Optimizing Clinical Education Through a Regional Coordinating Center: Lessons Learned From a State-Wide Initiative

The shortage of clinical training sites and preceptors has become a major barrier in the development of health workforce across North America. Innovation will be essential to ensure equitable access to preceptors and quality supervised clinical practice experiences. Success will require a collaborative framework between various stakeholders. In this paper, we discuss approaches and lessons learned in optimizing clinical education through a regional coordinating center for physician assistant/associate (PA) programs in the state of Maryland. The specific aims of our regional collaborative center were to (1) build a clinical coordinator consortium, (2) host a web-based clinical education hub, (3) offer a preceptor development academy fellowship, (4) build a state-wide clinical site and preceptor database, (5) enhance telehealth education within the PA programs and (6) provide simulation training and leverage emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence for clinical teaching. Despite challenges in stakeholder engagement, the collaborative has produced significant positive outcomes, including expanded clinical training capacity, reduced workload for clinical coordinators, shared resources, improved communication, and standardized approaches to preceptor incentives. This model has the potential to be replicated on a national scale. Key ingredients for success include building trust, effective leadership, financial resources, identifying champions, and ease to pool and invest resources. Preliminary observations have been used in securing additional state and federal funding to scale up the initiative and further optimize clinical education in Maryland.