The PA History Quiz: I Scored a 3 Out of 25, How About You?

And the answer is . . .

You will have to take the quiz below to find out!

"Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past."

I wish the title of this blog post were an attention grabbing exaggeration, but sadly it is true, I scored a 3 out of 25 on my PA history quiz.

Statistically speaking I would have done better had I let my cat pick the answers.

The truth is, even after 13 years in the PA profession and over three years writing content for this blog, I know very little about the history of my profession.

Which nationally syndicated cartoon comic strip featured a physician assistant as a leading character?
What year was the first national certifying examination for PAs administered?
Which First Lady attended and spoke at an AAPA Annual Conference while her husband was still in office?

Know your PA history and Ace your PA school interview

Want another reason to know your PA history?

When you are preparing for your PA school interview, you must make it a point to have a solid understanding of our profession. It will help you answer questions about why you want to be a PA. You will be able to explain what this means, not just from a personal perspective but a historical one.

How do we as PAs address the many professional challenges ahead? We look to the past and learn from it.

Know your history, and you will be hard wired to impress!

Below is a compilation of five quizzes offered by the Physician Assistant History Society. I have gathered these 25 questions into an interactive quiz that you can take below.

A serious thank you for the amazing work of the PA History Society for celebrating our profession and creating the quiz content.

I encourage you to take time and follow the links embedded in the exam, go down the "rabbit hole," read about and understand every element of our history. It will give you confidence, not only during your PA school interview but as you make a life and career for yourself as a physician assistant.

Now go ahead and see if you can beat my score.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT HISTORY EXAM

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Question 1

Which state was last to pass physician assistant enabling legislation?

A	New Jersey
B	Mississippi
C	Montana
D	Louisiana

Question 1 Explanation:

Mississippi HB 846 was signed into law by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove on April 24, 2000 after a 26 year struggle to gain legislation to license and authorize the practice of physician assistants. By doing so, all 50 states now authorize PA practice.

Question 2

Who was the physician who first introduced members of the AMA to the concept of “mid-level practitioners” and who published an article titled “Expansion of medical professional services with nonprofessional personnel” in a 1961 issue of JAMA?

A	Dr. Hu Myers
B	Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr.
C	Dr. Richard Smith
D	Dr. Charles Hudson

Question 2 Explanation:

Charles L. Hudson, MD was one of the first physicians to suggest that non-physician clinical support personnel be trained and used to help alleviate a growing disparity between supply and demand for health care services. At an American Medical Association (AMA) meeting in 1961, he proposed that individuals with no previous medical education be trained to perform routine clinical tasks. His address was published in JAMA in 1961.

Question 3

Who served as the first elected president of the Physician Assistant History Society?

A	J. Jeffrey Heinrich
B	Alfred Sadler
C	William Stanhope
D	Reginald Carter

Question 3 Explanation:

The Physician Assistant History Society was incorporated in January 2002 and became fully operational in July 2002 under the leadership of Dr. J. Jeffrey Heinrich, the Society’s first elected president.

About Us:

The Society for Preservation of PA History

Question 4

What is the title of George Skypeck's painting that contains thousands of names of Vietnam veterans who signed the artwork as it traveled throughout the USA in the 1980s and has a special significance for physician assistants who are veterans?

A	Life Saver Then - Care Giver Now
B	God Loves a Grunt
C	Angels and Brothers
D	Corpsman Up

Question 4 Explanation:

With the artist permission, over 500 PAs signed the painting during the AAPA’s 10th Annual Conference held in Washington DC in May 1982. Prints of the painting and signatures have graced the walls of the White House and Congress and have appeared in the homes of military leaders and film and television stars. With the artist permission, the Veterans Caucus of the AAPA sale prints of the painting to generate scholarship funds for PA students who are veterans. "God Loves a Grunt" reminds us of the dedication and sacrifice of those first ex-military corpsmen who were selected to pioneer our profession. The Creation of God Loves a Grunt

Question 5

An advertisement promoting the training of former military corpsmen to be physician assistants was sponsored by the AMA (American Doctors of Medicine) and appeared in the July 30, 1971 Issue of Life Magazine. The advertisement shows a young African American male, a former military corpsman, doing what as a civilian?

