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Deployed docs can get free online training

Sometimes, mahogany bookcases filled with medical texts just don’t seem practical.

But physicians’ assistants in Iraq and Afghanistan still need reference material, and they still must update their certifications.

The Graduate Education Foundation has announced it will provide those resources for free over the Internet for service members who need access to information about cardiology, emergency medicine, infectious diseases or psychiatry — to name a few of the 18 medical and surgical topics available. The courses are provided in conjunction with the American Academy of Physicians Assistants and the Physician Assistant Foundation.

“Service members overseas just aren’t able to maintain their certifications,” said Jo Surpin, president of the Graduate Education Foundation. “Not only is it a vehicle for continuing education, but it’s also a resource library.”

Physicians’ assistants can reach 125 online lectures, which will allow them to earn certificates of participation after taking a test at the end of the lectures.

Service members may access the Internet classes with an access code, or watch one of the more than 2,000 CDs being mailed out this week.

“We’ve been getting calls already from physicians’ assistants [who are] very anxious about it,” Surpin said. “Many of them are having difficulty meeting their education needs.”

The lectures are available here.