Master of Science Physician Assistant
Robert Hawke, M.S.P.A., ’07, PA-C
Program Director, Physician Assistant Program
rhawkes@une.edu
Mission
The mission of the 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í Physician Assistant (PA) Program is to prepare master's level primary care Physician Assistants to be highly skilled members of interprofessional healthcare teams.
Vision
The 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í PA Program’s vision is to become a recognized leader in northern New England for the education and training of high-quality PA healthcare providers. We strive to teach our graduates to become leaders and partners with all members of an interprofessional healthcare team.
Prepare our graduates to:
- Provide high-quality, patient-centered and evidence-based, equitable healthcare to diverse populations of patients.
- Work in rural, underserved, and geriatric populations, with an understanding of the special needs of these populations.
- Advocate for the health and social needs of patients and their communities, thereby addressing and overcoming health disparities and barriers, with the goal of finding innovative ways to develop healthier communities through provision of equitable care.
Core Values
Similar to the core values of the PA Profession, the 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í PA Program’s values are:
- Excellence in Clinical Care – through education and lifelong learning.
- Integrity and Professionalism – as a PA and in providing patient care.
- Empathy – for patients, their families and the community.
- Interprofessional Collaboration – as a member of the healthcare team.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – delivery of equitable, inclusive, patient-centered care to a diverse population of patients, with cultural humility.
Goals
The ongoing goals of the 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í PA Program are:
- Maintain ARC accreditation.
- Maintain curriculum designed to educate students meeting all the entry-level PA competencies (according to PAEA, AAPA, NCCPA, and ARC-PA competencies).
- Recruit qualified applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Contribute to the PA workforce needs of New England.
- Graduate clinicians knowledgeable about the aging population and competent to practice in rural and underserved populations.
Program Competencies
The mission of the program is accomplished by having graduates who meet the goals of the educational process. Graduates of the Physician Assistant (PA) program will show competency in the following areas:
Knowledge for Patient-Centered Practice
Demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences, resources surrounding this information, and the application of this knowledge to individualized patient-centered care.
Communication
Demonstrate effective interpersonal, professional, and clinical communication skills.
Interprofessional Collaboration
Demonstrate the ability to engage with a variety of other healthcare professionals in a manner that optimizes safe, effective, patient- and population-centered care.
Society and Population Health
Recognize how the larger community affects the health of patients. Integrate knowledge of social determinants of health into healthcare decisions. Provide compassionate and competent healthcare to patients of all ages and backgrounds, with special emphasis on underserved, rural, and geriatric populations.
Professionalism, Legal Aspects, and Ethics of the PA in Healthcare
Demonstrate an understanding of the historical and contemporary role of the PA in the healthcare system. Demonstrate a commitment to practicing medicine in ethically and legally appropriate ways and emphasizing professional maturity and accountability for delivering safe and quality care to patients and populations.
Healthcare Finance and Systems
Articulate the essential aspects of value-based healthcare and apply this understanding to the delivery of safe and quality care.
The following are interwoven among various courses and experiences within the program.
Quality Improvement, Self-Assessment, and Lifelong Learning
Demonstrate the ability to learn and implement quality improvement practices by engaging in critical analysis of one’s own practice experience, the medical literature, and other information resources for the purposes of self-evaluation, lifelong learning, and practice improvement.
Cultural Humility
Develop a state of openness toward understanding and respecting important aspects of other people’s cultural identities, including an awareness of one’s personal and/or professional beliefs and/or biases and/or attitudes, and/or actions that affect patient care. Develop a commitment to ongoing personal and/or professional development surrounding cultural competence and humility.
Program Description
Our accredited PA program — the only PA program in Maine — operates on a 24-month, full-time calendar, beginning each June with a new entering class.
You begin patient care in your first year through our nationally recognized Interprofessional Geriatric Education Practicum, which pairs you with an elderly individual from the community whom you visit and evaluate regularly. Through this experience, you enhance your medical knowledge, gain clinical skills, and develop a professional presence to carry into your clinical year.
Our M.S.P.A. degree curriculum is built upon a foundation of science and pathophysiology to foster understanding of disease processes and clinical medicine. You receive two full years of instruction in pharmacology, learn evidence-based medicine theory, and work in small groups to develop the critical thinking skills required to address complex medical and surgical challenges.
By emphasizing all aspects of health care, including geriatrics, health promotion, disease prevention, pharmacology, and public health practice, we empower future physician assistants to work effectively within the physician/PA relationship, exercising autonomy in medical decision making and providing a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services.
