Physician Assistant MHS

Major: Physician Assistant
Degree Awarded: Master of Health Science (MHS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 117.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 51.0912
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 29-1071

About the Program

The Drexel University Physician Assistant program provides graduates with a Master of Health Science degree and eligibility to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE).

A physician assistant (PA) is a primary health care provider who, when graduated from an accredited program, nationally certified and state-licensed, is eligible to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician.

PAs perform many duties including, but not limited to, physical examinations, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, ordering and interpretation of lab tests, assisting in surgery, performing procedures and hospital rounds, prescribing medicines and providing patient education.

The mission of this program is to:

• Educate qualified primary care physician assistants.
• Improve health care delivery in rural and urban medically underserved areas.
• Promote the physician assistant profession.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, contact: paadmissions@drexel.edu

For more details about the program, visit the College of Nursing and Health Professions Physician Assistant page.

Admission Requirements

The Drexel University Physician Assistant Program utilizes the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). All applicants must complete the CASPA application process and the application must be verified by CASPA no later than September 1 of the year prior to the expected date of matriculation. Applicants may not apply directly to the Drexel University Physician Assistant Program. Applications made directly to the Office of Enrollment Management (Admissions) of Drexel University will not be processed.

• All applications must be verified by CASPA no later than September 1.
• For the 2024-2025 application cycle (open April 25 - September 1, 2024) all prerequisites must be completed by the end of the fall term, or no later than December 31, 2024. NOTE: A maximum of two (2) prerequisite courses may be in progress or outstanding at the time of application submission.

Application Prerequisites

• A bachelor's degree obtained from a regionally accredited US institution by the end of the spring term prior to fall matriculation is required. The equivalency of a bachelor's degree from a foreign institution is acceptable if verified on the WES evaluation.
• A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 is required for the following categories: overall total GPA and overall science GPA. Applications will not be reviewed unless the applicant has attained these minimum requirements at the time of application.
• Meet the technical standards for admission, progression and graduation from the Physician Assistant program. Each applicant is expected to review completely the “Technical Standards for PA Program” PDF on the program webpage. Individuals unable to meet these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, are counseled to pursue alternate careers.
• Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended sent directly to CASPA.
• Non-United States-based educational institutional transcripts must be evaluated by the World Education Service (WES). Evaluation fees are the responsibility of the applicant. Evaluations must be sent directly to CASPA.
• Three completed reference forms with accompanying letters of recommendation submitted as part of the official CASPA application. Preferred references are from individuals who have interacted with the applicant in a supervisory capacity in a clinical setting or academic instructors who have personal knowledge of the applicant. Submission of references from friends, relatives, personal physicians or instructors who do not possess a personal, supervisory knowledge of the applicants is discouraged.
• A personal statement recorded as part of the CASPA application.
• An applicant whose native language is not English must submit scores from the TOEFL iBT examination unless the applicant has graduated with a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. college or university. The minimum required score for the iBT (Internet Based Testing) is 105, and a minimum score of 26 is required for the speaking component. Find more detailed information at http://www.toeflgoanywhere.org/. Scores must be submitted directly to CASPA.
• Meet the minimum prerequisite coursework as detailed in the “Admissions" tab of the program webpage.
• A minimum of 500 hours of clearly documented volunteer or paid direct hands-on patient care experience accrued by the time of application and recorded as part of the official CASPA application is required. Ensure that all hours are accurately reported. Applicants may list the same position in multiple sections in order to account for multiple experiences (patient contact, related health care, research, shadowing, etc.) accrued in the same position as long as each hour is not reported in more than one experience category. Please review the "Admissions" tab of the program webpage for more information regarding acceptable forms of patient care experience.

• Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are not required or considered.
• The Physician Assistant Program does not grant advanced standing.

Additional Information

For more details about the application process, visit the Physician Assistant Program's Admissions webpage.