A	Working as a nurse's aid in a long-term care facility
B	Doing janitorial work
C	Washing a car windshield at a gas station
D	Grilling hamburgers at a fast-food restaurant

Question 5 Explanation:

Advertisement from the July 30 1971 Issue of Life Magazine

The accompanying photograph shows him washing the windshield of a car with the caption, “We want to put this man in the hospital.” The accompanying text relates that this young man spent two years as a medic in Vietnam on the battlefield saving “an arm, a leg—or a life.” Now in civilian life, “he’s pumping gas… a terrible waste of his training.” The advertisement goes on to inform the public and potential PA candidates about the development of PA educational programs to train individuals to help solve the shortage of doctors. “They’re [PAs] virtually an extra right hand for the doctor. And that’s very good news for the doctor’s patients.” From the Military Corpsmen Ranks

Question 6

Which nationally syndicated cartoon comic strip featured a physician assistant as a leading character?

A	Cathy
B	Mary Worth
C	Gasoline Alley
D	Beetle Bailey

Question 6 Explanation:

Gasoline Alley Collage Promotes Physician Assistants

In 1970, Dr. Robert Howard, the director of the Duke University PA Program, contacted cartoonist Dick Moores to ask him to consider having a PA included in the comic strip, Gasoline Alley. The following year, with background material supplied by Howard, Mr. Moores depicted Doc, the town's general practitioner, introducing Chipper Wallet to the PA concept. Chipper was an ex-military corpsman who served in the US Coast Guard in Vietnam. In the strip, Doc encourages Chipper to apply for PA training and return home to help him with his practice. Dick Moores joined Frank King, the creator of the comic strip Gasoline Alley, in 1956. Marketing the PA Profession

Question 7

Where was the first postgraduate residency PA program established?

A	Montefiore Medical Center
B	Norwalk Hospital/Yale University
C	Howard University Hospital
D	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Question 7 Explanation:

Montefiore's Physician Assistant residency is the oldest postgraduate residency program in the country. It was established in 1971 at the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY by Marvin Gliedman, MD, Richard Rosen, MD, and Clara Vanderbilt, R-PA. Montefiore became the first hospital to include PA's as house officers on inpatient surgical services. Those PA's quickly became an integral part of the surgical team at Montefiore and their clinical experience was formalized into a 12 month residency in general surgery and surgical specialties. Montefiore PA Surgical Residency Program

Question 8

What was the title of the first book written about the PA profession and published in 1972 by Sadler, Sadler, and Bliss?

A	Physician's Assistants: Partners in Health Care
B	The Physician's Assistant: Today and Tomorrow
C	The Physician Assistant: Innovation in the Division of Medical Labor
D	Physician Assistant: Their Contribution to Health Care

Question 8 Explanation:

The Physician Assistant Today and Tomorrow Book

The Physician's Assistant: Today and Tomorrow was published by Yale University Press in 1972. The three authors, Alfred Sadler, Jr. a physician who headed the Trauma program at Yale, his twin brother Blair, a lawyer also on faculty at Yale and Ann Bliss, a nurse and psychiatric social worker, were all heavily involved in the development of Yale's Physician's Associate Program. The authors provided an overview of issues confronting the newly emerging health professional, i.e., PAs, focused on lessons learned from the past, especially in nursing, and called for the development of better interdependent relationships between PAs and other health professionals. Read the book: The Physician's Assistant: Today and Tomorrow 2nd Edition

Question 9

What year was the first national certifying examination for PAs administered?

A	1968
B	1973
C	1975
D	1978

Question 9 Explanation:

With the blessing of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the Association of Physician Assistant Programs (APAP), the American Medical Association (AMA) with funds from the Kellogg Foundation requested the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) to develop and administer a national certifying examination for Assistants to the Primary Care Physician. The examination was first administered in December 1973 to PAs and was also open to nurse practitioners, nurse clinicians and to child health associate graduates. The examination was open to informally trained PAs in 1974. The AMA and NBME brought together 12 professional groups in late 1973 to form a free-standing, independent commission to certify PAs and others who successfully passed the national certifying examination and to work with state boards, employers, the PA profession and the public to assure the competency of PAs. The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) opened offices in Atlanta, GA in February 1975. History and Role of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants

Question 10

What year and where was the first National Conference on New Health Practitioners held?

