Vision & Mission

Vision Statement:

The vision of the Elizabethtown College Physician Assistant Program is to provide an innovative and supportive environment that elevates the standard of PA education through the utilization of an evidence-based curriculum that is continuously assessed and adapted to address emerging challenges in healthcare while fostering a collegial environment amongst students and faculty.

Mission Statement

College Mission Statement: Elizabethtown College provides a transformative educational experience that cultivates personal strengths and develops a passion for lifelong learning and purposeful work.

PA Program Mission: The mission of the Elizabethtown College Physician Assistant Program is to educate and matriculate motivated students who will provide high-quality healthcare as skilled Physician Assistants. Through a transformative educational experience and evidence-based curriculum that emphasizes purposeful work, cultivates personal strengths, and develops a passion for lifelong learning, students will be prepared to Educate for Service. Upon graduation, our students will provide individualized healthcare to diverse patient populations while simultaneously working as a member of an interdisciplinary care team.

Goals:

• Provide an environment for all students with multicultural educational opportunities inclusive of underrepresented groups and diversity in healthcare.
  Outcome: The program achieved a Likert score average of 4.46 (on a scale of 1–5) based on student evaluations of the program, exceeding the benchmark of 4.0, which equates to a minimum score of "agree."
• Achieve a first-time PANCE pass rate at or above the national average.
  Outcome: The program achieved a 92% first-time pass rate, aligning with the current national average and program benchmark.
• Obtain a job placement rate of over 80% in a variety of clinical specialties in the six months following graduation.
  Outcome: Graduates of the Elizabethtown College M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies program achieved a 95% job placement rate across nine areas of clinical medicine within six months of graduation.
• Provide all students with an opportunity to perform community service while in the didactic and clinical years of the program.
  Outcome: The program achieved a Likert score average of 4.1 (on a scale of 1–5) from student evaluations, meeting the benchmark of 4.0, which equates to a minimum score of "agree."
• All faculty will maintain a professional development plan that addresses teaching, scholarship, and service as well as diversity, equity, accessibility, and justice.
  Outcome: 100% of faculty have completed professional development plans that addresses teaching/advising, scholarship, service, and DEI, meeting the program’s benchmark of 100% compliance.

Technical Standards

The faculty and staff of the Elizabethtown College Physician Assistant Program recognize their responsibilities to present candidates for graduation with a PA degree who have met the program’s graduate competencies and the recommended competencies of the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) for new graduates to provide a broad spectrum of patient care in a variety of clinical situations.

Successful candidates for the completion of the Elizabethtown College Physician Assistant Program must have the abilities and attributes necessary to be able to perform the following skills required for integration into clinical practice, either with or without accommodation.

Behavior Attributes

• Tolerate the emotional, mental, and physical stress associated with PA training and providing patient care
• Adaptable, flexible, and able to function within a team setting despite uncertainty or adversity
• Recognize, understand, and demonstrate professional behaviors

Communication Skills

• Obtain information from patients using speech, active listening, and observation of non-verbal communication
• Utilize oral, written, and electronic forms of communication with patients, caregivers, and members of the healthcare team
• Follow HIPAA guidelines convey sensitivity and respect to all communication with patients, caregivers, and members of the healthcare team

Intellectual-Conceptual Abilities

• Apply knowledge learned and critical reasoning to solve problems as required by the program curriculum
• In a variety of educational settings, students must be able to collect, prioritize, organize, analyze, integrate, and apply complex and detailed information in a time-sensitive manner
• Synthesize information appropriately for problem-solving and decision-making

Motor Skills

• Coordinate gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium, and sensation to provide acute, chronic, preventive, and emergent care to patients
• Apply skills learned to correctly utilize instruments and equipment to perform and interpret basic laboratory and medical procedures required to attain goals set forth by the program curriculum

Sensory Skills

• Utilize vision, hearing, and somatic sensation to observe patients and their families closely and at a distance
• Utilize audiovisual and palpable sensation in a lecture and laboratory setting
• Apply skills learned to correctly perform a physical examination by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other components as needed

Social Attributes

• Accept constructive criticism and respond appropriately with behavior modification
• Display integrity, compassion for others, and motivation to serve
• Possess the ability to participate in self-assessment processes and recognize implicit bias
• Develop an appropriate interpersonal and interprofessional relationship with patients and colleagues

The Physician Assistant Faculty Committee is responsible for adhering to all technical standards listed above during the selection of Physician Assistant students for admission and matriculation into the program.

Graduate Competencies

The competencies expected of Physician Assistant graduates from Elizabethtown College align with ten competency domains developed from review of literature published by the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) in the 2019 Core Competencies for New Physician Assistant Graduates and the 2012 Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession document published by the four national PA organizations.

1. Medical Knowledge and Skills: Students will demonstrate a deep understanding and application of core medical knowledge that is essential for patient care upon entry into clinical practice.
2. Patient Centered Care: Students will apply core medical knowledge learned to patient-centered care and utilize evidence-based medicine to refine clinical reasoning and judgment while demonstrating the ability to recognize healthy versus ill patients in various stages of illness.
3. Society and Population Health: Students will understand how patient health may be affected by psychosocial influences as well as community, environmental, and genetic disparities. Graduates will be able to identify their own implicit biases and understand how these ideas can impact patient care.
4. Health Literacy: Students will utilize emotional intelligence to adjust the style and content of their verbal communication with patients to establish rapport and engage in shared decision-making.
5. Professional Practice: Students will demonstrate an understanding of Physician Assistant roles and responsibilities while maintaining a level of team awareness, keeping the patient at the center of all healthcare decisions.
6. Legal, Fiscal, and System-Based Healthcare: Students will demonstrate an understanding of ethically and legally appropriate ways to deliver safe, quality, and efficacious healthcare to patients in a variety of clinical settings.
7. Self-Reflection and Assessment: Students will work closely with program faculty and their advisors in an ongoing and continual process to develop strategies necessary for reflection, self-evaluation, and self-control while developing confidence in addressing the health needs of their patients.

Frequently Asked Questions

Master of Physician Assistant Studies Graduate Program: