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Program Goals and Outcomes

 Program Goal Benchmarks

Goal # 1

Recruit qualified applicants from a variety of backgrounds and experiences who successfully complete medical education as a physician assistant. 

Benchmarks: Recruit qualified applicants

  1. Recruit a matriculating class with mean science GPA > 3.4.
  2. Recruit a matriculating class with mean average health care experience hours (patient care/shadowing/volunteering/community service hours) > 500 hours.

Benchmarks: Recruit from a variety of backgrounds and experiences

  1. Recruit a matriculating class that is above the national mean for underrepresented in medicine status.
  2. Recruit a matriculating class with > 30% meeting the definition of disadvantaged status per MSUCOM criteria.

Benchmark: Successfully complete the program

  1. Maintain a program graduation rate greater than the national average.

Goal # 2

Prepare students for team-based care through collaborating on interprofessional teams. 

Benchmarks: Preparation for team-based care/interprofessional collaboration

  1. Each PA Medicine cohort of students will collaborate with > 3 different health professions during both the Didactic and clinical curriculum
  2. Students felt prepared to work on interprofessional teams (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Student End of Didactic Phase Survey
  3. Students were rated as prepared to work on interprofessional teams (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Preceptor Evaluation of Student Performance
  4. Faculty felt that curriculum prepared students to work on interprofessional teams (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Annual Faculty Evaluation of the Curriculum.

Goal # 3

Attain and maintain an accredited program that ensures graduates will have the requisite knowledge and skills to be a “Day 1” ready to begin practice as a PA. 

Benchmark: Maintain ARC-PA Accreditation

  1. Successfully attain provisional accreditation and maintain accreditation thereafter.

Benchmark: Ensure graduates will have requisite knowledge and skills to be a “Day 1” ready to begin practice as a PA

  1. Maintain a PANCE Five-Year First-Time Test Taker pass rate greater than the national average.
  2. Students felt the didactic curriculum prepared them for clinical practice in terms of medical knowledge and clinical skills (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Student End of Didactic Phase Survey
  3. Students were rated as prepared for clinical practice in terms of medical knowledge and clinical skills (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Preceptor Eval of Student Performance.
  4. Faculty felt the curriculum prepared students for clinical practice in terms of medical knowledge and clinical skills (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Annual Faculty Evaluation of the Curriculum

Goal # 4

Support a professional culture of leadership and advocacy within the PA profession.

Benchmark: Support a culture of leadership and advocacy

  1. Program faculty will foster a culture of leadership by maintaining >25% of PA Medicine faculty who have served or are serving in leadership positions in the PA profession or in the field of medicine.
  2. Students perceive that they were offered ample opportunity to participate in leadership and advocacy (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) per Student Graduate Exit Survey.
  3. At least 20% of each cohort participates in a leadership or advocacy activity during the program, self-reported on the Student Graduate Exit Survey.

Goal # 5

Develop students to advocate as ambassadors for health promotion and disease prevention.

Benchmark: students as advocates for health promotion and disease prevention

  1. Greater than 70% of students will participate in community service or volunteer activities that involve health promotion and disease prevention during the program, as self-reported on Student Graduate Exit Survey.
  2. Students felt that the curriculum prepared them to be an advocate for health promotion and disease prevention (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) for their future patients per the Student End of Didactic Phase Survey. 
  3. Faculty felt that the curriculum prepared students to be an advocate for health promotion and disease prevention (average cohort score > 3.5 out of 5) for their future patients per the Annual Faculty Evaluation of the Curriculum.

Program Outcomes Towards Goals

As MSUCOM PA Medicine plans to matriculate it's first class in May 2022, updates regarding program achievements towards our goals will be posted in this section in 2023. The program has an ongoing assessment plan to ensure that program students will have the needed support and resources to achieve program student competencies and be ready to begin the practice of Medicine. As part of this assessment plan each year a program annual report will provide evidence of achievements towards all program goals. This webpage will be updated each year to show this progress. 

The Department PA Medicine faculty approved the above Program Goals on March 16, 2020.
Revised and approved by
the Faculty of the Department of PA Medicine 3/16/21.
Reaffirmed on 1/11/2022.