A	1972 in Durham, NC
B	1972 in Washington, DC
C	1973 in Wichita Falls, TX
D	1973 in New Orleans, LA

Question 10 Explanation:

The First National Conference on New Health Practitioners was held April 10-14, 1973 at the School of Health Care Sciences, Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Attendance was 325 individuals. The conference was cosponsored by the AAPA and APAP and attempts were made to attract nurse practitioners as well as PAs. The conference had roots in Durham, NC, the birthplace of the PA concept. There, in 1968, a handful of PAs convened the First Annual Duke Conference on Physician's Assistants. Additional conferences were held at Duke in 1969, 1970 and 1972. These early conferences helped standardize curriculums, develop accreditation guidelines and state enabling legislation, promote the PA concept to the medical and nursing professions, the Federal Government and funding agencies. They also helped solidify leaders of the "PA movement" into a highly organized and effective group of health policy innovators. First PA Conference

Question 11

Which of the following titles has NOT been used in the past by the PA professional organization known by the acronym AAPA?

A	American College of Physician's Assistants
B	American Association of Physician's Assistants
C	American Academy of Physician's Associates
D	American Academy of Physician's Assistants

Question 11 Explanation:

The current American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) has had several name changes over the years. It was organized and incorporated in North Carolina in 1968 as the American Association of Physician's Assistants. In June 1971 the name was changed to the American Academy of Physician's Associates but because of controversy about the use of the term associate, customarily used by physicians to refer to another physician colleague in practice, was changed in February 1972 to the American Academy of Physician's Assistants. The 's was dropped in the mid-1970s because PAs believed that the possessive "s" misconstrued the interdependent relationship between them and their supervising physician. The American College of Physician's Assistants established in Cincinnati and the National Association of Physician's Assistants based in NY City, were two of three other competing organizations that emerged between 1968-1972 to represent PAs, some of whom were informally trained.

Question 12

Which First Lady attended and spoke at an AAPA Annual Conference while her husband was still in office?

A	Hillary Clinton
B	Barbara Bush
C	Nancy Reagan
D	Rosalynn Carter

Question 12 Explanation:

Rosalynn Carter attended the AAPA Annual Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1980. Ms. Carter spoke to the general assembly advocating for improved delivery of mental health services, especially for homeless, uninsured and medically disadvantaged citizens. She is still an advocate and continues to work on the cause through the Carter Center's Mental Health Program. While President, Jimmy Carter signed on December 13, 1977 the Rural Health Clinic Service Act that provided Medicare reimbursement of PA services.

Question 13

Who was the first woman to become president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants?

A	Sherri Stuart Hint: 1991 Sherri Stuart became the second woman to head the Academy.
B	Judith Willis
C	Sherrie Borden Hint: Sherri Borden held the office between 1996-1997
D	Clara Vanderbilt Hint: Clara Vanderbilt was first woman to serve as vice president of the organization between 1975-76.

Question 13 Explanation:

Judith Willis was the first woman elected to serve as president of the AAPA. She served as the Academy's president from 1984-85, the 14th person to do so in the Academy's 17th year of existence. In 1985, the Academy's membership surpassed the 10,000 mark. Many women have held the presidential office since 1991 when Sherri Stuart became the second woman to head the Academy. Sherri Borden held the office between 1996-1997. Clara Vanderbilt was first woman to serve as vice president of the organization between 1975-76. Read the full biography of Judith B Willis

Question 14

In what year did the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) administer the PA National Certifying Examination (PANCE) to informally trained PAs and nurse practitioners (NPs) for the last time?

A	1975
B	1980
C	1985
D	1990

Question 14 Explanation:

Since 1985, only individuals that have graduated from educational programs accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) or its predecessors, CAHEA and CAAHEP, are eligible to sit for the PANCE. Any individual who passed the PANCE prior to closure of the examination to informally trained PAs or nurse practitioners maintained their certification and remained eligible to become recertified every six years by taking the PANRE (recertifying examination). History and Role of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants

Question 15

Which institution was the first to offer a bachelor's degree to graduates of its PA educational program?

A	Duke University, Durham, NC
B	University of Colorado, Denver, CO Hint: In 1974, the Child Health Associate Program based at the University of Colorado became the first program to offer graduates a master's degree.
C	Alderson-Broaddus College, Philippi, WV
D	University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Question 15 Explanation:

Dr. Hu C. Meyers founded and served eight years as the director of the nation's first degree program for physician assistants at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia. The first students were enrolled in September 1968 and graduated four years later in 1972. It was the first program to offer a liberal arts-based baccalaureate degree, the first to accept students just out of high school and the first to accept students without previous medical experience - a major departure from Dr. Eugene Stead's PA model at Duke University and Dr. Richard Smith's MEDEX model at the University of Washington. In 1974, the Child Health Associate Program based at the University of Colorado became the first program to offer graduates a master's degree.

