Physician Assistant Studies

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Physician Assistant Studies, M.S.

The Physician Assistant Studies Program of the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences at MTSU is a 27-month-long rigorous program. As the least expensive Physician Assistant Program in the State of Tennessee, our third class will begin in May 2024. Applications open in Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) for the 2024-2025 applications cycle beginning in late April 2024.

The degree awarded is a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (M.S.). This degree aligns with the institutional mission and provides the necessary educational credential for licensure to practice in one of the fastest-growing occupational sectors in Middle Tennessee. With a growth rate of 42 percent and one-third of all PA positions in Tennessee located in the Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin area, this program helps meet employer demand and societal need for access to health care. The Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (M.S.) degree is designed to provide students with the didactic education, clinical training, and educational credentials necessary to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) and obtain licensure to practice as Physician Assistant (PA).

ARC-PA Accreditation Status

The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Middle Tennessee State University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Middle Tennessee State University.

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.

Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class. The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-middle-tennessee-state-university/.

About our Program

Mission Statement

The mission of the MTSU Physician Assistant Studies Program is to provide comprehensive innovative medical education of the highest quality to prepare a diverse community of Physician Assistants to thrive as compassionate and collaborative members of the healthcare team with a commitment to community service and increasing access to care.

Vision

The MTSU Physician Assistant Studies Program will be a leading educational program with national recognition for excellence in service-learning, quality and compassionate healthcare, and increasing access to care to diverse populations.

Goals

  1. Recruit, enroll, and retain highly qualified diverse applicants.
    1. Metrics & Benchmarks
      1. Applicant demographic and academic data (meeting/exceeding academic requirements & 30% of students meeting program defined diverse qualities)
      2. Attrition rate (at or lower than national average)
  2. Promote an environment that encourages a life-long commitment to community service.
    1. Metrics & Benchmarks
      1. Number of service-learning exposures and participation rate (component in each didactic semester with 100% student involvement)
      2. Faculty/staff involvement (100% either with program and/or personal commitments)
  3. Prepare graduates to practice in areas of high need and increase access to care to diverse populations.
    1. Metrics & Benchmarks
      1. Clinical experiences in rural, underserved, and public health areas (100% of students will have a clinical opportunity in at least one of these areas)
  4. Provide quality medical education that prepares graduates to gain the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to practice as an entry-level Physician Assistant.
    1. Metrics & Benchmarks
      1. PANCE pass-rates (90% or above first time PANCE pass rate, 100% ultimate PANCE pass rate at the 1-year mark)
      2. Summative Evaluation (Summative Evaluation pass-rate of 100%)

Upon completion of an entire cohort cycle, the program will provide documentation of outcomes and success in meeting these goals. A link to that documentation will be posted here and updated each year.

Competencies

Medical Knowledge

  1. Apply established, fundamental scientific principles to patient care.
  2. Apply the clinical sciences to diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making.
  3. Apply an epidemiological approach to population health by understanding risk factors, disease prevention, and health promotion for various patients and populations.
  4. Analyze the impact of social-behavioral sciences on the delivery of healthcare to diverse patient populations.
  5. Use medical knowledge to distinguish normal/abnormal growth and development to guide investigatory approaches to patient evaluation.
  6. Gather and critically appraise evolving bio-medical knowledge to promote evidence-based clinical practice to contribute to the fund of new knowledge and literature.

Interpersonal Skills

  1. Create and sustain a meaningful and therapeutic relationship with patients and families through effective communication and exchange of information.
  2. Adapt communication style and messages to the cultural and socioeconomic context of the interaction.
  3. Apply emotional resilience and stability, adaptability, flexibility, and tolerance.
  4. Demonstrate compassion, sensitivity, and honesty within the context of difficult medical conversations.
  5. Communicate effectively, work collaboratively, and facilitate conflict resolution with physicians and other health care professionals as both a leader and member of a health care team to promote a climate of mutual respect and trust.

