“I think the most important thing is that it’s a show of unity between the two programs, and it gave us time to talk so faculty and students could get to know each other better and make some future plans for similar endeavors,” Murphy said.

Categories: Outcomes