About the School of Physician Associate Studies
Mission
Our program is committed to cultivating equity in healthcare by fostering diversity within our cohorts, including underrepresented students in medicine. Through enhanced training opportunities, our students gain skills needed to better serve diverse and underserved populations. Our graduates emerge from the program well prepared to deliver compassionate, culturally responsive, and clinically-competent patient care.
Core Values
Leadership:
- Advocate for the highest quality care for all patients
- Exemplify competence, compassion, and respect
- Champion patient autonomy and access to care
- Advance the PA profession through participation in professional, legislative, and community outreach activities
Excellence:
- Teach and practice high quality evidence-based healthcare
- Foster a culture of peer-mentoring and relationship building
- Encourage lifelong learning, self-awareness and well-being
- Promote an interprofessional team approach that improves healthcare resource equity and patient outcomes
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion:
- Embrace diversity and respect individual expression in all its forms
- Practice and teach culturally responsive healthcare
- Work to address the impacts of social determinants of health on patients
- Further equitable access to PA education
Vision
Together, we strive to create a more equitable and inclusive future for medicine.
Program Competencies
ARC-PA defines competencies as “the medical knowledge, interpersonal, clinical and technical skills, professional behaviors, and clinical reasoning and problem-solving abilities required for PA practice...and set the tone for what is required of the PA trainee upon completion of the program.”
Medical Knowledge (MK)
MK1: Demonstrate knowledge of basic, medical and clinical sciences to evaluate and manage patients.
Interpersonal Skills (IP)
IP1: Communicate with patients, and with other people that patients include in their healthcare, in a clear and effective manner.
IP2: Collaborate with other healthcare professionals to provide patient-focused and culturally-responsive healthcare.
Clinical and Technical Skills (CT)
CT1: Elicit an accurate and pertinent medical history.
CT2: Perform a physical exam relevant to the medical history and correctly interpret the findings.
CT3: Demonstrate the ability to perform procedures common to PA clinical practice safely and effectively.
Professional Behaviors (PB)
PB1: Adhere to the professional and ethical standards of the program and the PA profession.
PB2: Apply reflective practice to professional development, patient care and interprofessional relationships.
Clinical Reasoning and Problem- Solving Abilities (RS)
RS1: Order and interpret appropriate diagnostic studies to assist in the evaluation and treatment of patients.
RS2: Formulate a differential diagnosis and identify the most likely diagnosis based on medical history, physical exam and diagnostic studies.
RS3: Create a therapeutic treatment plan, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological modalities.
School Goals
- Foster diversity within our cohorts.
- Offer enhanced training opportunities for students to gain skills needed to better serve diverse and underserved populations.
- Graduate students who are well prepared to deliver compassionate, culturally responsive and clinically-competent patient care.
See more information about school goals and effectiveness.
