In 2008, the National Department of Health in South Africa launched a new Clinical Associates Program to increase the number of
mid-level medical professionals in the workforce.
This 3-year degree program produces qualified professionals — similar to Physician Assistants in the United States — who have the ability to assess patients, make diagnoses, prescribe appropriate treatments, and undertake minor surgical procedures under the supervision of medical officers. The introduction of this new cadre of mid-level workers is serving to strengthen primary healthcare services in the country by bolstering the number of trained healthcare providers working at community health centers and district hospitals.
This partnership — which AIHA established in May 2010 with support from CDC/South Africa — links the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg with Emory University School of Medicine's Physician Assistant Program in Atlanta. It is the second of three partnerships established in 2010-2011 by the Twinning Center to help increase human resources for health in South Africa by strengthening the Clinical Associates programs being offered a South African universities.
Witwatersrand's Clinical Associates Program was launched under the Faculty of Health Sciences and Centre for Rural Health in
2008. Students complete their clinical training in rural areas of South Africa’s
Northwestern Province, where many of them will serve after completion of the three-year program.
Emory University School of Medicine has a strong history of providing care to medically underserved
areas through required rotations in rural areas of Georgia and service-learning programs in resource-challenged
clinics outside of Atlanta. Their wealth of knowledge and experience in educating mid-level
medical professionals through the Physician Assistant Program is playing a critical role in strengthening the Clinical Associates Program at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Faculty and staff development play an important role in this partnership, as does strengthening
student assessment and learning opportunities. Partners are also working to support research and program assessment capabilities at Wits, as well as to build capacity on advocacy and marketing of the Clinical Associates profession.
Key accomplishments to date include conducting faculty development workshops for teaching staff, as well as clinical preceptors at district hospitals. Emory partners served as external examiners for final examinations at Wits and assisted with setting third-year learning objectives. They also shared test questions from the Emory Physician Assistant Program and helped develop the
Clinical Associates National Exam.
In the coming year, the Emory partners will participate in graduation ceremonies for the first cohort of Wits students. Together, partners will conduct follow-on faculty development workshops with a strong focus on bed-side teaching skills, giving feedback to students, and testing and evaluation. AIHA will support their work through the placement of clinical preceptor volunteers and the procurement of LRC resources to increase access to evidence-based clinical information at rural rotation sites.
AIHA established three Clinical Associates partnerships in 2010-2011. In addition to overall management of these partnership programs, AIHA also actively supports collaboration and networking among all three alliances to further bolster this emerging profession in South Africa.
Updated November 15, 2011
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