Elizabethtown College’s mission is to educate and matriculate motivated students who will provide high-quality healthcare as skilled Physician Assistants (PAs). Through a transformative educational experience and evidence-based curriculum that emphasizes purposeful work, cultivates personal strengths, and develops a passion for lifelong learning, students will be prepared to educate for service.
Challenge
Elizabethtown College faced a specific challenge: providing adequate clinical placements for its cohort of PA students in mental health, a crucial component of their education. The program also worked to ensure compliance with accreditation requirements regarding these rotations by:
- Providing sufficient and effective mental health clinical rotations for students.
- Preparing students with the necessary skills to excel in mental health rotations.
- Meeting accreditation standards
- Ensuring students receive the required clinical hours and experiences.
Solution
MomentMD took a proactive and multifaceted approach to address Elizabethtown College’s challenges, focusing not just on the delivery of clinical hours but also on enhancing the overall educational experience:
- Webinar Series for Pre-Clinical Prep: To guarantee students were fully prepared before starting their mental health rotations, MomentMD organized a series of pre-clinical webinars. These webinars covered essential skills, best practices in telemedicine, and mental health treatment approaches. They served as a primer for students, giving them the confidence to engage in telemedicine and mental health care before stepping into real-world clinical settings.
- Telemedicine Integration for Mental Health: Telemedicine was the core solution for clinical placements, with students completing most of their mental health rotations virtually. This provided flexibility, allowing students to fulfill their rotation requirements without relying on local preceptors, which are often scarce in mental health. The telemedicine model also allowed for the creation of more consistent and structured clinical experiences across the board.
- Ensuring Accreditation Compliance: MomentMD worked closely with Elizabethtown College to ensure that all telemedicine-based mental health rotations satisfied accreditation standards. MomentMD helped the college maintain compliance while delivering high-quality mental health training by setting clear objectives for each student and carefully tracking hours.
Results
Since the program began in October 2023, MomentMD has successfully delivered 4,800 clinical hours across 32 students. These telemedicine rotations have not only ensured students met their mental health requirements but also allowed for the program to scale without being limited by in-person preceptor availability. Students have praised the pre-clinical webinars, noting that they helped bridge the gap between academic knowledge and clinical application.
The partnership between MomentMD and Elizabethtown College is set to grow even further. Looking ahead, MomentMD plans to expand the webinar series to cover more specialties and offer AI-powered simulations that mimic real-world mental health cases. These simulations will help students build critical thinking and decision-making skills, ensuring they are prepared for both telemedicine and in-person clinical environments.
Interested in learning how MomentMD can help prepare your students for careers in healthcare? Get in touch with us here.