Clinical and Technical Skills

  1. Ellicit a history and perform an appropriate physical exam for ages across the lifespan, regardless of presentation or setting.
  2. Perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures considered essential for entry into the clinical practice as a PA.
  3. Compose basic counseling and patient-centered education which is culturally focused.
  4. Demonstrate the use of clinical equipment for the diagnosis and management of disease.
  5. Accurately and adequately provide comprehensive documentation regarding care for medical, legal, quality, and financial purposes in a timely manner.
  6. Provide concise oral case presentations appropriate for the audience and context of the presentation.

Clinical Reasoning & Problem Solving

  1. Demonstrate investigative and analytic thinking approach to clinical situations.
  2. Compare and contrast normal and abnormal health states.
  3. Discern between acute, chronic, and emergent disease states.
  4. Apply advanced critical thinking skills to evaluate sources of information including discerning between important and extraneous information.
  5. Synthesize and prioritize therapeutic actions and clinical care decisions based on medical knowledge, available information, and the urgency of presentation.

Professional Behaviors

  1. 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 primacy of the individual by providing comprehensive and personalized healthcare in a system-based practice.
  2. Demonstrate professionalism through strict adherence to the standards of the PA profession and devotion to the medical, ethical, legal, and fiscal foundations of healthcare by:
    1. Maintaining professional relationships with patients, patient’s families, and all members of the healthcare team.
    2. Understand the role of the physician assistant in the delivery of healthcare, including demonstrating self-awareness and the recognition of personal/professional limitations and humility in the ability to seek help.
    3. Maintain a commitment to patient safety through prevention of medical errors, quality improvement, and risk management.
  3. Promote cross-cultural and socioeconomic sensitivity, confront prejudice, and support the development of effective medical practice in a diverse society.
  4. Engage in critical analysis of their own practice experience for the purposes of self- and practice-based learning and improvement.
  5. Exhibit attributes of engaged citizenship and community service through active involvement in community and population health.

Student Attrition Information

  Graduated Classes
Class of 2024 Class of 2025 Class of 2026
Maximum entering class size (as approved by ARC-PA) 30 30 30
Entering class size 30 31 #
Graduates # # #
*Attrition rate # # #
**Graduation rate # # #


**The inaugural cohort will begin in May of 2022 and graduate in August of 2024 with 30 students as approved by ARC-PA. 

NCCPA PANCE Exam Summary Report

The MTSU PA Studies program intends to publish and make readily available to enrolled and prospective students general program information, including the most current annual NCCPA PANCE Exam Performance Summary report no later than April 1st each year. As the planned inaugural cohort will not be eligible for PANCE until late 2024, no data is currently available.

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News Briefs

1st student in inaugural class knew MTSU was where he wanted to begin PA journey

Sohil Patel, a student in the inaugural Physician Assistant Studies program at MTSU, said it was the program's mission statement that captured his eye and led him to the university. "They promote the highest quality of medical education to prepare a diverse community of Physician Assistants eager to provide medical care in underserved areas of the state," he said. Patel, who grew up in what he described as a "highly underserved rural town," said he is fully aware of its demand and necessity. As a student in MTSU's inaugural PA Studies class, Patel said he knew during the interview process with Program Director Dr. Marie Patterson that MTSU was the place for him. "They were so welcoming and friendly, which made the often-stressful interview environment ever so simple and delightful. I knew from that moment that MTSU is where I want to begin my journey of becoming an outstanding future PA-C." Patel plans to become a surgical PA while providing care at local urgent/primary care simultaneously. "I strongly believe that having the skill set to treat patients in primary care serves as the foundation of all aspects of medicine," he said.

