The 2016 conference of the American Association of PAs (AAPA) provided practicing PAs with a variety of professional opportunities, but for the many PA students in attendance, the experience was particularly eye-opening. Students from nearly one hundred PA programs from across the country converged on San Antonio, TX to participate in the Academy of Representatives (AOR) of the Student Academy of the AAPA (SAAAPA), attend student-focused information sessions, share experiences with fellow students, and participate in the National Medical Challenge Bowl. This year's conference was attended by Yale Physician Associate students Adam Bartling, Becket Greten-Harrison, Catherine Schwing, and Kara Stencel.
The conference's SPARK sessions presented a number of student-focused topics such as "Surviving Clinical Rotations," while others concentrated on the transition from academic to professional life. The AOR, meanwhile, gave students an opportunity to amend the bylaws of SAAAPA, providing them the opportunity to engage with the issues explored in the SPARK sessions in a concrete way. Students were also free to attend the many Continuing Medical Education (CME) lectures provided at the conference in which much useful medical knowledge was imparted by experienced clinicians.
The most hotly anticipated event among students, though, was a the National Medical Challenge Bowl in which eighty teams from PA programs across the country competed in a quiz bowl for bragging rights and a shiny trophy. The event kicked off with what can only be described as a dance party, but the bombastic atmosphere soon gave way to tense calm as the first round of twenty questions mercilessly eliminated all but thirty-six teams. The competition then progressed through three more equally unforgiving rounds until the team from Miami Dade College PA Program claimed victory.
The 2016 AAPA conference will certainly be remembered by the four Yale students in attendance as an educational and enjoyable occasion. New friends were made and a lot of novel experience and information was gained. I, for one, look forward to next year's conference in Las Vegas!