Program Competencies (A3.12g)
Relationship to the Conceptual Framework: Courses are designed, in part, to satisfy the curricular goals and Standards cited below in the current edition (5th) of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc., Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education.
PA Competencies
The PA competencies were originally developed in response to the growing demand for accountability and assessment in clinical practice and reflected similar efforts conducted by other healthcare professions. In 2005, a collaborative effort among four national PA organizations produced the first Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession. These organizations are the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, the American Academy of PAs, and the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA, formerly the Association of Physician Assistant Programs). The same four organizations updated and approved this document in 2012.
The MC PA program competencies are reflective of the 2021 amended document Competencies for the Physician Assistant (PA) Profession. The document includes competencies that a PA gains following their formal PA education. The document is a way to communicate to the public a set of competencies that all PAs, regardless of specialty or setting, are expected to acquire and maintain throughout their careers. It serves as a map for the individual PA, the physician-PA team and organizations that are committed to promoting the development, maintenance and future advancements of professional competencies among PAs.
While some competencies are acquired during the PA education program, others are developed and mastered as PAs progress through their careers. The PA professional competencies and MC PA program graduation requirements include seven competency domains that capture the breadth and complexity of modern PA practice. These are: (1) knowledge for practice, (2) interpersonal and communication skills, (3) person-centered care, (4) interprofessional collaboration, (5) professionalism and ethics, (6) practice-based learning and quality improvement, and (7) society and population health. The PA competencies reflect the well-documented need for medical practice to focus on surveillance, patient education, prevention, and population health.
MC PA program graduates will be competent in the functions and tasks necessary for entry into clinical PA practice. The graduate must function in various clinical settings including preventive, emergent, acute, chronic, rehabilitative, palliative, and end-of-life care. The graduate must be able to identify and critically analyze clinical problems while applying scientific methods to medical management.
Knowledge For Practice
Demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care as an entry level physician assistant.
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals as an entry level physician assistant.
Person-Centered Care
Provide person-centered care that includes patient- and setting-specific assessment, evaluation, and management and healthcare that is evidence-based, supports patient safety, and advances health equity as an entry level physician assistant.
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 as an entry level physician assistant.
Practice-Based Learning and Quality Improvement
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 purpose of self-evaluation, lifelong learning, and practice improvement as an entry level physician assistant.
Society and Population Health
Recognize and understand the influences of the ecosystem of person, family, population, environment, and policy on the health of patients and integrate the knowledge of these determinants of health into patient care decisions as an entry level physician assistant.
Professionalism and Ethics
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 as an entry level physician assistant.