PAEA | March 6, 2023
Prenatal care can be a challenge for PA programs, but one experienced doctor has made some materials available that she believes will be helpful.
Susan E. White, MD, program director for the PA program and assistant profession of ObGyn Medicine at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, presented the Prenatal Care Workshop at the 2009 PAEA Education Forum.
The information was well received, and White has had many requests to share the curriculum. There have been updates to that 2009 material, some as recently as this year. The most recent curriculum materials are now available in the PAEA Digital Learning Hub for PAEA members to access.
The complete materials include the following:
- A faculty guide
- Slide deck
- Worksheet on obstetrical terms
- Student guide for the prenatal physical exam
- Mock clinical forms
- Three obstetrical cases
The obstetrical cases illustrate care such as miscarriage, premature rupture of membranes, uncertain dates, and pre-eclampsia. They can be used individually or in a group discussion.
White said some “outside-the-box” thinking was needed to get the data used to create the curriculum. When she was on faculty at a New Hampshire PA program, where she did early work on the learning tools, the state had the lowest birth rate in the country.
“We needed to be creative. We recruited pregnant patients so that students could take a history and do a prenatal exam using the mock medical forms provided,” White said.
White said she hoped the information would help other providers and their maternal patients.
“I am grateful to the Association of Physician Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology (APAOG) for hosting this curriculum on their website. I hope my PAEA colleagues find these resources to be valuable,” she said.
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