Question 16

The prime time NBC television program that aired in December 1970 portraying the medical legal plight of an ex-military corpsmen arrested for giving aid to an accident victim in a medically isolated community in California was:

A	The Young Lawyers
B	The Storefront Lawyers
C	The Bold Ones
D	Marcus Welby, MD

Question 16 Explanation:

The 'People against Dr. Chapman' aired December 6, 1970 as one of four episodes of the lawyers that was broadcast under the NBC umbrella program THE BOLD ONES. The episode was scripted by Jerome (Jerry) Bredouw. Bredouw wanted to educate the public about the need to enact legislation (especially in California) to allow doctors to use physician assistants to extend their services to individuals living in medically isolated communities. Bredouw was motivated by the California case, Shasta County v. Whittaker (1966). Roger Whittaker, a surgical assistant trained in the military, was charged with practicing medicine without a license even though he worked under the supervision of a neurosurgeon, Dr. George Stevenson, during brain surgery, Bredouw was a big fan of the comic strip Gasoline Alley and convinced the cartoonist, Dick Moores, to have Chipper Wallet, a corpsman in Vietnam, become a physician assistant. The Bold Ones TV Episode and Gasoline Alley Comic Strip

Question 17

The organization incorporated in 1970 by PA program educators to assure the clinical competence of their graduates and served as the forerunner of the Association of Physician Assistant Programs was the:

A	Physicians’ Associates Education Research Foundation (PAERF)
B	American Registry of Physicians’ Associates (ARPA)
C	National Registry of Physician’s Associates (NRPA)
D	American Board of Physician Associates (ABPA)

Question 17 Explanation:

The American Registry of Physicians' Associates (ARPA) was incorporated in 1970 to encourage a standard level of training and to promote the use of Physicians' Associates (now known as physician assistants). Those registered by the ARPA were entitled to refer to themselves as an RPA (registered PA) and were given an ARPA pin to wear on their clinical jackets. The ARPA was assimilated into the Association of Physician Assistant Programs (APAP) in 1972 and the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants assumed its registration functions in 1975. The ARPA no longer exists as an organization. American Reigstry of Physician's Associates

Question 18

Who was the “doctor’s assistant” trained and employed by Dr. Amos Johnson in Garland, NC, who served as Dr. Eugene Stead, Jr.’s role model when he began formally educating PAs at Duke University?

A	Steve Turnipseed
B	Joyce Nichols
C	Prentiss Harrison
D	Henry Treadwell

Question 18 Explanation:

Prior to the development of the physician assistant program at Duke University in 1965, many physicians were training their own assistants on the job. Stead was aware particularly of one such proprietary trained assistant, Mr. Henry Lee 'Buddy' Treadwell, who was trained by and worked with Dr. Amos Johnson in general practice in Garland, North Carolina. This relationship crystallized Stead's vision of how a physician's assistant could be used to help over-worked doctors deliver health care services.

Question 19

In 1967, Dr. John W. Kirklin initiated the first surgeon's assistant program at which institution?

A	University of Alabama/Birmingham
B	Weill Cornell Medical College/New York
C	The State University of New Jersey/Rutgers
D	Emory University/Atlanta

Question 19 Explanation:

Dr. John Kirklin started the University of Alabama/Birmingham's Surgeon Assistant (SA) Training Program in 1967 and recruited his wife, Dr. Margaret Kirklin, to be the program's first Academic Director. There were initially four students – three of whom remained at UAB for the rest of their professional lives.

Question 20

What national legislation paved the way for the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bureau of Health Manpower Education, to award contracts to fund the education of physician assistants for the first time?

A	Federal Economy Act of 1970
B	Comprehensive Health Manpower Training Act of 1971
C	Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1963
D	Higher Education Act of 1972

Question 20 Explanation:

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare announced awarding $4 million in contracts in Fiscal 1972 to 25 institutions training Physician Assistants for primary care. This was the first time these type programs were awarded funds by the Office of Special Programs, under sections of the Comprehensive Health Manpower Training Act of 1971. President M. Nixon signed the bill on December 23, 1971.

Question 21

n 1968, Dr. Richard Smith created the first MEDEX program in the country at the University of Washington. What does the acronym MEDEX mean?

