UK and Norton Healthcare#s Physician Assistant Studies Preceptor Partnership

This innovative program expands the UK Physician Assistant Studies Program’s preceptor network and collaborative relationship with the Norton Healthcare System in Louisville, Kentucky. PA students will be selected on a competitive basis to conduct the majority of their clinical clerkships within the Norton Healthcare network. This program places a faculty clinical coordinator (1 FTE) and an education coordinator (.5 FTE) on-site within Norton Healthcare. The clinical coordinator will develop and educate a network of qualified PA preceptors to teach, supervise, and evaluate PA students during clinical rotations. The program will provide $5,000 scholarships to 32 PA students over the three-year period for scholars who commit themselves to conducting all of their clinical clerkships in the Greater Louisville area and forfeiting their opportunity to participate in AHEC supported clinical training sites. In addition to building a preceptor network and an administrative infrastructure to support 32 students throughout their clinical clerkships, this program will work in collaboration with Norton Healthcare to develop additional initiatives, such as a Physician Assistant sub-specialty residency programs, an enhanced PharmD/PA training site, and other timely initiatives to meet the health care needs of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond.