Master of Physician Assistant Science Curriculum

The curriculum is designed to prepare students to provide patient-centered care and work within an interprofessional team environment. The curriculum builds a strong base in health information, evidence-based medicine and emphasizes the importance of life-long learning.

The curriculum is built on the mission and goals of the University of Evansville and the Physician Assistant (PA) Program. It provides core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences in a breadth and depth to prepare students for the clinical practice of medicine.

The sequencing of the curriculum below is designed to assist students in meeting the program competencies and the University's mission and goals. The start of the program (first semester) is focused on a team environment, needs of a community/population and on the human element (art) of medicine. The goal is to “set the stage” for clinical practice by developing a sense of “bigger than an individual or simple knowledge” to be able to provide clinical care.

The next three didactic semesters begin to mix foundation science material with clinical science to maintain a dynamic relationship between base knowledge and evolving clinical practice. The course material is synchronized and thus is somewhat modular in topics covered.

The final 12 months (3 semesters) are structured clinical practice experiences (rotations). These courses are designed to have the student integrate and apply the knowledge acquired from the didactic portion of the curriculum. There are seven core areas per accreditation standards. These are divided into four primary care fields (family medicine, internal medicine, women's health, pediatrics) and three specialty care fields (general surgery, community mental health, emergency medicine). The program additionally requires a rotation in orthopedics. The students will also have an elective rotation in an area or specialty of their choice. Additionally, students may be able to implement subspecialty hours within their core rotations.

• View the Physician Assistant Curriculum