What is a PA?
Physician Assistants (PAs) are highly trained and licensed medical professionals who practice medicine on a health care team in collaboration with a physician. They understand the value of successful teamwork in health care settings and have the ability to practice in all specialties of medicine. PAs are graduates of accredited PA educational programs who have passed a nationally certified board exam.
Other
The 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í's M.S.P.A. program was designed according to the Essentials and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Physician Assistant. The 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í Physician Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).
Curricular Requirements
Phase I of the Program of study consists of sixty-one (61) credit hours in pre-clinical didactic coursework. The summer, fall, and spring terms include instruction in the fields of biomedical sciences, clinical medicine, public health, pharmacology, clinical assessment, anatomy, physiology, evidence-based medicine, ethics and professionalism, specialty disciplines, and geriatrics. Twelve (12) months of clinical rotations will take place upon successful completion of the didactic phase. The Program ends with a final week on campus, which provides a forum for the presentation of students' research projects to peers and faculty, offers assistance in preparing the graduating students for certification, and gives PA candidates an opportunity to integrate the didactic and clinical portions of their training in preparation for the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE). The purpose of the catalog is to provide a comprehensive list of required courses. The Physician Assistant program can provide a degree map listing which courses should be taken in each stage of this timeline.
| Program Required Courses | Credits |
|---|---|
| PAC 503 – Clinical Assessment I | 2.5 |
| PAC 509 – Clinical Medicine I | 1 |
| PAC 519 – Clinical Medicine II | 8 |
| PAC 533 – Clinical Assessment III | 3 |
| PAC 543 – Evidence Based Medicine I | 1 |
| PAC 545 – Specialty Disciplines | 7 |
| PAC 546 – Clinical Medicine III | 6 |
| PAC 547 – Interdisc Geriatrics Ed Prog I | 1 |
| PAC 548 – Principles of Biological Science | 3 |
| PAC 551 – Introduction to Public Health | 1 |
| PAC 554 – Clinical Assessment II | 3 |
| PAC 555 – Anatomy | 5 |
| PAC 556 – Evidence Based Medicine II | 0.5 |
| PAC 559 – Pharmacology I | 3 |
| PAC 560 – Pharmacology II | 3.5 |
| PAC 561 – Pharmacology III | 3.5 |
| PAC 564 – Interdisc Geriatric Ed Prog II | 2 |
| PAC 565 – Integrating Seminar I | 3 |
| PAC 582 – Professional and Ethical Issues for Physician Assistants | 1 |
| PAC 585 – Integrating Seminar II | 3 |
| PAC 614 – Preparation for Clinical Practice I | 1 |
| PAC 615 – Preparation for Clinical Practice II | 1 |
| PAC 616 – Preparation for Clinical Practice III | 1 |
| PAC 628 – Clinical Therapeutics I | 0.5 |
| PAC 629 – Clinical Therapeutics II | 0.5 |
| PAC 670 – Clinical Practicum I | 6 |
| PAC 671 – Clinical Practicum II | 6 |
| PAC 672 – Clinical Practicum III | 6 |
| PAC 673 – Clinical Practicum IV | 6 |
| PAC 674 – Clinical Practicum V | 6 |
| PAC 675 – Clinical Practicum VI | 6 |
| PAC 676 – Clinical Practicum VII | 6 |
| PAC 677 – Clinical Practicum VIII | 6 |
| Minimum Total Required Credits | 113 |
|---|
Graduation Requirements
Students must complete all program requirements before the issuance of their Master of Science degree and the certificate of completion of the program.
Academic and Technical Standards
WCHP Academic Policies
The Department of Physician Assistant, the Westbrook College of Health Professions, and the 911±¬ÁÏÍøºìÁì½í are committed to offering a quality Physician Assistant education program that complies with the evaluative criteria of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant. The program provides learning experiences to enable graduates to achieve the outcomes required for the practice of a Physician Assistant. Please refer to the WCHP Graduate Program Progression Policies and Procedures (PDF) for a detailed description of academic standards.
Technical Standards
A student in the PA Program must have abilities and skills in five (5) categories: observation, communication, motor, intellectual, and behavioral/social. All students admitted to the Program must meet the following abilities and expectations upon matriculation and maintain these standards while enrolled in the PA Program. In the event a student is unable to fulfill these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, the student will be subject to dismissal after admission.
Reasonable accommodation for persons with documented disabilities will be considered on an individual basis. However, a candidate must be able to perform these skills in an independent manner. Accordingly, the program requires each student to meet the following technical standards with or without accommodation: