PCOM requires all applicants who are offered admission and all enrolled students to meet specific technical standards. These standards describe the functional abilities and professional capacities considered necessary to participate in the curriculum and to provide safe, effective patient care.
The technical standards are separate from academic requirements. They focus on essential abilities required for participation in classroom learning, laboratory instruction, clinical skills training, and supervised patient care. The standards are intended to ensure that students are able to meet the demands of medical education and clinical practice.
These standards may be met with or without reasonable accommodations. They are not intended to exclude individuals with disabilities who can fulfill program requirements with appropriate accommodations consistent with applicable law.
This information is presented for reference only. The technical standards form will be provided to admitted applicants. Official matriculation and continued enrollment in a degree program cannot be confirmed unless the technical standards form is completed and returned.
Students who have an ADA-recognized disability and who require accommodations related to one or more technical standards should contact PCOM Disability Services for guidance on the accommodation process. Requests for accommodations generally require documentation supporting both the disability and the specific accommodations being requested.
Each request is evaluated individually to determine whether the accommodation is reasonable and whether it allows the student to meet the essential requirements of the program without compromising patient safety, educational standards, or professional expectations.
Disability Services may be contacted at disabilityservices@pcom.edu.
Requests related to cultural practices or religious beliefs are not addressed through the disability accommodation process, as they are not considered ADA-recognized disabilities. Students who believe that cultural traditions or religious requirements may affect their ability to meet one or more technical standards are encouraged to contact the Equal Opportunity and Access Team.
Such requests may be reviewed and discussed; however, approval is not guaranteed and depends on the essential requirements of the academic program.
The Equal Opportunity and Access Team may be contacted at titleixcoordinator@pcom.edu.
The granting of a Master of Science (MS) degree and completion of the graduate phase signifies that the student is prepared for employment as a Physician Assistant. In such a professional role, the physician assistant can provide medical services with the supervision of a doctor of medicine or osteopathic medicine in accordance with applicable laws of medical practice. The services must, for the safety and welfare of the patient, be of the same professional quality that would be rendered by the supervising physician. The physician assistant must have the knowledge and skills to function in a broad variety of clinical situations and to render a wide spectrum of patient care.
Candidates for the physician assistant profession must have somatic sensation and the functional use of the senses of vision and hearing. Candidates’ diagnostic skills will also be lessened without the functional use of the senses of equilibrium, smell and taste. Additionally, they must have sufficient exteroceptive sense (touch, pain, and temperature), sufficient motor function to permit them to carry out the activities described in the sections that follow. They must be able to integrate all information received by whatever sense(s) employed, consistently, quickly and accurately, and they must have the intellectual ability to learn, integrate, analyze and synthesize data.
A candidate for the physician assistant program must have abilities and skills of six (6) varieties including observation, communication, motor, conceptual, integrative and quantitative, behavioral and social. Technological compensation can be made in certain areas, but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner.
The student is expected to possess functional use of the senses of vision, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. All data received by the senses must be integrated, analyzed and synthesized in a consistent and accurate manner. In addition, the individual is expected to possess the ability to perceive pain, pressure, temperature, position, equilibrium, and movement.
The student is expected to participate in and observe demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences including but not limited to physiologic and pharmacological demonstrations in animals, microbiological cultures and microscopic study of organisms and tissues in normal and pathologic states. The student is expected to observe the patient accurately at a distance and close at hand and accurately assess health/illness alteration. Inherent in this observation process is the use of the senses and sufficient motor capability to carry out the necessary assessment activities
The student is expected to be able to effectively communicate verbally and non-verbally and to observe patients in order to elicit information, describe changes in mood, activity, and postures and to perceive nonverbal communications. This requires the ability to read, write, and effectively utilize the English language. The student must be able to communicate effectively with patients and other professionals
The Student is expected to be able to perform gross and fine motor movements required to perform complete physical examination. The student is expected to have the psychomotor skills necessary to perform or assist with procedures, treatments, administration of medication, managing of equipment, and emergency intervention. The student is expected to be able to maintain consciousness and equilibrium, and stamina to perform satisfactorily in clinical experiences
The student should have sufficient motor function to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion and other diagnostic maneuvers. The student must be able to do laboratory tests and work with scientific and other instruments and machinery utilized in practice as a Physician Assistant.
The student is expected to have the ability to develop and refine problem solving skills. This includes the ability to measure, calculate, analyze and synthesize objective as well as subjective data and make decisions that reflect consistent and thoughtful deliberation and clinical judgment. In addition, the student should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures
The student is expected to have the emotional stability required to exercise sound judgment and complete assessment and intervention activities. The student is expected to establish rapport and maintain sensitive, interpersonal relationships with individuals, families and groups from a variety of social, emotional, cultural and intellectual backgrounds. The student is expected to have the flexibility to function effectively under stress. Concern for others, integrity, accountability, interest and motivation are necessary personal qualities.
A student must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of his/her intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients. The student must be able to tolerate physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. The student must be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility and to learn to function in the face of the uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest and motivation are all personal qualities that will be assessed during the admission and education process.
A core component of physician assistant medical education is using touch for diagnosis and therapeutic purposes. To acquire competencies in physical diagnosis and medical treatment, all students are required to touch others and to be touched. All students are also required to participate in physical examination by fellow students. This physical examination is critical to learning the skills required of practicing physician assistants; therefore, it is mandatory that all matriculating students understand and accept these responsibilities.
These responsibilities include:
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