The physician assistant curriculum is closely related to the purpose and goals of the institution as well as to the degree. The Mississippi College Physician Assistant Program offers a master’s degree program that promotes lifelong learning, critical thinking, and varied academic experiences to provide students with the expertise and work ethic required to achieve personal and professional fulfillment.
The goals of the program are to:
- Recruit highly qualified students who demonstrate predictors of success.
- Rationale: Entering PA school is highly competitive. The MC PA Program has a rigorous application process to ensure we admit the most qualified students. The MC PA Program recognizes that ‘Overall GPA’ is a reliable metric as a predictor of success in the Program.
- Benchmark: The Program has set a goal benchmark of > 3.40 undergraduate GPA and has consistently recruited students who met that benchmark.
- Outcome: Overall GPA of recruited students
- Matriculate an inclusive and diverse student cohort.
- Rationale: Maintaining Inclusion and diversity is an important Program goal, particularly to train PAs who can meet the demands of a diverse patient population. The Mississippi College PA Program recognizes the importance of inclusivity and diversity.
- Benchmark: The Program has set benchmarks for matriculated cohorts of qualified students who are > 5% racially/ethnically diverse and are from > 10% economically or educationally disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Outcome: Racially/ethnically diverse and economically or educationally disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds
- Attain a high graduation rate for each matriculated cohort.
- Rationale: The Mississippi College PA Program recognizes the importance of a high graduation rate.
- Benchmark: The Program has set a goal benchmark of > 90% for each cohort.
- Outcome: Graduation rate
- The Program will maintain a high five-year first-time pass rate on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE).
- Rationale: Passing the PANCE is required in all fifty states to obtain initial licensure as a PA. The Mississippi College PA Program recognizes the importance of preparing students to pass the PANCE.
- Benchmark: The Program has set a goal benchmark of > 90% five-year average for first-time takers.
- Outcome: PANCE five-year first-time pass rate
- Educate students in each of the Program’s defined competency domains in preparation for clinical practice.
- Rationale: The Mississippi College PA Program endeavors to educate students in each competency domain to prepare them for clinical practice.
- Benchmark: The Program has set a goal of 3.5 / 5.0 (5-point Likert scale) in each domain as reported by students, clinical preceptors, and faculty.
- Outcome: Competency domains for students, clinical preceptors, and faculty.