News Briefs

1st student in inaugural class knew MTSU was where he wanted to begin PA journey

Sohil Patel, a student in the inaugural Physician Assistant Studies program at MTSU, said it was the program's mission statement that captured his eye and led him to the university. "They promote the highest quality of medical education to prepare a diverse community of Physician Assistants eager to provide medical care in underserved areas of the state," he said. Patel, who grew up in what he described as a "highly underserved rural town," said he is fully aware of its demand and necessity. As a student in MTSU's inaugural PA Studies class, Patel said he knew during the interview process with Program Director Dr. Marie Patterson that MTSU was the place for him. "They were so welcoming and friendly, which made the often-stressful interview environment ever so simple and delightful. I knew from that moment that MTSU is where I want to begin my journey of becoming an outstanding future PA-C." Patel plans to become a surgical PA while providing care at local urgent/primary care simultaneously. "I strongly believe that having the skill set to treat patients in primary care serves as the foundation of all aspects of medicine," he said.

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REQUIREMENTS

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FACULTY

INFORMATION

Physician Assistant Studies

Informational Session

April 18, 2024

5:30 pm -6:30 pm (CST)

Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building room 121

610 Champion Way

Murfreesboro, TN

Please contact Candace Whitley ([email protected])

For more information.

 

Admissions in CASPA for the 2024-2025 will open on April 26th, 2024, and will close on December 1, 2024. All applicants must have the CASPA designation of "verified" by that date to be considered for an interview.

Fill out the CASPA Application

Admission Requirements

The following information applies to the 2024-2025 admissions cycle.

Bachelor's Degree

  • The degree must be from a U.S. institution of higher education accredited by a regional accrediting association.
  • A Bachelor's Degree equivalent from another country may also be accepted. Please refer to the international student instructions.
  • Students may apply while their degree is in progress; however, proof of degree completion or documentation of planned degree conferment be will be required before matriculation in the program.

Minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirements (on a 4.0 scale)

  • Overall GPA 3.00 AND
  • Graduate Course GPA (if applicable): 3.00

Direct Patient Care (DPC) Experience

  • No minimum number of hours is required for an interview; the focus will remain on the quality of experience, but direct patient care hours must still be completed.
  • Hours logged to satisfy the direct patient care requirement will only be considered if the experience involves direct responsibility for some aspect of patient care, either by administering, influencing, or providing care in a "hands-on" capacity. It is recommended that students acquire direct patient care hours in various medical settings to obtain strong, diverse direct patient care experiences.
  • Medical scribe experience will NOT be counted as direct patient care.
  • Direct Patient care hours can NOT be complete with a relative or family member.

Community Service or Mission Work

  • No minimum number of hours is required for an interview; the focus will remain on the quality of experience, but community service or volunteerism hours must still be completed.
  • Hours do not need to be health care related.

Physician Assistant Shadowing 

  • No minimum number of hours is required for an interview; the focus will remain on the quality of the experience, but physician assistant shadowing hours must still be completed.
  • Applicants must identify and initiate all PA shadowing experiences. The program cannot suggest nor arrange shadowing opportunities for prospective students.
  • Virtual/Zoom shadowing is not accepted.

Letters of Recommendation

  • At least three strong letters of recommendation detailing the potential of the applicant to be a PA are required.
  • At least one letter of recommendation from a PA is highly recommended.
  • Letters from friends or family will not be accepted.

Personal Statement

  • A personal statement should be crafted to detail the applicant's desire to become a PA, communicating ideas appropriately and effectively. Well-written personal statements should be free of grammatical and spelling errors.

Preference will be given specifically to (in no particular order of importance): 

  • Tennessee residency
  • MTSU alumni
  • Second Career Applicants
  • Military service with honorable discharge
  • Continual medical employment >1 year
  • Volunteer commitment >100 hours
  • Healthcare/Research experience with documentation of completion
  • Achievement of graduate degree
  • College athlete
  • Extracurricular commitment >1 year
  • Applicants raised in medically underserved areas
  • Applicants raised in a family who received public assistance or who are deemed economically disadvantaged
  • Bilingual applicants
  • Re-applicants to MTSU PA Studies program with documented improvements in application.
  • First-generation college student
  • Living in an isolated rural area (population <2500)
  • Applicants providing examples of overcoming adversity

