Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies

Dean, School of Science and Health: Matt Dane Baker, PA-C, D.H.Sc., 215.951.2870 Phone, 215.951.2615 FAX, bakerm@PhilaU.edu

Program Director: Michael Rackover, PA-C, M.S., 215.951.2908 Phone, 215.951.2526 FAX, rackoverm@PhilaU.edu.

Campus Location: Main campus, Hayward Hall, Suite 224

Full-time, day program. Students admitted for entrance annually August 1 only.

Degree Program

M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies

Combined Degree

B.S. in Health Sciences/M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies*

M.B.A./M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies

Options

• Five-Year Freshman Admission B.S./M.S.

• Three-Year M.S./M.B.A.

* See undergraduate catalog for curriculum information

The Profession

A physician assistant, or PA, is a qualified medical professional who practices medicine with the supervision of a licensed physician. PAs provide a wide variety of medical services traditionally performed by physicians. The concept for the profession originated in the early to mid-1960s as a way to enhance the provision of medical care to people residing in medically underserved areas. The care of the underserved remains an ongoing goal of the profession.

Physician assistants work in all 50 states, Guam and the District of Columbia in a range of medical settings including physicians’ offices, hospitals, clinics, emergency departments, military and Veterans Administration installations, nursing homes, industrial health centers and correctional institutions. They always work in conjunction with a physician and can have an array of responsibilities including medical history taking, physical examination, ordering or performing lab and other diagnostic tests, synthesizing data to make a proper diagnosis, developing a treatment plan, monitoring patient progress, providing health-related counseling and performing various procedures such as casting and suturing and assisting in surgery. PAs can prescribe medications in all states.

Program Description and Features

The Philadelphia University Physician Assistant Studies program is part of the School of Science and Health. It is a comprehensive academic experience that stresses the practical application of current medical theory. Most of the program faculty are actively practicing health care providers with a great depth of knowledge and experience. Students are exposed to the clinical environment throughout their education with patient contact even during the classroom or didactic portion of the program.

The Physician Assistant Studies program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA). This program is available full-time, day only. The clinical or practical portion may involve some night and weekend hours.

PA Program Technical and Professional Standards

For admission to the program, candidates must:

• Have the academic ability to learn a large volume of technically detailed information and be able to synthesize and use this data to solve complex clinical problems. This information must be acquired in a short and intense period of study that requires well-developed study skills and a high level of motivation and may require considerable personal and financial sacrifice;

• Possess the emotional maturity and stability to approach highly stressful human situations in a calm and rational manner;

• Have the ability to effectively communicate with ill patients from a wide diversity of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds in an empathetic and sensitive fashion;

• Have well-developed oral and written communication skills;

• Have comfort with the role of a dependent practitioner operating under the supervision of a licensed physician, while simultaneously feeling comfortable with the large amount of responsibility that goes along with the delivery of patient care in sometimes remote locations;

• Display strong ethical integrity consistent with working as a healthcare professional;

• Have sufficient physical abilities in the areas of sensory function (vision, hearing, and touch sensation), hand-eye coordination, and neurologic and muscular coordination and control to competently perform the technical activities that are a critical part of the program and profession, including:

• Physical examinations, which include visual inspection, listening to heart and lung sounds with a stethoscope, examination by touch to gather information such as skin temperature and texture and other maneuvers;

• Performance and interpretation of diagnostic studies such as blood tests, EKGs and X-rays;

• Surgical assisting, which can involve activities such as control of bleeding and suturing (wound closure by placing stitches); and

• Performing common procedures such as applying casts, suturing, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), venipuncture (placing needle into a vein to collect a blood sample) and starting an intravenous access line.

Curriculum

The program is 25 months of continuous study and includes the didactic level consisting of three semesters of classroom and laboratory work in basic and applied medical science, and the clinical level consisting of six rotations and four preceptorships at a variety of clinical sites such as hospitals and medical offices. The first semester of the didactic level begins in late July each year. Students must complete all didactic-level courses before they can enter the clinical level.

Overview of Clinical Training

Upon successful completion of the didactic-level courses, the PA student proceeds into the clinical-education level of the program. The PA student will spend approximately 14 months in clinical rotations and preceptorships. This is divided into 10 five or six-week blocks.

Clinical Rotations

The required clinical rotations are five or six-week blocks in the areas of internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, psychiatry/mental health, women’s health and emergency medicine and are designed to expose the PA student to patient care in a variety of settings. The student is directly involved with the evaluation and management of patients to the extent that the clinical preceptor or supervisor is comfortable with the level of knowledge and skills of the PA student.

Preceptorships

These clinical education experiences are designed to enhance the PA student’s knowledge, technical skills, clinical judgment and confidence in the evaluation and management of common medical problems. One of these must be completed as a 12-week (two six-week blocks) experience in an ambulatory, primary-care setting such as an outpatient family practice office or center.

