Training Tomorrow’s Clinicians for Adaptability

October 11, 2026

Tufts PA faculty member Mercedes Colangelo, MPH, PA-C, explores how simulation, interprofessional education and an adaptable curriculum prepare future PAs to respond to the challenges of tomorrow’s health care landscape.

By Mercedes Colangelo, MPH, PA-C, Assistant Professor, Public Health and Community Medicine and Director of Interprofessional Education and Simulation

Throughout PA Week 2026, Tufts PA faculty have shared their perspectives on the profession, the future of health care and the impact PAs can make in the lives of their patients. In this final installment of our three-part faculty op-ed series, Mercedes Colangelo, MPH, PA-C, Director of Interprofessional Education and Simulation, looks at how we prepare the next generation of PAs for a health care landscape that is constantly changing.

During PA Week, October 6–12, we celebrate a profession that now helps hold the health care system together. Behind every PA at the bedside is an education that must keep pace with a world that changes faster than any textbook.

PA education works because it adapts. Public health threats, an aging population and new technology are reshaping medicine, and PA programs revise their training quickly to match. At Tufts, I see this every day. Our students don't just learn about the next crisis. They practice for it before they ever meet a real patient.

Learning by Doing, Safely

I direct interprofessional education and simulation for our PA students. That means building realistic, high-fidelity scenarios where students make decisions, feel the pressure and learn from the results, all without risk to a real patient.

Take a trauma simulation. A manikin that breathes, cries and responds to treatment awaits in a crowded room. Students have minutes to assess the airway, control bleeding, order the right studies and talk with the team. Nothing replaces the first time you must lead while your heart is pounding. We want that first time to happen in a simulation lab.

The same goes for a toxicology case. A patient arrives confused and unstable, and the cause is not obvious. Students must work through a differential, recognize patterns and act on incomplete information. Medicine rarely hands us a clean diagnosis, and this practice builds the judgment to cope with that.

We also simulate the high-stakes events clinicians may only meet a few times in a career. I have helped run scenarios on abdominal aortic aneurysm, where a missed or delayed diagnosis can be fatal within minutes. In the coming week, students will engage in a spontaneous vaginal delivery, where they learn to stay calm and coordinate care for two patients at once. These are the moments when preparation matters most.

Training as a Team

No clinician works alone. That is why our simulations are interprofessional. PA students train alongside nursing, medical and other health professions learners, practicing the communication and role clarity that save lives. When a trauma patient crashes, the outcome depends on how well the whole team works together.

Studies of medical errors have long linked communication breakdowns to patient harm. Simulation lets students practice speaking up, handing off care clearly and respecting every team member's expertise. Those habits carry into every hospital, clinic and emergency department they later join.

Built to Adapt

The curriculum behind these scenarios is not fixed. When a public health emergency exposes a gap, we can write a new case within weeks, not years. Our students now train regarding end-of-life conversions and the conversations about goals of care that come with them. They train utilizing emerging technology, such as point-of-care ultrasound and the responsible use of AI-supported tools.

This flexibility is a real strength of the PA model. The profession was founded to respond to workforce needs, and its education has kept that responsive spirit. According to Health Care for All Massachusetts, over 40% of Massachusetts residents reported difficulty or delays in getting a primary care appointment. Communities like ours need clinicians who are ready on day one and keep learning for the rest of their careers.

Why This Matters to You

The next time you or someone you love is in an emergency room, a rural clinic or a long-term care facility, there is a good chance a PA will be part of your care. That PA may well have practiced for your situation in a simulation lab long before you needed them.

What You Can Do

This PA Week, I ask readers and policymakers to do three things: learn about PAs, invest in their training, and modernize the laws that govern their practice. Funding clinical training sites, preceptors, and simulation resources prepares the next generation of clinicians. Updating practice laws lets PAs work to the full extent of their education within team-based care, which means patients get care sooner.

The crises of tomorrow will not announce themselves. But the PAs who face them will have trained for them, adaptively and as a team. That is something worth celebrating this week and supporting all year.

Author Bio:

Mercedes Colangelo, MPH, PA-C, is Director of Interprofessional Education and Simulation at the Tufts University School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program. She is the course director for Preparation for Clinical Practice, Emergency Medicine and Procedural Workshop. Colangelo has also contributed to the PA profession by precepting PA students in the emergency department since 2011.

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