Standardized Tests and Other Requirements

  • No GRE required
  • No PA-CAT is required
  • No MCAT is requited.
  • Applicants that indicate their primary language is NOT English must submit official test scores for either Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The following are the minimum scores for admission consideration:
  • TOEFL: iBT score of 80, PBT score of 550, or CBT score of 214.
  • IELTS: an overall band score of 7.0, with no individual band score below 6.0.
  • Applicants must not have a history of dismissal from another Physician Assistant program for academic or disciplinary reasons.
  • The MTSU Physician Assistant Studies Program does not accept transfers from other programs.
  • Applicants must not have a history of current drug abuse or conviction of a felony. All students will be required to submit to criminal background checks and drug screens before matriculation and during enrollment in the program.
  • All applicants must be able to meet the program's technical standards which can be found further down the page.

Prerequisite Courses

Course Work Semester Credit Hours
Anatomy and Physiology with Lab 8
Microbiology 3
Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry with Lab 4
Medical Terminology* 1

*Not subject to the 10-year time limit

  • All applicants must successfully complete prerequisite requirements with a grade of "B-" or higher within the bachelor's degree or through coursework at a regionally accredited U.S. institution of higher education.
  • Prerequisite science courses are to be completed within 10 years prior to the date of admission. A waiver of the 10-year requirement for a prerequisite course may be requested by the applicant if the following occurs: there is a continuous employment history that would demonstrate knowledge of the course content.
  • Waivers will be provided to students after CASPA submission. The waiver must be approved by the program.
  • Prerequisites and waivers must be completed and verified by the end of February of the matriculating year.

Advanced Placement

The MTSU PA Studies program does not award or grant transfer credits or advanced placement to any matriculating student. Prerequisite and graduate coursework from other institutions, which may correspond to courses in the program, will not be considered as substitutions for programmatic curriculum.

International Student Policy

International applicants with degrees from outside the United States must have a degree equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree as verified by an acceptable evaluation service. Transcripts must be provided in the original language and with an English translation. In addition, all applicants must successfully complete prerequisite courses with a grade of "B-" or higher at a regionally accredited U.S. institution of higher education. All required items must be sent to CASPA for verification and official application to the program. No exceptions will be made.

International applicants must also comply with the International Graduate Admissions policies within the MTSU College of Graduate Studies.

Admissions Practices

The admissions process is highly selective. Applicants who meet the criteria as outline above will have their files forwarded to the program for faculty review. The program faculty will conduct a holistic review of the applicant's CASPA application and make recommendations for interviews. It is anticipated that the MTSU Physician Assistant Studies Program will receive a large number of applications for a class of 30 students. Competitive applicants will likely have more than the required minimums; thus, applicants meeting the required minimums are not guaranteed an interview.

The MTSU PA Studies Program endeavors to recruit and retain a diverse community of Physician Assistant students whose qualifications align with the programmatic mission and goals. As such, the program has admissions and enrollment practices that advantage specific individuals or groups, as mentioned above. Applicants demonstrating these attributes will receive incremental weighting within various sections of the admission rubric.

Application Procedures

Applicants must apply to the program through the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) to be considered for admission. Students must submit the appropriate CASPA and MTSU applications fees to be considered. If selected for an interview, students may be asked to complete an additional, abbreviated application form through the College of Graduate Studies.

Physician Assistant Student Technical Standards

Professional healthcare clinicians are challenged in environments that demand certain abilities, behaviors, and skills. The Physician Assistant must have the knowledge and skills to function in a broad variety of clinical situations and to render a wide spectrum of patient care. Students must be able to integrate all information received by whatever sense(s) employed, consistently, quickly, and accurately, and they must have the intellectual ability to learn, integrate, analyze, and synthesize data. A student for the Physician Assistant profession must have abilities and skills including observation, communication, intellectual, motor, conceptual, integrative, and quantitative, and behavioral and social. To be eligible to enroll in the program, the student must be able to perform these skills and behaviors successfully either unassisted, with dependable use of reasonable assistive devices, or by employing another reasonable accommodation. The following descriptions define the capabilities expected from an individual to successfully complete the Middle Tennessee State University Physician Assistant Studies Program.

