Physician Assistant Research Paper

Top Physician Assistant Programs in the United States

PA Professional Practice

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans

While the physician assistant profession as a whole is a fairly new concept in the United States, its expansion and growth in today’s healthcare system is continuing to progress rapidly. The key component in ensuring the successful progression of such a profession is maintaining and producing programs which uphold the highest possible standards for educating future physician assistants. Several criteria must be considered when choosing a suitable physician assistant program. Some of these principles include accreditation, adequate didactic and clinical periods resulting in procurement of a master’s degree, outstanding program mission and goals, pass rates on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE), as well as other features unique to individual programs. The criteria will be discussed further in the following report as well as a list of the top ten recommendations for
physician assistant programs in the United States that fall within a 75,000 dollar budget including tuition, books, and medical supplies.
A major factor contributing to the efficacy of a program is its ability to meet and maintain a particular set of standards necessary to establish consistency in educating equally competent practitioners. The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) is an agency created to formulate a set of standards for physician assistant education in the United States and determine whether or not particular programs meet these requirements. There are currently 181 ARC-PA accredited entry-level programs in the United States (“Accredited Entry-level Programs,” 2014). The subsequent ten programs all possess ARC-PA accreditation.
Another important factor to take into consideration when choosing a physician assistant program is the program’s incorporated mission and goals. Some important goals exhibited in many of the following programs include the formation of life-long learners, the immersion of students in interdisciplinary learning, understanding of cultural and ethnically diverse patients, and development of providers whose goal is compassionate care for all. The program’s ability to establish excellent clinical and didactic segments of learning is also very important especially to ensure that they ultimately allow for the conferral of a master’s degree upon completion.
The Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) is a computer based test consisting of questions focusing on basic medical and surgical knowledge (“About Us: Purpose & Mission,” 2009-2013) The PANCE exam was developed by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) whose primary goal is to ensure that physician assistants meet required standards of professionalism and clinical knowledge (“About Us: Purpose & Mission,” 2009-2013). Passing this exam is required in order to become a certified physician assistant in the United States.
Baylor College of Medicine, one of the largest medical centers in the world, offers a highly ranked physician assistant program that has maintained accreditation since 1973.
Central aspects of the program’s goals and objectives include molding strong medical providers who can advocate for the needs and care of underserved people as well as understanding the factors associated with care for individuals of a diverse nature (“Reasons to Attend BCM PA Program,” 2014). These goals are met through immersion in an extremely multicultural learning experience provided by exposure to a highly diversified patient pool. Students are exposed to different cultural and ethnic practices which may be encountered in or influence their future medical practice (“Reasons to Attend BCM PA Program,” 2014). The program first time PANCE pass rate for 2011 was 98% (“Reasons to Attend BCM PA Program,”
2014).
Another of the top physician assistant programs in the United States is offered in the School of Health Technology and Management at Stony Brook University in New York. The university has offered a fully accredited program since its establishment in 1971. Stony Brook’s mission statement incorporates a desire to foster a sense of leadership in students as well as a strong appreciation for human diversity (“PA Entry-Level: Why Stony Brook,” 2012). The program provides a beneficial feature in further extending the typical primary medical care foundation exhibited by most programs by providing education and clinical practice in sixty medical and surgical specialties and subspecialties (“PA Entry-Level: Why Stony Brook,” 2012). Graduates from the program can be found practicing in all fifty states as well as internationally, and the program first time PANCE pass rate was 100% in 2012 with an average of 97% over the past five years (“PA Entry-Level: Why Stony Brook,” 2012).
A third top ranking program was established in 1972 at UT Southwestern Medical Center. This Master of Physician Assistant Studies program incorporates 30 months of vigorous study through didactic and clinical training in affiliation with Parkland Memorial Hospital. Parkland is internationally known for its trauma and burn centers as well as outstanding emergency care in a wide variety of specialty areas (“Master of Physician Assistant Studies,” 2013). An integral part of the program’s mission statement includes the need “to promote primary health care delivery to a diverse and dynamic population” (“Master of Physician Assistant Studies,” 2013). The program has an excellent PANCE pass rate averaging at 100% over the past five years (“Master of Physician Assistant Studies,” 2013).
