The Physician Assistant (PA) students made a bright impression at the Colorado Academy of Physician Assistants (CAPA) annual conference held from March 3-5 in Colorado Springs.
20 second-year students, one third-year student and three faculty members attended the meetings with support from CMU’s Associated Student Government and community fundraising efforts.
The conference is an opportunity for practicing PAs to earn multiple continuing education credits (CMEs). Additionally, subject matter experts give presentations on different aspects of medical knowledge.
The speakers included one student, Colorado Mesa University (CMU) second year PA student Taylor Teske, who presented on sleep disorders and how primary care providers can best help patients suffering from insomnia. Her hour-long presentation was delivered to a standing-room-only crowd in the main hall of the conference.
“I wanted to share the information that I learned from my Integrative Physiology Master’s Degree at the University of Colorado Denver, where I worked in the sleep and development lab. It was an empowering experience, but more than anything, I was proud to represent CMU. It was cool knowing that everyone saw me as a student, specifically from CMU,” Teske said.
This is not the first CMU student to have spoken at the conference in recent years.
“It was good to see Taylor’s talk. I learned quite a bit about sleep hygiene. Last year, the only student speaker at the conference was also from CMU. I think this highlights the competence and initiative of CMU MPA students,” Master in Physician Assistant studies and one of the lecturers Andy Tyler said.
A highlight of the conference is the Student Academic Challenge Bowl on Saturday evening. In this contest, the four PA schools in Colorado, CMU, University of Colorado-Denver, Rocky Vista University and Redrocks Community College (RCCC), each send four teams of three students to put their medical knowledge to the test.
Second year PA student Georgia Sinclair participated with her team “The Shockable Rhythms” to represent CMU.
“We were pleased with winning the first round and making it to the finals. As a program, we performed well in pharmacology. We were able to do well as a team because of all the hard work that we’ve put in, in preparation for classes and exams,” Sinclair said.
Sophomore Jenn Sharka was another member of the team. She added that the conference, “was a good opportunity to apply the knowledge that we’ve learned thus far from our program.” She also stated that it was a great experience to recognize the efforts of other programs and vice versa.
The preliminary rounds of the Academic Challenge Bowl included one team from each school, with the winning team advancing to the finals. Three teams from CMU and one from RRCC advanced to the final round. In the end, CMU teams claimed the top three spots in the event with a sudden-death tiebreaker.
“We just work well as a team. [Keneka Newton] knows pharmacology. Matt’s a genius but a little quirky and I’m aggressive on the button,” Morgan Orand of the team, “Urine Trouble” said.
Grand Junction local and PA student Newton was integral to the team’s success due to her knowledge of pharmaceutical therapies.
“I figured we needed to know the treatment for Diabetes Insipidus, since our team’s name is ‘Urine Trouble,’ and we did,” Newton said.
This marks the second consecutive year that the CMU PA students have won the CAPA Academic Challenge Bowl, which the attending Mavs described as a valuable experience.
Several faculty from CMU serve in leadership positions for CAPA. Professor Rachel Weinzimmer (PA-C) is a former president of the organization and the current chief delegate. Professor A’lanne Conrad (PA-C) is on the CAPA Membership Committee and Continuing Membership Education Committee.
The CMU PA program will send a delegation of students and faculty to the national conference in Nashville, Tennessee in mid-May. There will be a team competing in the National Academic Challenge Bowl and the iScan (point of care ultrasound) competition.