General Abilities

The PA student must possess the skills related to critical thinking, communication, gross motor dexterity, fine motor coordination, interpersonal skills, observational abilities, and social skills in an individual, group, classroom, laboratory, or other educational setting. The student is expected to possess functional use of the senses of vision, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. All data received by the senses must be integrated, analyzed, and synthesized in a consistent and accurate manner. In addition, the student is expected to possess the ability to perceive pain, pressure, temperature, position, equilibrium, and movement. The student must be able to effectively perform and function in settings that are solitary, small group, large groups, social environments, public space, or even very large classroom settings without disruption of other students, patients, faculty, or staff. The student must be able to function and remain calm within stressful situations while maintaining a calm temperament. The student must be able to have on-time attendance and participate in classes and laboratory sessions, all supervised clinical practice experiences (including travel and which may include overnight call), and examinations and testing.

Observational Skill

The PA student is expected to participate in and observe demonstrations and experiments in the basic and health sciences including but not limited to physiologic and pharmacological demonstrations in animals, microbiological cultures, microscopic study of organisms and tissues in normal and pathologic states, human cadaver dissection, and medical procedures. The student is expected to observe the patient accurately at a distance and close at hand and accurately assess health/illness alteration. Inherent in this observation process is the use of the visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory sensations and sufficient motor capability to carry out the necessary assessment activities. These skills including the ability to inspect, palpate, percuss, and auscultate accurately during the physical examination.

Communication Skills

The PA student must be able to effectively hear, understand, speak, and observe patients to elicit history and other information necessary to interact with patients, students, faculty, and staff.  The student must be able to perceive nonverbal communication and cues, describe patient mood or changes, describe posture and appearance, and to interpret and describe patient activity and behavior.  The student must be able to communicate in verbal, written, typed, and electronic manner that is effective, efficient, and sensitive and in the English language. The student must be able to receive and give communication effectively to others in a professional manner. The student is expected to give oral presentations in small and large group settings. The student must be able to interact, communicate, and understand other students, clinicians, faculty, patients, and their families to respond appropriately and in a timely fashion.

Intellectual Capabilities

The PA student must possess and demonstrate the physical, emotional, intellectual, compassionate, and ethical capabilities required to undertake the full curriculum at normal pace with an on-time completion. The student must be able to learn, retain, and recall information and make a reasoned decision in a timely fashion. The student must be able to achieve a competent level of critical thinking and reasoning required to function in an entry level PA position.  To achieve this level, the student must be able to perform in areas of reasoning, measurement, analysis, interpretation, synthesis, calculation, and deduction. In addition, the student should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures. These skills must be evident in dealing with other students, faculty, staff, patients, patient families, and other health care professionals. Critical thinking and problem solving, while in stressful situations, are necessary to complete the program.

Interpersonal Abilities and Social Interactions

The PA student must be able to establish and maintain appropriate relationships in a professional manner with other students, faculty, staff, health care professionals, patients, as well as patient families.  This will encompass possessing the maturity and emotional health necessary to function within the healthcare and educational environments while achieving full utilization of his or her abilities, intellectual function, sound judgement, sensory input, critical thinking, and promptness. The student must be able to demonstrate compassion, empathy, responsibility and tolerance towards patients, families, faculty, staff, other students, and colleagues. This includes the ability to remain calm and function at this level within stressful situations and with competing demands for the student's time and energies.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills and Strength