The School of Allied Health Professions at the University of Alabama Birmingham offers another noteworthy physician assistant program. In addition to the general standards of accreditation and adequate course mission and goals, the UAB program offers the unique feature of a Surgical Physician Assistant Program which places emphasis on instilling in students the knowledge and skills necessary not only for medical practice but also assistance in surgical procedures. The UAB graduates have maintained a consistent PANCE pass rate of 100% over several years (“Physician Assistant, M.S.P.A.S.,” 2012).
The School of Physician Assistant Studies at the University of Florida is another top program having held accreditation since 1973. A key feature of this program is its continued desire to strive for excellence by upholding the highest possible standards for education. The school goes beyond the normal accreditation process mandated by the ARC-PA by annually conducting an internal Self-Study Report in which the program goals and objectives are reviewed in order to determine their efficacy (“University of Florida School of Physician Assistant Studies,” 2014). The program upholds an important set of values such as excellence, integrity, diversity, compassion, and service. The program graduates exhibited a 95% PANCE first time pass rate in 2013 (“University of Florida School of Physician Assistant Studies,” 2014).
Barry University allows for a widely diversified learning experience in physician assistant studies via its three locations including Miami Shores, St. Petersburg, and its newest program located at St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The school is unique in its desire to provide care to areas noted as underserved, such as St. Croix, and its continued advocacy to amend the Virgin Islands PA Practice Act to allow privileges such as prescriptive rights which could greatly improve patient care (“Why Choose Barry University,” 2014). The school firmly believes in interdisciplinary learning as well as communication via videoconferencing between its three program locations. The first time graduates in 2011 received a 92% PANCE pass rate (“Why Choose Barry University,” 2014).
The University of Iowa’s Physician Assistant Program strives to offer a curriculum unlike any other program. The didactic portion of the curriculum is further enhanced through the participation of students in complete immersion in interdisciplinary classes with medical students. This process is critical in allowing students to move past learning through memorization and instead incorporate true learning in the fashion of their future physician supervisors (“Physician Assistant Studies and Services”). The program prides itself on the formation of graduates who have received a first-time PANCE pass rate of greater than 99% since 1974 (“Physician Assistant Studies and Services”).
The University of California, Davis has a Masters of Health Services—Physician Assistant Studies Degree Program housed in the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. One of the program’s main goals is “to improve the availability of culturally relevant primary care to underserved populations” (“Master of Health Services,” 2014). The focus on culturally relevant care is critical for practice as a physician assistant and can be actively facilitated through the diverse patient population in California. Students received a first time PANCE pass rate of 96% in 2013 as well as job placement rates for those graduates recorded at 100% (“Master of Health Services,” 2014).
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston offers another physician assistant studies program which is ARC-PA accredited. Two key qualities of this program are its emphasis on expanding the knowledge of infectious disease for better management in the future as well as practicing and learning in the socio-economically diverse environment exhibited in the state of Texas (“The Physician Assistant Profession,” 2014). The school’s physician assistant program also offers an online post profession master’s program, a Master of Science in Health Professions, to those already practicing physician assistants who meet the requirements (“The Physician Assistant Profession,” 2014). The UTMB graduates received a 100% first time PANCE pass rate in 2010 (“The Physician Assistant Profession,” 2014).
Union College in Nebraska offers a top master of physician assistant studies program that caters to educating and forming competent practitioners from diverse walks of life. One of the goals of the program focusses on professional diversity in which it is stated that their students should participate in “recognizing the privilege of serving others regardless of color, social, ethnic, religious or economic status” (“Physician Assistant Studies,” 2013). Graduates from Union received a five year first time PANCE pass average of 94% (“Physician Assistant Studies,” 2013).
The aforementioned programs meet many high caliber standards and criteria necessary to establish them as top ranking in the United States. Beyond meeting the base requirements of affordability through tuition and other costs, these schools hold themselves to the highest standards of education and clinical practices possible and maintain ARC-PA accreditation consistently. Their mission and goals promote optimal learning to ensure the establishment of highly capable physician assistants. The programs also offer unique features which set them apart from other programs in the United States.

References
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2014, from University of Florida Health: http://pap.med.ufl.edu/about-us-2/university-of florida-pa-program/ Why Choose Barry University? (2014). Retrieved February 5, 2014, from Barry University: https://www.barry.edu/physician-assistant/about-the-program/why-choose-barry.html