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The mission of the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ 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 ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ 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 ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ 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 ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ PA Program are:

1. Maintain ARC accreditation.
2. Maintain curriculum designed to educate students meeting all the entry-level PA competencies (according to PAEA, AAPA, NCCPA, and ARC-PA competencies).
3. Recruit qualified applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
4. Contribute to the PA workforce needs of New England.
5. Graduate clinicians knowledgeable about the aging population and competent to practice in rural and underserved populations.

The mission of the Program is accomplished by having graduates who meet the goals of the educational process. Graduates of the 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 professional beliefs, biases, attitudes, and actions that affect patient care. Develop a commitment to ongoing personal and professional development surrounding cultural competence and humility.

The Master of Science – Physician Assistant Program (M.S.P.A.) has been planned to effectively utilize faculty expertise from the University's five colleges. Some faculty hold joint appointments with responsibility for teaching medical and PA students as well as other health profession matriculants. Similarly, PA candidates will receive clinical supervision as part of an integrated team of healthcare providers. It is our expectation that these collaborative strategies toward teaching and learning will ultimately result in high quality, cost-effective healthcare delivery, particularly in medically underserved regions of New England.

Upon successful completion of the Physician Assistant Program, the University of New England awards the Master of Science degree. The Program operates on a 24-month full-time calendar, beginning in late May of each year with a new incoming class.

What is a PA?

Physician Assistants (PAs) are healthcare professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. PAs are qualified by graduation from an accredited Physician Assistant educational program and/or certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Within the physician/PA relationship, PAs exercise autonomy in medical decision-making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services under the general supervision of the physician.

Other

The University of New England's M.S.P.A. program was designed according to the Essentials and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Physician Assistant. The University of New England Physician Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).

Phase I of the Program of study consists of 60.5 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 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).

Summer I (June–August, 10 weeks)

Fall (September–December, 15 weeks)

Spring (January–May, 20 weeks)

Spring II–Summer II (June–June, 12 months)

Graduation Requirements

Students must complete all Program requirements prior to the issuance of their Master of Science degree and the certificate of completion of the program.

WCHP Academic Policies

The Department of Physician Assistant, the Westbrook College of Health Professions, and the University of New England 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 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:

Observation

Students must have sufficient sensory capacity to observe in the lecture hall, the laboratory, the outpatient setting, and the patient’s bedside. Sensory skills adequate to perform a physical examination are required. The ability to acquire sensory input using vision, hearing, and tactile sensation must be adequate to observe a patient’s condition and to elicit information through procedures regularly required in a physical examination, such as inspection, auscultation, percussion, and palpation.

In any case, where a student’s ability to observe or acquire information through these sensory modalities is compromised, the student must demonstrate alternative means and/or abilities to acquire and demonstrate the essential information without reliance upon another person’s interpretation of the information. It is expected that obtaining and using such alternative means and/or abilities shall be the responsibility of the student. The University will reasonably assist the student where necessary.

Communication

The student must be able to effectively and efficiently communicate in the English language using verbal, written, and reading skills, in a manner that demonstrates sensitivity to fellow students, patients, their families, and all members of the healthcare team.

• A student must be able to accurately elicit information, describe a patient’s change in mood, thought, activity, and posture. Students must demonstrate established communication skills using traditional means which may include the use of assistive devices.
• The student must be able to communicate complex findings in appropriate terms for patients/caregivers and other members of the healthcare team.
• A student must be able to communicate clearly and audibly during interactions with classmates, professors, patients, and members of the healthcare team.
• A student must be able to receive, write legibly, and interpret written and verbal communication in both clinical and academic settings.
• The student must be able to interpret and record legibly observations in a manner that is efficient and accurate using handwritten and electronic and dictating formats.

Motor

The ability to participate in basic diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers and procedures (e.g. palpation, percussion, auscultation) is required. Students must have sufficient motor function to safely execute movements required to provide care to patients. Students must be able to negotiate patient care environments and must be able to move between settings, such as clinic, classroom building, and hospital. Physical stamina sufficient to complete the rigorous course of didactic and clinical study in required. Long periods of sitting, standing, or moving are required in the classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences.

The student must be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general and emergency diagnosis and medical care such as airway management, placement of intravenous catheters, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and suturing of wounds. At all times the ability to administer care to patients in a safe manner is paramount.

Intellectual

Students must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize information effectively in a precisely limited time as would be appropriate for the individual’s level of training in a given clinical setting, while under stress, and in an environment in which other distractions may be present. Problem-solving, one of the critical skills demanded of PAs, requires all of these intellectual abilities. In addition, students should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures.

Students must be able to read and understand medical literature. The student must be able to demonstrate mastery of these skills and the ability to use them together in a timely fashion in medical problem solving and patient care.

The student must be able to, with or without the use of assistive devices, but without reliance on another person, interpret x-ray, and other graphic images and digital or analog representations of physiologic phenomena (such as EKGs).

Behavioral and Social Attributes

Students must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, and the prompt completion of all academic and patient care responsibilities. The development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients and other members of the healthcare team are essential. Flexibility, compassion, integrity, motivation, interpersonal skills, and the ability to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice are required.

Students must function professionally and effectively in any academic or clinical setting. Students must always demonstrate the psychological and emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, and the prompt completion of all academic and clinical responsibilities.

The student must demonstrate mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with University faculty and professional staff, peers and classmates, patients and other members of the healthcare team. Flexibility, compassion, integrity, motivation, interpersonal skills, and the ability to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice are all required.

For more information on disabilities and accommodation, please contact the ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ Student Access Center at (207) 602-2815.

Grading

Upon completion of a course of study, the faculty member in charge of that course submits the number of hours taught and a grade for each student to the academic coordinator. The M.S.P.A. program uses a standard letter grading system.

Course Add/Drop or Withdrawal Policy

Due to the standard curriculum sequence within the M.S.P.A. program, students are not allowed to add or drop courses. Students may not withdraw from an individual M.S.P.A. course, to do so indicates a complete withdrawal from the MSPA Program.

Repeat Course Policy

Courses in the M.S.P.A. program are offered once per year. All courses within the program must be completed with a minimum final grade of at least 74%. Students must successfully complete each course within a given semester to progress to the next semester. If the student does not pass the course, they are given a chance to remediate with direction by the course coordinator and the Program Student Development Committee (SDC). An incomplete grade will remain on the transcript until the remediation is completed after which the maximum grade for that course will be replaced with a C- on the transcript. An unsuccessful course remediation will result in dismissal from the Program. If the student is successful at remediating the failed course and fails another course during their time in the Program (two course failures), they will be dismissed. If the student has taken a leave of absence and fails the retaken course the following year, they will also be dismissed.

If the student is repeating a course due to a leave of absence taken before that semester was completed, a new listing and assigned grade are placed on the student's transcript. The original course listing and grade remain on the student's transcript (e.g. Withdrawal Pass, Withdrawal Fail, etc.). All courses are listed chronologically on the transcript