UTRGV Photo by Paul Chouy
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will use $1.5 million it was awarded in May by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year to address physician assistant training in mental health and substance abuse, the university announced Monday.
According to a release, PA graduates are often the only resource for uninsured and underserved patients despite receiving limited training in psychiatry and clinical training in mental health.
“Due to a chronic shortage of mental health providers, much of the burden of mental healthcare has shifted to primary care clinicians,” department chair and clinical associate professor Frank Ambriz said in the release.
Ambriz, who directs a grant-funded project called “Expanding and Enhancing Physician Assistant Education,” is updating the UTRGV PA curriculum to include mental health, opioid and substance abuse, and medication-assisted treatment, the release says.
“With the right training, more healthcare professionals can help identify individuals in need of help with these issues,” he said.
The $1.5 million from the feds will allow Ambriz to develop an approach to improve the wellness of PA students and faculty along with addressing lacking training in mental healthcare, the release said.
Opioid misuse, including prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl, will also be in the curriculum.
“This has reached epidemic magnitude in the United States and resulted in more than 50,000 overdose deaths in 2019 around the country,” Ambriz wrote.
The updated curriculum will be provided to 260 PA students, more than half of which will go on to practice in medically underserved communities if current trends continue.
The expansion of the program will provide service from students and graduates in Webb County, the release says. Fifty physician assistant students are expecting to complete 150 clinical rotations at existing sites in the county, where a third of the population lives in poverty.
“These are designated Health Profession Shortage Areas for mental health around Laredo,” Ambriz wrote. “Through this grant, UTRGV will prepare its PAs to identify and treat mental illnesses that are having a negative impact on the patient’s quality of life.”
