The College of Science and Integrative Health offers a 7-trimester (two years and four months) full time Master of Science: Physician Assistant (MSPA) Program. Graduates of the MSPA Program are eligible to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE). The MSPA Program at SCU does not accept transfer students.
MSPA Program Mission:
SCU’s Master of Science: Physician Assistant program will educate students to become skilled clinical providers for quality integrative healthcare teams. In today’s ever-changing healthcare system, our graduates will strive to provide premium healthcare to a diverse population and establish their place as innovative leaders in the delivery of healthcare.
MSPA Program Goals:
- Ensure a learning community where academic excellence in our program results in competent MSPA practitioners.
- Educate graduates that will be recognized as unique, highly-trained, evidence-based, patient-focused, and successful integrative healthcare providers.
- Develop leaders to be thoughtful and compassionate individuals who promote healthy lifestyles and preventative medicine and influence their profession and the communities they serve.
- Provide a learning environment conducive and supportive of quality instruction, innovation, critical thinking and effective communication that encourages life-long professional development.
Accreditation
The Master of Science: Physician Assistant (MSPA) Program at SCU has been granted Accreditation - Provisional status by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), 12000 Findley Road, Ste. 275 Johns Creek, GA 30097. Phone: (770) 476-1224.
Program Learning Outcomes
Medical Knowledge
Medical knowledge includes the synthesis of pathophysiology, patient presentation, differential diagnosis, patient management, surgical principles, health promotion, and disease prevention. Physician assistants must demonstrate core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care in their area of practice. In addition, physician assistants are expected to demonstrate an investigative and analytic thinking approach to clinical situations.
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
Interpersonal and communication skills encompass the verbal, nonverbal, written, and electronic exchange of information. Physician assistants must demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange with patients, patients’ families, physicians, professional associates, and other individuals within the health care system.
Professionalism
Professionalism is the expression of positive values and ideals as care is delivered. Foremost, it involves prioritizing the interests of those being served above one’s own. Physician assistants must acknowledge their professional and personal limitations. Professionalism also requires that PAs practice without impairment from substance abuse, cognitive deficiency or mental illness. Physician assistants must demonstrate a high level of responsibility, ethical practice, sensitivity to a diverse patient population, and adherence to legal and regulatory requirements.
Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
Practice-based learning and improvement includes the processes through which physician assistants engage in critical analysis of their own practice experience, the medical literature, and other information resources for the purposes of self- and practice-improvement. Physician assistants must be able to assess, evaluate, and improve their patient care practices.
Systems-Based Practice
Systems-based practice encompasses the societal, organizational, and economic environments in which health care is delivered. Physician assistants must demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger system of health care to provide patient care that balances quality and cost, while maintaining the privacy of the individual patient. PAs should work to improve the health care system of which their practices are a part.
Integrative Medicine
As a supplemental competency in alignment with SCU’s vision of the future of healthcare, the SCU MSPA Program introduces Integrative Medicine as a valued proficiency for all of its PA students. SCU MSPA Program graduates will be well-trained to collaborate with other professionals as an effective member of an interdisciplinary healthcare team, to navigate complex medical systems, and to incorporate a variety of professional viewpoints, including community health and disease prevention, to achieve optimal patient outcomes.
Admissions
Application Requirements
Applications are processed online through the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA): https://portal.caspaonline.org/
Currently, the fee to apply to one Physician Assistant school through CASPA is $175 and each subsequent school is $50.00. Fees associated with conditional acceptance are the responsibility of the student and include the following:
- Nonrefundable tuition deposit: $1,000 (applied against tuition)
- Criminal background check (with drug testing): $150 (approximately)
- Clinical tracking fee: $105
- Proof of immunization status
- Proof of healthcare insurance
- Physical examination clearance for participation in program
Fees are subject to change
CASPA application deadline: January 15, 2020 for the matriculating class of Fall 2020.
The CASPA application requires:
- two letters of recommendation: one academic, one professional;
- official transcripts;
- criminal background check with drug testing.
Support for veterans is available.
Additional requirement for International applicants for whom English is not a native language:
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores. The minimum required scores are: 100 on the internet-based TOEFL (iBT), 500 on the paper-based TOEFL, or 250 on the computer-based TOEFL.
After a thorough application review process, those applicants selected as potential program candidates will be invited to interview with SCU MSPA Program faculty. Invitees are required to submit a passport-sized photograph (2 x 2 inches). This photo will not be returned.
Upon acceptance to SCU, the following are required.
- $1,000.00 deposit to SCU.
- Proof of current health status and immunizations. The University requires MSPA students to have the following immunizations as a minimum: Hepatitis B, Influenza, MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella). Varicella (Chickenpox), Annual PPD or chest x-rays, Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis), and Meningococcal. SCU’s Immunization PDF
- University-approved medical insurance.
- Criminal background check with drug testing.
Academic Requirements
- All prerequisite courses must be completed by January 15, 2020 to be eligible for the September 2020 enrollment date. All prerequisites must be completed at a college or university accredited by one of the U.S. Regional Accrediting Associations. Prerequisites in the core sciences must have occurred within the last 7 years.
- Bachelor degree from a regionally accredited college or university;
- Undergraduate GPA of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale. Exception to the GPA requirement are considered on a case-by-case basis
- Must be completed within 7 years
- Chemistry (8 semester units) must include lab credits, acceptable chemistry courses include: General, Organic, Inorganic, Biochemistry
- Human Anatomy (4 semester units) must include lab, must be Human Anatomy
- Human Physiology (4 semester units) must include lab, must be Human Physiology
- Microbiology (4 semester units) must include lab
- Prerequisite General College Courses
- Mathematics, algebra or higher (2 semester units)
- Psychology (3 semester units)
- English Composition (3 semester units)
- Sociology or Cultural Anthropology (3 semester units)
- Statistics in addition to mathematics requirement. Must be within math, social sciences, or health sciences departments (3 semester units)
- Recommended Courses
- Medical Terminology
- Conversational Spanish
- Healthcare Experience: 2000 Paid Hours Clinical Experience is Required.