The interaction with patients and the demands of the health care and educational environments while in training and practice require strength, coordination, and endurance of sufficient nature.  The PA student should have sufficient fine and gross motor coordination to function within the patient care and educational environments that may include clutter, equipment, tables, family members, stairs, textbooks, supplies, and distractions.  This includes the ability to ambulate, stand for long periods, concentrate, balance, interact, assist in movement, use of medical instruments, use of electronic devices, positioning of patients, and lifting of heavy objects.  In general, the student should be able to safely lift 50+ pounds without any assistance or injury. The student is expected to be able to perform gross and fine motor movements required to perform a complete physical examination (including male and female genital examination on patients). Interaction within the environment may include classrooms, treatment rooms, laboratory space, patient rooms, waiting rooms, operating rooms, public spaces, stairwells, outdoor movement and any other space generally necessary to interact with and treat patients or interact in the educational environment. This interaction may require standing or sitting for very long periods of time without disruption or change in position. This interaction may require altering lighting including bright or fluorescent lights or low light conditions. The student is expected to be able to maintain consciousness and equilibrium, and stamina to perform satisfactorily in didactic and clinical experiences. The student must be able to travel to all required MTSU PA Program educational settings.

In addition to the abilities and skills set forth above, the student must possess the general physical health necessary for performing the duties of a Physician Assistant student without endangering the lives of patients and/or colleagues with whom the student might have contact. Students whose performance is impaired by abuse of alcohol or other substances are not suitable for admission, continuation, promotion, or graduation.

Tuition/Fees

  • Regional Out-of-state explanation (regional scholars’ program)
    • All amounts shown are estimates and subject to change
  • Cost of attendance (explains average cost of living expenses)
    • All amounts shown are estimates and subject to change
  • Estimated Tuition and Fees
    • All amounts shown are estimates and subject to change
  • Other Common Expenses** for the PA Studies Student:
    Expense Didactic Phase Clinical Phase Total
    Textbooks $3,500 $500 $4,000
    Computer, software, etc. $2,100 NA $2,100
    Medical Equipment $840 NA $840
    Optional Conference Fees $500 $500 $1,000
    Health Insurance (Needlestick care will vary based on exposure risk and health insurance coverage.) $3,000 $2,400 $5,400
    Background Checks $25 $75 $100
    Health Services (Drug screens, physical exam, immunizations, etc.) $228 $228 $456
    BLS/ACLS $180 NA $180
    Housing $18,000 $14,400*** $32,400
    Travel Expenses $2,000 $7,200 $9,200
    Internet Connection $1,000 $800 $1,800
    Personal/Miscellaneous $4,500 $3,600 $8,100
    Total $65,576

    *Tuition and fees are subject to change.

    **These are an estimate of common expenses related to attendance over the duration of the program. They may fluctuate year to year and are subject to change.

    *** Some clinical rotations may require students to temporarily reside outside of the Murfreesboro area. While reasonable efforts will be made to provide housing, ultimately, students are responsible for the supplemental costs that may incur with housing and transportation at all clinical training sites.

Professional Licensure Disclosure

The Master of Science (M.S.) in Physician Assistant Studies program at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) has achieved provisional accreditation by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Students should be aware that, to obtain a Physician Assistant license in any state, an individual must graduate from a US PA program and pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Only graduates of ARC-PA accredited programs are eligible to take the NCCPA exam.

Licensing authorities for each state set and enforce their own requirements and standards and those requirements and standards are subject to change. States may have other eligibility requirements that must be satisfied to obtain professional licensure. Students in the MTSU Physician Assistant Studies program should consult the PhysicianAssistantEdu website at https://www.physicianassistantedu.org/ or this state-by-state list of licensing boards for the most current information about licensure in the state in which they plan to practice and discuss their plans with a faculty member.

Interested in becoming a clinical preceptor for the MTSU PA Studies program?

Complete Preceptor Application

Preceptor Resources

Additional Information

The contact form below will be sent to

[email protected]; 615-494-7790
and
[email protected]; 615-898-2086
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