Clinical Phase

Curriculum

Students complete 56 weeks of clinical training in more than 10 specialty areas. In addition, there is one didactic course that occurs during this phase of the program, PA Profession (PS 870). Students rotate through inpatient, outpatient, surgical, and emergent settings interacting with a variety of health care teams and providers.

PS 870 PA Profession

The PA Profession course (2 cr.) is comprised of lectures and seminars on professional development topics ranging from Reading an ECG: A Review to Negotiating an Employment Contract. These sessions occur throughout the clinical year and coincide with the last day of certain rotations, so we refer to them as “call back” sessions.

Mandatory Clerkships

In general, each week of clinical education equals 1 credit hour of academic work.

Elective Courses

PS 996 Telemedicine

This course provides students with a remote clinical experience designed to teach and reinforce practical clinical skills utilizing Telemedicine as the platform for patient encounters. The course will utilize online history taking techniques, ordering and interpretation of diagnostic studies, and oral presentations to Proctors and Standardized Patients

PS 997 Public Health

This elective course is a primer for understanding the practice of Public Health on a population and its influence on the practice of medicine. Critical analysis and application of quantitative and qualitative data and how they relate to Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Health Policy and Program Development, Basic Healthcare Management and Finance, Chronic Non-communicable and Infectious Diseases, Maternal and Child Health, Population Dynamics, and the Social Determinants of Health with selected instruction on Public Health Surveillance Systems, Public Health Aspects of Sex and Gender, the Politics of Consumables and the Public Health of Immigrant/Refugee/Displaced Populations.

Elective Clerkships

Elective clerkships are offered in more than 40 sub-specialties of medicine and surgery including sub-internship opportunities in emergency medicine and internal medicine. Students complete 5 elective clerkships (20 credit hours).

Transportation

While many of the mandatory clerkships will be at one of our three major affiliate academic medical centers, each student is expected to travel to rural and remote sites to balance the diversity of their clinical education. As a result, all students are required to have reliable means transportation during the clinical phase of the program. Transportation costs for the clinical phase of the program are reflected in the student financial aid budget for years 2 and 3.

Assessment

Evaluation of the student’s clinical acumen is determined by the clinical site preceptor evaluation, logging of diagnoses and clinical procedures, assignments, presentations, and performance on the end-of-rotation knowledge-based examination for each rotation. Preparedness for clinical practice will be objectively established by a 7-station clinical skills examination prior to graduation (called OSCEs) and with a summative exam that occurs within three months of graduation.