Physician Assistant Studies (MS)

Curriculum & Coursework Requirements

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Key Policies

• Academic Appeals policy
• Academic Integrity policy
• Withdrawal policies:
  • Withdrawal policy regarding tuition and financial aid
  • Leave of Absence/Withdrawal for International Students policy
  • Involuntary Medical Withdrawal policy
  • Voluntary Medical Withdrawal policy
• Due to lock-step design of the curriculum, the program does not offer advanced placement or part-time options.
• Students are not required to solicit clinical sites or preceptors. Students may inquire about a clinical site and obtain contact information for the director of clinical education to follow up and confirm the rotation for the student.

Handbooks

• Student Handbook
• Preceptor Orientation Handbook
• Clinical Year Handbook

Program Mission

The MS program at Widener University will graduate excellent health care professionals to meet the growing need for patients to have access to medicine both locally and globally. The MS program will educate highly effective health care professionals equipped to provide patient-centered medical care to diverse populations across the life span. Students will learn to be competent clinicians, culturally sensitive, socially conscious health care providers able to work in collaboration with other members of the health care team.  

Program Vision

The physician assistant program at Widener University will be the leader in physician assistant education by providing experiential and collaborative learning, and interprofessional experiences through community and civic engagement, developing leaders in health care, and ultimately improving the lives of the patients they serve.

Core Values

1. Excellence in teaching
2. Commitment to service
3. Diversity and inclusion
4. Professionalism
5. Scholarship
6. Collaboration
7. Kindness and compassion 

Widener University PA Program Goals

For goal success metrics and other data, please view the Program Outcomes & PANCE Rate section.

1. Admit students with strong academic and clinical experience.

a. Criteria—Students with strong academic and clinical experience

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Undergraduate cum GPA/ >3.0 average for the entering cohort
   2. Undergraduate science GPA/ > 3.0 average for the entering cohort
   3. Direct patient care/ > 500 average for the entering cohort

2. Foster a student commitment to service

a. Criteria 1—Student involvement with community service

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Average number of hours of student community service by cohort/ >20 hours

3. Successfully prepare student for entry level practice.

a. Criteria 1—Student Summative Exam performance.

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Student Summative Exam/ >80% average by cohort

b. Criteria 2—Student PANCE performance

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Student first-time taker PANCE pass rates at or above national average

4. Emphasize a commitment to evidence-based medicine.

a. Criteria 1—Evidence-based medicine

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Preceptor evaluation of students (EBM)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort
   2. Faculty evaluation of curriculum (student EBM preparation)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort
   3. Student graduate exit survey (EBM preparation)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort

5. Prepare students to practice patient-centered care

a. Criteria 1—Patient-centered care

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Preceptor Evaluation of Students (Patient-centered care)/ >3.5 ave for cohort
   2. Faculty Eval of Course (Student Patient-centered care Preparation)/ >3.5 ave for cohort
   3. Student Exit Survey (Patient-centered care Preparation)/ >3.5 ave for cohort

6. Prepare student for interprofessional collaboration in their practice

a. Criteria 1—Interprofessional Collaboration 

1. Measures/Benchmarks
   1. Preceptor evaluation of students (interprofessional collaboration)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort
   2. Faculty evaluation of curriculum (student interprofessional collaboration preparation)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort
   3. Student graduate exit survey (interprofessional collaboration preparation)/ >3.5 avg. for cohort

Widener University PA Program Competencies

The Widener University Institute for Physician Assistant competencies represent the requisite medical knowledge, interpersonal skills, clinical and technical skills, professional behaviors, and clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills required for each student to satisfactory demonstrate in order to graduate from the Widener Physician Assistant Program.  

1. Medical Knowledge 

• a) Recognize healthy and ill patients at different stages of illness, including acute,  emergent, and chronic. 
• b) Synthesize the pathophysiology, etiology, and patient presentation to deliver high-quality patient-centered care. 
• c) Apply evidence-based medicine in clinical practice 
• d) Synthesize the history, physical exam, and diagnostic studies to formulate a differential diagnosis.   
• e) Differentiate pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment strategies, including patient education and counseling for patients with various medical conditions. 
• f) Understand health promotion and preventative medicine 

2. Interpersonal Communication Skills 

• a) Demonstrate an ability to communicate with patients as partners and use shared decision-making to involve patients in their medical care.  
• b) Recognize any barriers to communication or comprehension and work to correct them.  
• c) Recognize the significance of health literacy in the patient population they serve. 
• d) Understand that a patient’s community, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or other individual characteristics affect their health and strive to understand them.  
• e) Recognize and understand the effect of a patient’s community on their health and vis versa

3. Clinical and Technical Skills 

• a) Demonstrate medical, behavioral, clinical, and technical skills needed to promote health, evaluation, and management of patient presentations across the lifespan.
• b) Conduct effective, patient-centered history and physical examination for comprehensive and problem-focused patient visits
• c) Perform procedural and clinical skills considered essential for PA practice
• d) Counsel and educate patients and their families with consideration for diverse backgrounds to empower shared decision-making.

4. Professional Behaviors 

• a) Demonstrate integrity, honesty, beneficence, and professionalism in practice. 
• b) Recognize and adhere to standards of care in the role of the PA in the healthcare team.
• c) Recognize personal biases, work to overcome them, and do not allow them to affect the delivery of quality patient care. 
• d) Demonstrate cultural humility and responsiveness to diverse populations.  

5. Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Solving

• a) Demonstrate an ability to use the latest scientific evidence to inform clinical reasoning and problem-solving. 
• b) Understand the effect that social determinants of health and health disparities can have on patient care and work to minimize these effects when engaged in clinical decision making
• c) Demonstrate investigative and critical thinking in the clinical setting.

This section will capture the outcomes data of our graduates as students move through the master's of physician assistant studies (MPAS) program. 

PANCE Pass Rates

Physician Assistant National Certification Examination
Exam Performance Summary Report 

Program Name: 
Program Number: 
Test Taker Status: All Test Takers 

ARC-PA Student Attrition

Program Goal Measurements

1. Admit students who are underrepresented in the PA field.

2. Foster a student commitment to service-learning.

3. Successfully prepare student for entry level practice.

4. Emphasize a commitment to evidence-based medicine and life-long learning.

5. Prepare students to be patient-centered and practice interprofessional collaboration.

The Widener University physician assistant program is dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We, as a university, program, faculty, and staff, desire to embrace students of all different cultures, backgrounds, and identities. We are committed to the development and delivery of a curriculum that is anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and reflects and respects our professional values. We seek to create an intentionally diverse educational community in which students, staff, and faculty perspectives are valued and meaningfully incorporated into our daily experience.

• Review Widener's Equal Opportunity, Harassment, and Nondiscrimination Policy

Upon the program's receipt of accreditation from ARC-PA, all graduating PA students will be eligible to sit for the NCCPA (National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants) PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certification Examination) upon graduation. A passing score on this examination allows graduates to obtain licensure to practice medicine as a physician assistant in all states and territories. For more information, review PANCE eligibility.