Goals and Competencies
Physician Assistant Studies
Program Goals
- To provide a comprehensive didactic and clinical curriculum that will prepare the
graduate for entry level practice.
The PA program has more than 1,250 graduates. With national certifying board exam
scores consistently above the national average, we are proud of the rigorous curriculum that enables our graduates to succeed.
- To provide instruction and experiences that allow students to demonstrate collaboration
as a part of a patient-centered team.
The program believes strongly in its core values because they are the foundation of
teamwork and cooperation. The faculty measures students' success in reflecting these
values during frequent advisor meetings, and preceptors are asked to evaluate these
standards in our students during rotations. The interprofessional education modules
that occur throughout the didactic phase of the PA program allow students from various
medical and health professions programs to learn about, from and with each other.
- To promote an understanding of information literacy by designing, conducting, presenting,
and interpreting research.
The Evidence-Based Medicine and Research Practicum courses prepare students to produce
papers eligible for submission to peer-reviewed journals. All finals papers are published
in PCOM's Digital Commons. Additionally, PCOM students and graduates have presented
at the AAPA national conference.
- To provide our students with the medical knowledge, skills, and attitudes to engage
in clinical practice as a physician assistant.
The program's average pass rate is 97% over the past five years compared to the national
average of 94% over the past five years. Preceptors for the Class of 2022 rated students
during their clinical phase an average of 94% in clinical skills and an average of
98% in attitudes towards patients, colleagues and their professional role
Graduate Competencies
The program will instill in the new graduate the knowledge, interpersonal, clinical
and technical skills, professional behaviors, and clinical reasoning and problem-solving
abilities required for PA practice. Specifically, the graduate will be able to:
- Provide care across the lifespan, regardless of medical condition, gender, race, ethnicity
or other diverse quality.
- Apply knowledge of basic sciences with a focus on clinical application.
- Elicit a detailed and accurate history, and perform a comprehensive physical exam.
- Obtain a directed history based on patient presentation, and perform a focused physical
exam.
- Communicate effectively as a health care professional.
- Work collaboratively with other members of the healthcare team in providing appropriate
patient care.
- Analyze, integrate and synthesize data from the patient medical record.
- Draw upon a fund of medical knowledge in order to formulate a differential diagnosis.
- Interpret appropriate diagnostic studies.
- Formulate and document an individual management plan.
- Provide health education to the patient or his/her caregiver.
- Perform the following clinical skills as dictated by the situation: venipuncture;
splinting; suturing; urinary catheterization; Pap smear; EKGs; injections.
- Manage life-threatening emergencies by employing ACLS and/or BCLS.
- Utilize information databases to select evidence-based literature for application
to patient care.
- Critically appraise the medical literature.
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