Physician Assistant Student Training-Medication Assisted Treatment (PAST-MAT)
The Pacific University School of Physician Assistant Studies (PAS), in collaboration with Ideal Option, will incorporate into its existing curriculum new DATA-waiver training with integrated tobacco cessation, Veteran’s cultural competency content, and supervised clinical experience. All PAS students will complete the training and be prepared to provide Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) to address the needs of patients with opioid use disorders. Up to 60 PA students will take part in the project each year (180 over three years) and, prior to graduation, will interact with a minimum of 1,440 MAT patients each year (4,320 over three years) during their clinical experiential rotations. Our three primary goals are to a) develop, b) implement, and c) evaluate a DATA-waiver training curriculum that includes didactic and experiential training. To achieve these goals, we will develop a sustainable DATA-waiver curriculum plan that includes all topics outlined in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, is sensitive to the behavioral health and social support needs of returning Veterans and their families, integrates tobacco cessation principles, is culturally sensitive, and adapts to community needs. The training plan includes 24 hours of didactic training and a minimum of 16 hours of experiential training at substance use disorders clinics that provide MAT services. We will implement this training plan within our existing curriculum with the objective of increasing the percentage of PAS graduates completing the DATA-waiver training requirements from 0 to 50% by Year Two, and to 100% in Year Three and all subsequent years. Using RCQI principles, we will comprehensively evaluate the success of the program in preparing PAS students and will assess post-graduate practice behaviors, including MAT prescribing. Evaluation data will be carefully analyzed to determine progress achieved, barriers encountered and efforts to overcome the barriers, and impact of the project on behavioral health disparities. All data will be shared with internal and external stakeholders as appropriate and included in regular reports to SAMHSA.