Professional Summary
Physician assistant with nearly 30 years in emergency and surgical medicine and a parallel career in clinical education. Guest lecturer and clinical preceptor for MEDEX Northwest and for the doctoral nursing programs at the University of Washington and Seattle University, with more than 100 students precepted and more than 150 applicants mentored into the profession. Author of medical decision-making and documentation frameworks now used by six educational organizations, delivered through Smarter Chart, a free clinical-reasoning platform. Trained in writing and journalism before medicine. Washington licensed and NCCPA certified.
Teaching
- MEDEX Northwest, University of Washington
- Guest Lecturer & Clinical Preceptor | 1998 - Present
- Lecture to and precept physician assistant students in the clinical setting, 3-5 students per year across 28 years of continuous preceptorship. In the Seattle classroom, taught suturing skills labs and lectured on cardiology and EKG review, stroke and headache, and abdominal pain. Mentor prospective applicants through admissions and through training: more than 150 to date, many from provider shortage areas in rural Washington and Alaska and from urban communities including Oakland and San Francisco.
- Seattle University, Doctor of Nursing Practice Program
- Clinical Preceptor | 2008 - Present
- Precept and evaluate DNP students in the clinical setting; mentor candidates through application and training.
- University of Washington, Doctor of Nursing Practice Program
- Guest Lecturer & Clinical Preceptor | 2004 - Present
- Lecture to and precept DNP students in the clinical setting; mentor candidates through application and training.
- Seattle Veterans Administration Medical Center
- Clinical Preceptor | 1997 - 2000
- Precepted approximately five physician assistant students per year in cardiothoracic surgery.
- Smarter Chart, L.L.C. (smarter-chart.com)
- Founder & Developer | 2013 - Present
- Built and maintain a free, openly accessible tool that teaches medical decision-making through a curated library of condition-specific reasoning frameworks, linking presenting complaint to differential diagnosis and documented rationale. Frameworks adopted by six educational organizations, including the PA and DNP programs named above.
Education
- Master of Health Sciences (Physician Assistant) 1997
- Duke University, Durham, NC
- Bachelor of Arts in Writing / Journalism 1992
- Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
Leadership & Administrative Experience
- Advanced Practitioner Liaison April 2016 - Present
- Overlake Medical Center, Bellevue, WA
- Orchestrate informatics onboarding for over 200 providers across Urgent Care, Emergency Department, and Observation units.
- Serve on Information and Operations committees; participate in EPIC IT Ambulatory and Urgent Care leadership workgroups.
- Chief Physician Assistant January 2001 - February 2008
- Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA
- Led the emergency department physician assistant group; defined and evaluated clinical competencies for the group.
- Managed administrative scheduling and student preceptorship for the Emergency Department.
Clinical Experience
- Emergency Medicine PA-C: full-scope emergency care across all acuities and payer categories; departmental EPIC superuser and clinical-documentation optimization.
- Puget Sound Physicians (Overlake Medical Center) 2006 - Present
- Swedish Medical Center (Ballard Campus) 2008 - Present
- Virginia Mason Medical Center 2001 - 2008
- Surgical PA-C: first assist, surgical consultation, and inpatient rounding; cardiac and thoracic first assist for the veteran population at the Seattle VA, including telemedicine conference development and paperless order-entry beta testing.
- Group Health Cooperative Surgical Services 2000 - 2002
- Seattle Veterans Administration Medical Center - Cardiac/Thoracic 1997 - 2000
Manuscript In Preparation
Klein, R. M. "Documentation and AI in PA Curriculum: The Modern MDM" - in preparation for submission to the Journal of Physician Assistant Education, Technology in Education section; not yet submitted.
Presentations
- "Cases You SHOULD Miss" - Overlake Medical Center, 2026
- "AI with Medical Care, not Instead of Medical Care" - Overlake Medical Center, 2026
- "Schrödinger's Patient (Transferred and Not Transferred Simultaneously)" - Overlake Medical Center, 2024
- "Suicidal Pathway" - Overlake Medical Center, 2022
- "Lawyers and the Games They Play" - Virginia Mason Medical Center, 2005
- "The Intensive Care Unit and the Implementation of Bedside Computing" - Hewlett Packard, 1996
Honors & Awards
- Top Physician Assistant - Emergency Medicine - Seattle Met, 2025 & 2026
- Clinical Preceptor Recognition Program - 2004
- Health Professional Scholarship - Veterans Administration; service-obligated award funding PA training, fulfilled through three years at the Seattle VA
- Class President - Stead Society, Duke PA Program
Technical Skills & Informatics
- Informatics: DAX Copilot, AI, EPIC IT (Superuser), Cerner, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Ibex (Picis)
- Development: Full-stack (PHP, JavaScript, WordPress/Elementor); specialized in MDM clinical support tools
- Clinical Procedures: First Assist, Chest Tube, Central Line, Venous Access, Fracture/Dislocation Reduction, Lumbar Puncture, Suture Repair, Abscess Drainage, Foreign Body Removal
Professional Membership, Service & Community
- Member - Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA)
- Board of Directors - Bellevue Community Band
- Chief Content Officer - Mediyak.com
- Volunteer - Neil Roberts Band - Music performance for retirement communities, nursing homes.
Contact
Ross Klein PA-C MHS · Ross@smarter-chart.com