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OVERVIEW OF CLINICAL TRAINING
Upon successful completion of the Didactic
Level courses, the PA student proceeds to the Clinical Level of
the program. The student will spend 36 weeks in clinical rotations (each
period lasts six weeks) and another 24 weeks in preceptorships before
completing the course of study for physician assistant.
Continuity of care and regular feedback from clinical faculty are
the hallmarks of these experiences.
Clinical Rotations
(6 credits/rotation)
The clinical rotations are 4-6 week
blocks in the areas of internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery,
psychiatry/mental health, obstetrics and gynecology, 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. Typically, the
student spends at least 40 hours per week in the clinical setting
attending to patients and participating in continuing medical education
seminars.
Preceptorship I and II (6-12 credits/Preceptorship)
These
clinical 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 blocks
must be done in an ambulatory primary care setting such as an outpatient
family practice, general practice, or general internal medicine office or
center.
The second
Preceptorship can also be done as a 10-12-week block of primary care, or can
be broken up into two 5-6-week blocks that includes: one 5-6-week elective in
which students can gain additional experience in settings
such as emergency medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, inpatient
internal medicine, neonatology, internal medicine subspecialties,
geriatrics/long-term care, HIV, correctional medicine, cardiothoracic surgery,
general surgery, orthopedics, rehabilitation, or critical care; and
one 6-week
Floating
Medicine Block (An elective in a medically-related area such as internal
medicine, family medicine, geriatrics or emergency medicine).
Senior
Seminar and Testing
Senior Seminars (held
approximately every six weeks during clinical rotations and preceptorships) and Senior Summary Testing (held on campus) are required
components of the clinical level. Senior seminars cover such topics as:
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Advanced Cardiac Life Support
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Health
Policy and Medical Billing
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Medical
Genomics
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Complementary and Alternative Medicine
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Biological and Chemical Terrorism
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Advanced Radiology
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Community Resource Networks
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Physician Assistant National Certification Exam Preparation
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