![Faculty helping PAS students during immersion Faculty helping PAS students during immersion](https://www.shrs.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/news-image/20231212_PAS%20Hybrid%20Immersion_0615SM-768x576-74_0-710_533.jpg)
Assistant Professor Kathryn Reed helps to fine-tune students’ techniques during their immersion session in Pittsburgh.
The PAS Hybrid program has completed its first didactic year and students are underway on their supervised clinical practice experiences across the country! To end their third and final semester of classes, 96 students again filled the halls and exam rooms of the Murdoch building to demonstrate their skills in suturing, splinting and head-to-toe examinations before ending the week celebrating their transition from didactic student to clinical student with their white coat ceremony.
PAS Hybrid students at their white coat ceremony with friends and family.
The hybrid curriculum allows students to take classes within their homes, which gives family members close proximity to the many hours of lectures, exams and practicing skills and procedures that students are dedicated to. The white coat ceremony was a special occasion to include those friends and family in this milestone at the end of the didactic year.
Director of Curriculum and Associate Director Nathan Miracle shared, “You are leaving the comfort and familiarity of the virtual classroom and venturing out into the clinical world.”
This advice was echoed by Class of 2024 Hybrid Physician Assistant Student Society President Sipong Patamasucon with the inclusion of “Per aspera ad astra” in his speech- translating to “a rough road leads to the stars.”
Class of 2024 Hybrid Physician Assistant Student Society President Sipong Patamasucon
With a new calendar year comes a new didactic cohort of 100 individuals embarking on a new educational experience. The faculty continue to find new and innovative ways to reach the students within their learning space and build connections with the program and department. A new addition to the curriculum includes an optional learning series on study strategies, test-taking techniques and addressing imposter syndrome--all of which have been well received by students pioneering a new path.
We look forward to welcoming the Class of 2025 onto campus for their first immersion experience at the end of April 2024 and their second immersion during a whirlwind of a five-day experience in December 2024 when the Murdoch building swells to accommodate the over 200 faculty, staff and students of our clinical and didactic year. Stay tuned for more adventures!