“Go with your love to the fields”: Presentation of an Extracurricular Effort toward Knowing and Being Known in PA Education
Ethan Stonerook, MS, MMS, PA-C, Brian Peacock, MMS, PA-C, and Lauren Eyadiel, Wake Forest School of Medicine, and Randi Stanulis, Michigan State University
Background & Context: As Gen-Z students matriculate to medical education, medical educators encounter familiar formational challenges such as academic misconduct and clinical dishonesty. However, these challenges appear in relief compared to prior cohorts1,2. The ongoing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) further threatens to displace acts of inquiry and critical thinking. Students increasingly draw poorly defined boundaries around their understanding of academic integrity3, and appear to have thin ties to peers, medical educators, and potential mentors4,5. We believe that the creative acts of relationship, deep inquiry, and careful attention to the demands of lament and celebration will help foster learner identities that are coherent with medicine’s deepest held values.
Objectives & Purpose: In response to these and other phenomena, an extracurricular program was designed and implemented at a Physician Associate/Assistant (PA) program with three aims. Namely, 1) the formation of relational communities of students and faculty committed mutuality, trust, and authenticity, and 2) commitments to interrogating thick questions of personhood and purpose as they relate to the care of those who are ill and suffering.
Twenty-eight PA voluntary student participants were randomly assigned to one of four small groups with a faculty host. Groups met for dinner and guided discussions in faculty homes, serially for two years*, and engaged works of scholarly writing and the humanities for guided discussions. Participants also produced and shared “Parallel Charts”, pieces of creative writing and art inspired by particular patients during clinical rotations.
Our primary research aim:
Methods:
Quantitative Assessment: Self-report surveys were used to assess perceptions of emotional intelligence, emotional exhaustion, well-being, and the quality and safety of the learning environment. These were collected from program participants and non-participants at matriculation (T1), mid-way (T2), and graduation (T3).
Qualitative Assessment: The qualitative research portion was framed in appreciative inquiry as both a guiding theory and method. Appreciative inquiry, grounded in social constructivism, is focused on possibility and aspiration, thriving and flourishing, rather than collection of a preponderance of what is wrong and not working(6,7).
Three 45-minute semi-structured interview conversations were conducted online at the beginning, middle, and end of the program. Interviews were audio-recorded, and focused on 1) Describing what was working well for each student as they participated in the program and reflecting on their experiences, 2) Considering how meaningful experiences thought to be congruent with their values and sense of meaningful work might affect the learning environment and culture, 3) Incremental actions to take for their own flourishing to occur within the learning environment.
Additionally, a pre-matriculation qualitative writing reflection was assigned to participants prior to arriving on campus and is drawn on as a source in this study.
Results: Program delivery and evaluation are ongoing. Data collection and analysis of the first cohort will be completed in late spring, 2026. However, preliminary data suggests with statistical significance that, from matriculation through mid-point of programming:
Qualitative Data to be presented will include narrative arcs and associated direct quotes reflective of those narratives.
Conclusions and Implications: These preliminary results suggest that Gen Z learners, although not generally seeking formative relationships with mentors, demonstrate an eagerness to engage in such relationships. Additionally, these relationships, shepherded in communities of peers alongside intentional conversation, can foster the formation or galvanization of values of clinical care that are consistent with traditional frameworks of what it means to practice the healing arts. We anticipate that final data collection will corroborate these results. Additionally, we anticipate that our qualitative assessment will provide further insight into the role that membership in such communities can play in reclaiming the deepest held values of the healing arts.
*A second cohort consisting of forty-six volunteer participants from the subsequent PA school class were randomly assigned to one of five small groups, each with a separate faculty host. These groups have met serially for nearly a year*.
Objectives & Purpose: In response to these and other phenomena, an extracurricular program was designed and implemented at a Physician Associate/Assistant (PA) program with three aims. Namely, 1) the formation of relational communities of students and faculty committed mutuality, trust, and authenticity, and 2) commitments to interrogating thick questions of personhood and purpose as they relate to the care of those who are ill and suffering.
Twenty-eight PA voluntary student participants were randomly assigned to one of four small groups with a faculty host. Groups met for dinner and guided discussions in faculty homes, serially for two years*, and engaged works of scholarly writing and the humanities for guided discussions. Participants also produced and shared “Parallel Charts”, pieces of creative writing and art inspired by particular patients during clinical rotations.
Our primary research aim:
- To assess program impact on participants’ identities as professional healers.
- Understand the relationship between participant emotional intelligence, flourishing, burnout, and perceptions of the learning environment before and after participation compared to non-participating peers.
Methods:
Quantitative Assessment: Self-report surveys were used to assess perceptions of emotional intelligence, emotional exhaustion, well-being, and the quality and safety of the learning environment. These were collected from program participants and non-participants at matriculation (T1), mid-way (T2), and graduation (T3).
Qualitative Assessment: The qualitative research portion was framed in appreciative inquiry as both a guiding theory and method. Appreciative inquiry, grounded in social constructivism, is focused on possibility and aspiration, thriving and flourishing, rather than collection of a preponderance of what is wrong and not working(6,7).
Three 45-minute semi-structured interview conversations were conducted online at the beginning, middle, and end of the program. Interviews were audio-recorded, and focused on 1) Describing what was working well for each student as they participated in the program and reflecting on their experiences, 2) Considering how meaningful experiences thought to be congruent with their values and sense of meaningful work might affect the learning environment and culture, 3) Incremental actions to take for their own flourishing to occur within the learning environment.
Additionally, a pre-matriculation qualitative writing reflection was assigned to participants prior to arriving on campus and is drawn on as a source in this study.
Results: Program delivery and evaluation are ongoing. Data collection and analysis of the first cohort will be completed in late spring, 2026. However, preliminary data suggests with statistical significance that, from matriculation through mid-point of programming:
- Participants and non-participants alike experienced increased emotional exhaustion.
- Participants experienced gains in means mental wellness and emotional intelligence while non-participants experienced decreasing mean mental wellness and emotional intelligence in this timeframe.
Qualitative Data to be presented will include narrative arcs and associated direct quotes reflective of those narratives.
Conclusions and Implications: These preliminary results suggest that Gen Z learners, although not generally seeking formative relationships with mentors, demonstrate an eagerness to engage in such relationships. Additionally, these relationships, shepherded in communities of peers alongside intentional conversation, can foster the formation or galvanization of values of clinical care that are consistent with traditional frameworks of what it means to practice the healing arts. We anticipate that final data collection will corroborate these results. Additionally, we anticipate that our qualitative assessment will provide further insight into the role that membership in such communities can play in reclaiming the deepest held values of the healing arts.
*A second cohort consisting of forty-six volunteer participants from the subsequent PA school class were randomly assigned to one of five small groups, each with a separate faculty host. These groups have met serially for nearly a year*.