A	Med-ical Ex-tenders
B	Med-icine Ex-tension
C	Med-ical Ex-terns
D	M-edically Ed-ucated Ex-tenders

Question 21 Explanation:

Dr. Richard A. Smith is assigned to Pacific Northwest by Surgeon General William Stewart to develop physician assistant training program. He develops the MEDEX (Med-icine Ex-tension) model with a strong emphasis on the deployment of students and graduates into medically underserved communities.

Biography:

Richard Smith, MD

Question 22

Formally organized as a not-for-profit organization in 1974, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) opened its first office in 1975 in which of the following cities?

A	Chicago, IL
B	Durham, NC
C	Washington, DC
D	Atlanta, GA

Question 22 Explanation:

With federal and private funding and under the auspices of the American Medical Association and the National Board of Medical Examiners, fourteen national health organizations came together in August 1974 to establish the National Commission on the Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), as a free-standing, independent commission to assure the public of the competency of physician assistants. David Glazer was recruited from Emory University in December 1974 to serve as the organization's first executive director. With a staff of five individuals, he opened an office in Atlanta, GA in February 1975 and continued to oversee the development of a state-of-the-art certification and recertification process for physician assistants until he relinquished his position in 1996 The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants: History and Role

Question 23

The trial People v Whittaker involved an ex-military trained operating room assistant who assisted a neurosurgeon with surgery. The assistant was charged with practicing medicine without a license. The trial received national coverage in 1966. In the trials aftermath, which state developed and passed the first legislation to allow physicians to hire and use formerly trained physician assistants in their practices?

A	California
B	North Carolina
C	West Virginia
D	Washington

Question 23 Explanation:

Shasta County, California v Whittaker is a seminal event that helped institutionalize the PA profession. The trial’s notoriety and adverse outcome for the defendants caught the national attention of many medical societies, medical boards, and individual physicians who supported the use of informally trained assistants to help reduce physicians’ workloads. In the end, many notable physicians rallied to the cause, and California’s health care professionals and politicians were prompted to become one of the first states to define the PA profession. People v. Whittaker: The Trial and its Aftermath in California

Question 24

Who served as Secretary of the Accreditation Review Committee on Educational Programs for Physician Assistants (ARC-PA) from 1972 to 1991?

A	David L Glazer
B	Lawrence M. (Mac) Detmer
C	Donald W. Fisher
D	William D. Stanhope

Question 24 Explanation:

Lawrence M Detmer served as Secretary of the Accreditation Review Committee on Educational Programs for Physician Assistants (ARC-PA) from 1972 to 1991 (when AAPA assumed responsibility for the administration of the ARC-PA). In this role he helped develop the initial policies and procedures used to accredit physician assistant programs based upon a set of Essentials. The Essentials were adopted by the American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates in December 1971 upon recommendation of several medical specialty societies composed of a sufficient number of physicians providing primary patient care.

Biography:

Lawrence (Mac) Detmer

Question 25

Who is the first woman and first African American woman to become a physician assistant?

A	Ruth Webb
B	Brenda Jasper
C	Peggy Valentine
D	Joyce Nichols

Question 25 Explanation:

Joyce Nichols is the first woman to be formally educated as a physician assistant (PA). She also happens to be the first African-American woman to practice as a PA. Nichols was working as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) at Duke University when Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr. established his 2-yr PA educational program in 1965. She learned about the program from a former Navy corpsman who worked with her in the cardiac unit. The program was originally designed to build on the past experience and training of ex-military corpsmen. Thus, Nichols had to overcome a number of obstacles to gain entrance into the program. She was a woman; she did not have a corpsmen background; she was an African-American; and she had little money to pay for her education. However she was persistent and gradually won the faculty’s confidence and support. She entered and graduated from the Duke PA Program in 1970.

Biography:

Joyce Nichols

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So how did you fare? Post your score in the comments section below, and I will send the first three commenters a FREE copy of our new ebook "How to Write Your PA School Personal Statement"... A $15 value!

If you want to learn all about the PA profession (which you should, especially if you have an upcoming PA school interview), make sure to spend some time at the Physician Assistant History Society Website, take in some PA History video at PAFLIX or purchase The Physician Assistant: An Illustrated History on Amazon. It will blow the socks of the admissions committee if you show up with this one under your arm! This may be the best $15 you ever spend 🙂