Examples of the types of clinical experiences (not limited to):
- Military medic or corpsman
- Chiropractic
- Naturopathic Medicine
- Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
- Back Office Medical Assistant (MA)
- Certified Nurses’ Aide
- EMT (patient care hours only)
- Licensed Vocational Nurse
- Paramedic
- Respiratory Therapist
- Physical Therapy Aide
- Radiological Technician
- Occupational Therapist Aide
- Registered Nurse
**Additional consideration will be given to applicants with leadership experience, volunteer community service or military experience (verifiable by DD-214)
Qualifying duties during clinical experiences must consist of direct patient contact. This may include, but is not limited to: consultation, assessment, diagnosis or treatment
The Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are not required.
There is no advanced standing recognized for the MSPA Program. SCU’s MSPA program does not accept transfer students.
Technical Standards
The SCU MSPA Program is dedicated to the education of students who strive to become competent and caring providers of primary health care services. The student must be able to achieve and maintain certain technical standards of knowledge and skill in order to become a skilled and effective practitioner. The technical standards stated in this document apply to satisfactory performance in all academic and clinical course work, as well as fulfillment of “non-academic” essential functions of the curriculum involving physical, cognitive, and behavior factors that are essential to a professional clinical practitioner.
SCU shall provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities otherwise qualified to complete the essential functions of the curriculum and the profession. The safety and welfare of a patient shall never be put in jeopardy as a result of an effort to reasonably accommodate a disability.
Candidates for successful completion of the MSPA Program will achieve and maintain adequate abilities and skills in the following five areas:
Observation
The student must be able to observe demonstrations and conduct experiments in the basic sciences, including but not limited to chemical, anatomic and physiologic sciences, microbiologic cultures, and microscopic studies of microorganisms. A student must be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand. Observation necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision and other sensory modalities. A student must be able to integrate all information visually and through the other senses.
Communication
A student must be able to communicate effectively, sensitively, and rapidly in English with patients and members of the health care team. A student must be able to elicit information from patients, perceive nonverbal communications, and describe changes in mood, activity and posture. Communication includes not only speech, but writing, reading, interpreting tables, figures, graphs and computer literacy.
Sensory and Motor Function
The student must have sufficient sensory and motor function to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other diagnostic maneuvers. The student will be required to coordinate both gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium, and functional use of the senses of hearing, touch and vision.
More specifically, the student must be able to exercise such fine motor skills as to adequately perform laboratory tests, including but not limited to, wet mount, urinalysis and gram stain. The student must exercise such level of dexterity, sensation and visual acuity as to accurately complete such processes as administering intravenous medication, making fine measurements of angles and size, measuring blood pressure, respiration and pulse, performing physical examinations, and performing therapeutic procedures such as suturing and casting. The student must be able to hear sufficiently to accurately differentiate percussive tones and appreciate auditory findings, including but not limited to, heart, lung, and abdominal sounds, as well as discern normal and abnormal findings using instruments such as tuning forks, stethoscopes, and sphygmomanometers.
A student must be able to transport himself or herself in a manner which provides timely response in both general and emergency care situations. Moving patients and engaging in some procedures such as CPR will require a necessary level of strength, stamina and dexterity.
Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities
A student must have the intellect necessary to quickly analyze and resolve problems. These intellectual abilities include numerical recognition, measurement, calculations, reasoning, analysis judgment and synthesis. The student must be able to identify significant findings from the patient’s history, the physical examination and laboratory data, provide a reasoned explanation for likely diagnoses, and choose appropriate medications and therapy.
The ability to incorporate new information from many sources in formulating diagnoses and plans is essential. Good judgment in patient assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic planning is primary. When appropriate, students must be able to identify and communicate the limits of their knowledge to others.
Behavioral and Social Attributes
A student must possess the emotional health required for full use of his or her intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment and the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients. The development of mature, sensitive, effective and professional relationships with patients and members of the health care team is essential. Students must be able to tolerate physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. They must be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, interpersonal skills, interest and motivation are all personal qualities that are desired in a health professional and assessed during the admissions and education processes.
Degree Requirements
The master of science: physician assistant (MSPA) degree may be conferred upon those who have fulfilled the following requirements:
- Completed all required MSPA coursework;
- Met the MSPA continuation standards;
- Fulfilled the clinical clerkship requirements as stated in the Clinical handbook;
- Pass the Physician Assistant Comprehensive Examination (PACE) 1 and 2;
- Free of all indebtedness and other obligations to the University;
- Recommended for graduation by the Program Director, student progress committee and the President of the University.
Tuition and Fees
For current tuition and fees, refer to the published Tuition and Fees schedule. Tuition and fees are approved by the Board of Regents annually. The University reserves the right to adjust tuition and/or fees.
Financial compliance must be met each term to maintain future registration status.
Refund Policy
Students are not entitled to a refund for units dropped after the close of the official “Add-Drop” period. In the event a student must withdraw or take a program leave, a partial refund of term tuition may be available. The percentage of tuition student is responsible for is based on the number of calendar days elapsed between the first day of the program and the official withdrawal/leave date provided by Registrar department. * Fees and reservation deposit are non-refundable*
No attendance: 0% Tuition responsibility
1-10 days: 10% Tuition responsibility
11-26 days: 25% Tuition responsibility
27-52 days: 50% Tuition responsibility
+52 days: 100% Tuition responsibility (no refund)
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