Graduating sufficient numbers of healthcare providers to fill the needs of an aging population in the United States is a major social concern. To address this problem physical therapist assistant (PTA) programs need to improve their graduation rates to keep up with the demand for qualified personnel. Applying Senge's theory of effective systems, 1…

The significant growth of physician assistant (PA) programs continues to create challenges for programs and educational institutions in identifying, recruiting, and retaining qualified faculty. Based on national data collected annually, physician assistant program directors continue to rank the lack of available applicants as a significant barrier…

Over the past four decades there has been a great amount of research on retention of students in higher education institutions (Tinto, 2006); however, few studies have examined the effect of what institutions provide for student support, regarding retention, specifically allied health program students. Retention of community college students in…

Clients face many different obstacles within healthcare and education settings. Professionals in health and education fields are in a position to be a problem-solving resource to clients, students, and patients. The subset of professionals being examined are problem-solving professionals, who work with clients/students/patients, within the health…

Nontraditional students returning to college have many outside stressors that potentially prohibit academic success including full-time jobs, home life (children, spouses, and bills), and lack of time or understanding of college assignments. An explanatory mixed methods study was conducted for the purpose of determining if and for how long the…

Higher education research has focused more attention recently on student involvement in extracurricular activities. Student involvement in extracurricular activities has been linked to decreased levels of stress, degree attainment, increased college satisfaction, retention, and positive academic performance. Due to the limited research on the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of undergraduate academic and clinical training programs for music therapy in addressing the subject of personal growth, as it relates to the development of critical self-awareness and self-care strategies. The study further attempted to identify which self-care strategies are being used…

As medical knowledge grows exponentially and healthcare systems continue to utilize interdisciplinary care, it is essential that physical therapy (PT) graduates be prepared to practice efficiently and effectively on healthcare teams. Team-based learning (TBL) is a teaching pedagogy used in medicine to improve academic performance and teamwork…

Community colleges play a vital role in the education of our Nations healthcare professions. In order to respond to the rising economic and social needs of the healthcare sector, community colleges are meeting the challenge by providing health professions skills and training programs to meet these shortages. These crucial programs are charged with…

Doctors in a Northern California community reported that medical assisting students did not use medical terminology in context, could not think critically, and faltered in decision making and problem solving during their internships in medical offices. The intent of this instrumental case study was to investigate the gap between current methods of…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate graduates' perceptions of a purposefully-implemented Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) pedagogy in their undergraduate athletic training education and the impact of that experience in their first job post-graduation. This was the first research in athletic training education that…

This mixed-methods study explored the extent to which health professions educators use instructional technologies and learning-centered pedagogical methods. Within the health professions, there is a lack of data on the pedagogical methods used by health professions educators within the classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine and…

The growing presence of technology in health care has infiltrated educational institutions. Numerous software and hardware technologies have been designed to improve student learning; however, their use in the classroom is unclear. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the experiences of medical assisting faculty using…

The purpose of this study was to determine if English Language Learners (ELLs), who had successfully completed a healthcare education program, identified support services as having an impact on their academic success, and to identify what support services were critical to their successful completion of the healthcare education program. The…

High-fidelity human patient simulation has emerged as a valuable medium to reinforce educational content within programs of nursing. As simulation learning experiences have been identified as augmenting both didactic lecture content and clinical learning, these experiences have expanded to incorporate interprofessional education. Review of…