Program Overview

Physician Assistant Studies, MSPAS

Overview

The CWRU PA Program is designed to train well-rounded generalist PAs built on the cornerstones of clinical mastery, professionalism, leadership, and community engagement. The goal is to challenge students so that they affect positive change through treating disease, promoting health, and understanding the social and behavioral context of illness.

Program Requirements

The Case Western Reserve University PA program is a 102 credit-hour professional degree program that spans the course of 27 months. The program is a generalist program preparing learners to be leaders in PA practice in a variety of clinical settings. This intensive full-time graduate curriculum awards a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS) from the School of Medicine upon completion.

• The curriculum enables graduates to sit for the PA National Certifying Examination (administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants) and obtain a state license.
• The educational philosophy of the PA program emphasizes the practice of evidence-based, patient-centered medical care as well as accountability to patients, society, and the profession through experiential learning and active community involvement.

Program Structure

• The first 15 months of the program are didactic in nature, divided into four semesters.
• This is followed by 12 months of clinical instruction comprised of twelve, four-week clinical rotations.
• Early clinical exposure is accomplished through pre-clinical clerkships in the first year.
• The PA program begins each year in May and ends in August.
• Students are recruited from the CASPA system.

Learning Methodologies

• Experiential learning in the community
• Pre-clinical clerkships
• Medical writing across the curriculum (MWAC)
• Asynchronous learning
• Clinical simulations
• Case-based learning and clinical correlations

Sample Plan of Study

First Year

• Summer:
  • PAST 401: Foundations of Clinical Medicine-Principles of Interviewing (3 credits)
  • PAST 403: Diagnostic Methods-Clinical Lab (1 credit)
  • PAST 404: Clinical Correlations (1 credit)
  • PAST 411: Professional Issues for PA's-History & Roles of the PA I (1 credit)
  • PAST 410: Cadaver Dissection-based Human Anatomy with Histology and Physiologic Correlations (6 credits)
• Fall:
  • PAST 402: Physical Diagnosis (4 credits)
  • PAST 405: Medical Microbiology & Infectious Disease (2 credits)
  • PAST 420: Pharmacology I (2 credits)
  • PAST 430: Principles of Internal Medicine (7 credits)
  • PAST 440: Pre-Clinical Clerkships I (1 credit)
  • PAST 477: Human Physiology (4 credits)
• Spring:
  • PAST 406: Ethics in Healthcare Delivery (1 credit)
  • PAST 412: Professional Issues for Physician Assistants II (2 credits)
  • PAST 421: Pharmacology II (3 credits)
  • PAST 431: Principles of Clinical Medicine-Surgery & Emergency Medicine (4 credits)
  • PAST 432: Principles of Clinical Medicine-OB/GYN (3 credits)
  • PAST 433: Principles of Clinical Medicine-Pediatrics (3 credits)
  • PAST 434: Principles of Clinical Medicine-Behavioral Medicine (2 credits)
  • PAST 441: Pre-Clinical Clerkships II (1 credit)

Second Year

• Summer:
  • PAST 407: Clinical Procedures (4 credits)
  • PAST 413: Professional Issues for Physician Assistants III (2 credits)
  • PAST 450: Culture and Health (2 credits)
  • PAST 451: Introduction to Public Health (1 credit)
  • PAST 452: Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine (2 credits)
  • PAST 453 or PAST 454: Medical Spanish Elective or Research Methods Elective (1 credit)

Clinical Curriculum

• PAST 500: Clinical Residency: Emergency Medicine (3 credits)
• PAST 501: Clinical Residency: Family Medicine (3 credits)
• PAST 502: Clinical Residency: Geriatrics (3 credits)
• PAST 503: Clinical Residency: Internal Medicine (3 credits)
• PAST 504: Clinical Residency: Obstetrics & Gynecology (3 credits)
• PAST 505: Clinical Residency: Pediatrics (3 credits)
• PAST 506: Clinical Residency: Behavioral and Mental Health (3 credits)
• PAST 507: Clinical Residency: Surgery (3 credits)
• PAST 508: Clinical Residency: Primary Care Elective (3 credits)
• PAST 509: Clinical Residency: Inpatient Medicine Elective (3 credits)
• PAST 510: Clinical Residency: Elective (3 credits)
• PAST 511: Clinical Residency: Elective (3 credits)
• PAST 600: Capstone Quality Improvement Project & Comprehensive Examination (3 credits)

Total Credit Hours

• Total credit hours to complete the program: 102 credits
• Required clinical experience credit hours: 39 hours