Medics Rising to Lead Army Care

At the National Training Center in California, desert heat climbed past 100 degrees as 26 heat casualties flooded an aid station. Only two physician assistants were available to direct care.

Then SFC Andrew Hoffman, a Minnesota Army National Guard combat medic at the time, never forgot how they managed the surge.

“They did not get bogged down with any one patient,” Hoffman said. “They had trained us well enough that we could take care of patients while they focused on the most serious cases.”

That experience showed Hoffman that an Army physician assistant’s impact extends beyond the patients they personally treat. It is also measured by the medics they develop, the clinical judgment they bring to complex situations, and the readiness they help build across an entire formation.

Now 1LT Hoffman, a graduate of the Army’s Interservice Physician Assistant Program, or IPAP, sees those PAs as the model for the healthcare practitioner he is becoming.

In a line unit, an Army PA operates far beyond the exam room. PAs care for individual Soldiers, advise commanders on medical risk and readiness, mentor combat medics, and help units remain medically prepared to train, deploy, and fight.

That is the role Hoffman and fellow IPAP graduate 1LT Goeun Crabtree are preparing to assume.

Hoffman served more than two decades as a 68W combat medic in the Minnesota Army National Guard. Crabtree served 11 years as an active-duty combat medic. Their enlisted experience gave them firsthand insight into the role PAs play within a formation.

“An Army PA combines leadership and mission focus with medicine,” Crabtree said. “You are not only treating a Soldier as a patient. You are also thinking about how to help that Soldier recover, return to duty when appropriate, and support the readiness of the unit.”

For Crabtree, that balance is one of the profession’s defining challenges.

“Commanders want to know the capacity and capability of their formation,” she said. “As Army PAs, we have to provide an honest medical recommendation while protecting the health of the Soldier.”

At Irwin Army Community Hospital, Phase 2 IPAP students learn to manage that responsibility in clinical and operational settings.

CPT(P) John Zamora, IPAP Phase 2 program director at IACH, said students build clinical autonomy through family medicine, internal medicine, and emergency medicine rotations.

“Students will often manage their own patients, with preceptor oversight, allowing them to build confidence in their medical decision-making,” Zamora said.

That training prepares students to make timely decisions in settings where a physician may not be immediately available, while escalating care when needed.

During an ear, nose and throat rotation in Manhattan, Kansas, Hoffman assisted with a complex facial surgical reconstruction. The experience gave him confidence that he could translate difficult academic work into hands-on patient care.

At the Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, Crabtree spent weeks caring for a veteran with terminal liver disease. The experience reinforced for her that medicine requires both clinical skill and human connection.

“It confirmed why I chose this path,” Crabtree said. “I was able to think about the medicine but also connect with the patient as a person.”

Zamora said IACH gives students meaningful access to clinical training. Unlike larger military treatment facilities, where students may compete for procedures and teaching opportunities, IACH and regional clinics provide one-on-one time with preceptors and opportunities to assist in surgical and specialty care.

The program also teaches students how clinical care connects to readiness. During troop medicine rotations at Farrelly Health Clinic or Novosel Aviation Clinic, students learn to review readiness data, write profiles, conduct health assessments, and provide medical information to battalion and brigade commanders.

For students with prior enlisted experience, Zamora said the transition brings a valuable perspective.

They understand the capabilities of their medics, recognize where additional training is needed, and know the professional development demands junior enlisted Soldiers face. That experience helps them become more effective mentors and leaders.

For Hoffman, that responsibility is personal.

“One of the points of pride in my career (as a noncommissioned officer) is seeing former Soldiers grow into strong medical platoon sergeants,” Hoffman said. “I want to continue that as a PA.”

Crabtree also recognized the weight of the transition from experienced medic to new officer and practitioner.

“I just hope that my head is out of the water. That I’m surviving, that I keep learning, and that I don’t lose that empathy for my Soldiers,” she said.

On Oct. 2, Hoffman and Crabtree earned Master of Physician Assistant Studies degrees through the University of Nebraska Medical Center and commissioned as first lieutenants in the U.S. Army.

They left IACH with clinical training, operational experience, and a clearer understanding of the role ahead, that is, to care for Soldiers, advise commanders, develop medics, and keep formations ready for whatever mission comes next.

About the Program and IACH’s Role The 29-month Interservice Physician Assistant Program educates military health care professionals from across the services. Following a 16-month Phase I didactic curriculum at Joint Base San Antonio–Fort Sam Houston, Texas, students transition to a 13-month Phase II clinical training period at military medical treatment facilities nationwide.

At IACH, physician assistants, physicians, and other clinicians mentor Phase II candidates through clinical rotations at the hospital, local specialty clinics, and operational troop medicine clinics. The program combines clinical education with exposure to readiness, leadership, and advisory responsibilities that distinguish Army PA practice.

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