Clinical Associates – the Next Generation of Health Care in South Africa

In many areas of rural South Africa, people have extremely limited access to high quality healthcare.  This is largely due to the weak district health systems and lack of competent trained medical professionals.  In response,  the South African National Department of Health assembled a task force and a new mid-level healthcare provider, the Clinical Associate was created.  Similar to Physician Assistants in the United States, Clinical Associates are university trained medical professionals who work primarily at district hospitals throughout South Africa.

During the initial year, the training takes place in a university setting and the rest of the three years is spent with hands on learning through actual practice at clinical sites – mostly hospitals in rural clinics.  With the goal of ensuring that its Clinical Associate students stay and serve in rural areas where they are most needed, the admission process of the university favors individuals of rural origin as they believe that the main determinant of rural practice is the background of the student.  Arcadia University’s Physician Assistant Program is partnering with the University of Pretoria to strengthen the Clinical Associate Program with funding from HIV/AIDS Twinning Center Partnerships.

The students are often poor and have difficulty arranging transportation back and forth from the university.  In order to ensure that each student is undergoing sufficient clinical experiences and obtaining the proper education a creative solution must be obtained.  As the recipient of Google’s Education Droid Use Award, we could connect these students with the university on a daily basis to augment their education and ensure proper clinical experiences to allow for a fully trained and developed Clinical Associate student.  The following blog submissions will describe the proposal for Educational Droid Use Award.