Degree Requirements

The intensive curriculum consists of professionally related coursework taken during a continuous period (the part-time option requires an additional calendar year) and gives students an understanding of both the health care system within which they will work and the functions appropriate to the role of the physician assistant. The curriculum is divided into a full year of didactic courses followed by an additional 15 months of supervised clinical practice.

Training begins with four quarters of didactic education which integrates patient interaction throughout. The clinical training phase consists of six (6) five-credit, five week clinical rotations in medicine, surgery, women's health, pediatrics, emergency medicine, and psychiatry. The clinical phase of the curriculum is completed on a full-time basis for both full and part-time students.

The final portion of the curriculum consists of two, 10.0 credit quarter-long, primary care practica (preceptorships). During the preceptorship phase, each student is assigned to two primary care sites for individualized clinical training with physician preceptors. Training sites during the clinical year are located throughout Pennsylvania and in other states. Students are expected to relocate during the clinical phase and are responsible for all associated financial costs, including transportation and living expenses.

The program is intensely challenging, both intellectually and physically, and requires stamina as well as personal and financial sacrifice on the part of the students. The program demands a high degree of integrity, self-sufficiency, motivation, and self-discipline, and highly developed study skills.

The Physician Assistant program utilizes electronic documentation and communications; therefore, all students are required to have laptop computers with Web access capability.

Contact the Physician Assistant Program for more information on the sequencing for the part-time option.

PA 570 and PA 571 - These courses are provisional courses for students who need to assess skills upon return from a leave of absence.

The sequencing of the eight (8) clinical rotations will vary for individual students, but all students must complete all eight rotations.

Sample Plan of Study

Full-time Plan of Study

Part-time Plan of Study

Program Level Outcome

Graduates of the Drexel Physician Assistant program will be able to:

• recognize healthy versus ill patients in the context of the patients’ lives and determine the stage of illness — acute, at risk of illness(emerging) or chronic.
• demonstrate the ability to utilize up-to-date scientific evidence to inform clinical reasoning and clinical judgment.
• recognize and understand that the influences of the larger community may affect the health of patients and integrate knowledge of social determinants of health into care decisions.
• communicate with patients as partners who engage in shared decision-making and who communicate, interpret and express themselves as individuals with unique personal, cultural and social values.
• recognize that the patient is at the center of all health care decisions and to partner with the patient to define the patient’s health care goals.
• practice medicine in a beneficent manner, recognizing and adhering to standards of care while attuned to advancing social justice.
• articulate the essential aspects of value-based health care and apply this understanding to the delivery of safe and quality care.

Physician Assistant Faculty

Ryan Clancy, MSHS, MA, PA-C (The George Washington University) Director of Clinical Education. Assistant Clinical Professor. Primary care, behavioral and occupational health

Ellen D. Feld, MD, FACP (University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine) Medical Director. Clinical Professor. Clinical medicine and ethical issues.

Juanita Gardner, MPH, PA-C (Drexel University). Assistant Clinical Professor. Pediatric clinical coordinator. Primary care and global health.

Julie Kinzel, MEd, PA-C (Temple University). Associate Clinical Professor. Long term care experiences, geriatrics, gastroenterology and liver disease.

Daniela C. Livingston, PA-C, MD (Medical School, Bucharest, Romania; University of Washington, Seattle). Assistant Clinical Professor. Pediatrics, primary care and working with underserved populations, with a special emphasis on preventative pediatrics.

Catherine Nowak, MS, PA-C (Mercy University) Interim Department Chair, Program Director. Associate Clinical Professor. Emergency Medicine and Primary Care

Allison Rusgo, MHS, MPH, PA-C (Drexel University). Associate Clinical Professor. Emergency medicine, internal medicine, global health

Megan Schneider, MMS, MSPH, PA-C (Arcadia University). Assistant Clinical Professor. Emergency medicine, pathophysiology, clinical medicine

Charles Stream, MPH, PA-C (George Washington University). Associate Clinical Professor. Primary care, evidenced-based medicine

Michelle Umstead, MS, PA-C (Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine). Clinical Instructor. Women's health.