The remaining preceptorship experiences include the Floating Medicine Block in a medically related specialty such as family, internal or geriatric medicine, and the clinical elective. During the elective, students can spend more time in one of their rotation specialties or gain experience in other settings such as neonatology, HIV, correctional medicine, urology, orthopedic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and others.

Program Specific Costs

The typical student in the Physician Assistant Studies program will spend approximately $3,000 on medical equipment, a personal digital assistant (PDA), books, malpractice liability insurance and other program-related fees for both professional phase years combined. This does not include tuition, housing, food, living expenses, travel costs, health center fees and graduation fees. All of these costs are listed elsewhere in the catalog.

Students should have access to a personal computer. Students will be given an Internet account from the University and access to the University academic computing labs.

Prerequisite Course Requirements

Courses Credits

Science 

Psychology

Writing

Mathematics

Other

Three-month patient care or human service experience

Note: Additional psychology and chemistry courses, and a genetics course are strongly advised and highly desirable.

Due to changes in science and the importance of science prerequisites as a basis for the study of PA curriculum, all science courses should be no more than seven years old. A waiver of this limit can be given to individuals who have worked in a scientific field on a regular basis, or who have completed several current higher-level science courses. Candidates must write a letter to the PA Program Admissions Committee requesting this waiver of the seven-year limit.

Core Curriculum

Year One

FALL SEMESTER

Credit Hours: 20

SPRING SEMESTER

Credit Hours: 19

SUMMER 1 SEMESTER

SUMMER 2 SEMESTER

Credit Hours: 17

Year Two

FALL, SPRING, SUMMER 1, AND SUMMER 2 SEMESTERS

Credit Hours: 57

Clinical Rotations 

Clinical Preceptorships

TOTAL CREDIT HOURS: 113 Credits

** Taken over entire clinical year

Application Procedure

Philadelphia University is participating in the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). To apply for admission into the M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies program at Philadelphia University, please visit the CASPA web site at www.caspaonline.org. Application for admission will only be accepted through the CASPA service.

You must request that official copies of your transcripts be sent directly to CASPA by the institution(s) attended. Student copies of transcripts or copies sent to CASPA directly by the applicant are not acceptable. Letters of reference should also be sent directly to CASPA from the person making the reference. Your GRE scores, however, should be sent directly to Philadelphia University Office of Graduate Admissions by Educational Testing Services. Philadelphia University’s school reporting code is #2666.

Once admitted the student must provide Philadelphia University with an original transcript of their bachelor’s degree education. This is necessary to grant the MS degree, as the CASPA service maintains the original transcripts.

Admission Requirements

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant —Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education: “The role of the physician assistant demands intelligence, sound judgment, intellectual honesty, appropriate interpersonal skills, and the capacity to react to emergencies in a calm and reasoned manner. An attitude of respect for self and others, adherence to the concepts of privilege and confidentiality in communicating with patients, and a commitment to the patient’s welfare are essential attributes of the graduate PA.”

Admission to the Physician Assistant Studies program is competitive. Applicants are selected based on a committee’s assessment of their ability to successfully complete the training and competently function in the role of the profession as defined by the ARC-PA as printed in the Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education, the State of Pennsylvania as published in the Medical Practice Act and the program. Candidates must have the physical, emotional, and intellectual attributes necessary for success in this type of training.

Selection Criteria

Students in the PA program will be selected from candidates submitting complete applications with all required supporting material to the Central Application Service of Physician Assistants (CASPA) at www.caspaonline.org. The Physician Assistant Admissions Committee uses a variety of criteria to make admission decisions. These can include:

1. Academic experience including: a) previous college curriculum difficulty, institution, cumulative grades, science course grades and graduate study; b) college entrance exam scores such as GRE or MAT; and c) academic patterns such as most recent academic performance, credit load, withdrawals and incomplete courses. Since the graduate school requires the maintenance of a 3.00 GPA, applicants with a combined (all college grades) GPA below 3.00 rarely gain admission into the program;

2. Health care or human service experience with consideration to type and duration. This can include both paid and volunteer experience;

3. A personal essay that examines written communication skills, knowledge of the PA profession and motivation for the profession;

4. Three letters of reference on prescribed forms that examine the applicant’s abilities, communication skills, motivation, interpersonal skills and emotional maturity from those familiar with your professional or academic abilities, such as a professor or supervisor;

5. The amount of prerequisite coursework the applicant has left to complete, along with the applicant’s plan for completion. Students who have not completed all prerequisites prior to application can be admitted on a “conditional basis”;

6. Personal interview. The most qualified applicants from the general applicant pool may be invited to come to the University for a personal interview. This interview attempts to ascertain an applicant’s knowledge of the profession, motivation for pursuing a PA career, interpersonal and oral communication skills, compassion, problem-solving abilities, preparation for the educational experience and dedication to providing care to the underserved;

7. Diversity. The PA program believes that enrollment of students with a wide diversity of cultural, geographic, academic and occupational backgrounds enriches the learning experience and helps in sensitizing PA students to unique characteristics of diverse patient populations with whom they will work as health care providers.