The PA Program at Mount St. Mary's University cultivates ethical practitioners who care significantly and are dedicated to responsible and equitable health outcomes delivered with compassion, humility, and joy.The Mount St. Mary’s University PA Program faculty have been hard at work building a new and innovative program that expects to have the first cohort of students start in January 2025. We welcome you back to our newsletter to keep you updated on this program in development. We look forward to reaching out to you quarterly with continued updates!
The Physician Assistant Program has passed through a critical checkpoint on the road to provisional accreditation by completing its site visit from ARC-PA. Many thanks to those in our healthcare community who lent support and participated in this event. We look forward to receiving the commission's decision on accreditation this summer.
Moving forward, we are thrilled to continue the work of developing our innovative Physician Assistant Program curriculum, which has been meticulously crafted to nurture the skills and expertise of our future healthcare leaders. This dynamic curriculum integrates cutting-edge medical knowledge with hands-on clinical experience, equipping aspiring physician assistants with the necessary tools to excel in their roles. From immersive clinical experiences to specialized coursework tailored to the latest advancements in healthcare, our program is designed to cultivate well-rounded professionals poised to make a significant impact in patient care.
Join us as we embark on this journey of educational excellence, shaping the next generation of compassionate and competent physician assistants.
The PA program is fortunate to have the support of Mount St. Mary’s University and our surrounding community. We wouldn’t be able to build this dynamic program without you.
Speaking of building a dynamic program - do you have medical expertise or skills that would be beneficial to our next generation of physician assistants? Have you been interested in teaching or contributing to our PA program but are not sure how to get started? We have multiple courses in the didactic year that we hope to incorporate guest lecturers. This is a great opportunity to accommodate your busy schedule while sharing your medical knowledge with our students. Would you like to know more? Please contact m.m.putman@msmary.edu to learn more about this fantastic opportunity!
If you are not ready to teach in the classroom but ready to precept some of our students in your clinic or hospital, we need you, too! Stay tuned for our next issue of the PA Review, where we will discuss more about the PA program's clinical year.
The curriculum design innovates ways to enhance student readiness for addressing complex population health needs within our communities and beyond. This is interwoven throughout the didactic year progression and is notably reflected in Healthcare Equity (HE I-III) and Clinician Well-being (CW I-III). These specially designed course series are delivered across three sequential semesters, cultivating future medical professionals with the necessary attitudes, knowledge, and skills to thoughtfully address disparities across key indicators - health status, behaviors, and outcomes.1,2
Developing and maintaining a sense of well-being to thrive long-term within the PA profession is a practical and evidence-based need to grow resilience and reduce burnout.3,4 We want this for our students and for such training to emanate across populations and settings. Reinforcement and advancement of learning are bolstered through fieldwork experiences during the didactic phase as a preface to student progression into the clinical year rotations. Integrating these experiences inherently promotes students to care significantly and bridges opportunities for diverse community partnering through engagement, outreach, and service.
References
Hill, L., Ndugga, N., & Artiga, S. (2023, March 15). Key data on health and health care by race and ethnicity. Kaiser Family Foundation; KFF. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/report/key-data-on-health-and-health-care-by-race-and-ethnicity/.
Cooper, L. A. (2021). Health Inequity and Racism Affects Patients and Health Care Workers Alike. NEJM Catalyst, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1056/cat.21.0033.
Townsley, A. P., Li-Wang, J., & Katta, R. (2023). Healthcare Workers’ Well-Being: A Systematic Review of Positive Psychology Interventions. Cureus, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.34102.
Impact Wellbeing | NIOSH | CDC. (2023, November 13). Www.cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/impactwellbeing/default.html.
The Mount St. Mary's University Physician Assistant Program recognizes that each person brings individual perspectives, knowledge, and skills based on their background and experiences that create, support, and maintain a vibrant and enriching environment.
We recognize that individuals have different starting points and face various barriers and biases that may impact their access to resources, opportunities, and outcomes. We acknowledge that equality alone may not be sufficient to address these disparities because different individuals require different levels of support to achieve equitable outcomes.
We have an ongoing commitment to fostering a culture that actively embraces and integrates diverse voices and contributes to a space for all individuals to be their authentic selves.
Mount St. Mary’s University has applied for Accreditation-Provisional from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). The Mount’s Physician Assistant Program anticipates matriculating its first class in January 2026, pending achieving Accreditation-Provisional status at the June 2025 ARC-PA meeting. Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding accreditation-provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students.