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2022 UTRGV Physician Assistant Program ranked #2 "BEST WORKSHOPS"
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PA Foundation IMPACT Grant Recipients
2021 Recipients
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (project led by Christina Granado Gonzales, MPAS, PA-C, and Evelyn Jimenez, MPH, PA-S)
Grant Amount: $8,800
Project Name: Bridging the Digital Literacy Gap: Physician Assistant Students Teach Technology
Project Description: The Physician Assistant Students Teach Technology (PASTT) project is designed to bridge the digital literacy gap encountered in vulnerable populations. Over the past year, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an unprecedented shift from in-person care to telehealth in nearly every form of healthcare. This rapid transition has exacerbated healthcare disparities among the most vulnerable populations (low-income, uninsured, minority, elderly, etc.) due to lack of technology access and knowledge. The project team seeks to address this issue with a PA-led educational intervention to augment familiarity with and competency in the usage of a telemedicine platform to improve overall patient health outcomes in a low-income, primary care clinical setting. Through the tangible use of intentional education directed toward increasing patients’ digital literacy as well as the provision of self-care medical kits to monitor non-communicable disease status, the project is designed to improve the local population’s comfort level with technology and telehealth encounters, which will ultimately improve overall patient care access, quality, and outcomes.