Please note that Internet Explorer is incompatible with this site.

We recommend upgrading to the latest Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Firefox.

Physician Assistant Program

Quick Links

Physician Assistant Program

Learning Outcomes & Expectations

Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession

The program’s defined learning outcomes and expectations are based on the Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession as developed jointly by the National Commission on Accreditation of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), the Accreditation Review Commission for Education of the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA), and the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA).

Student success in achieving the program defined learning outcomes and expectations will be monitored throughout the didactic and clinical phases of the program. The program’s faculty and clinical preceptors will evaluate students through a variety of assessment tools, including but not limited to: multiple choice examinations, collaborative group projects, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), reflection papers, and clinical performance evaluations.


Knowledge for Practice

Demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients, their families, and health professionals.

Person Centered Care

Provide person-centered care that includes patient- and setting-specific assessment, evaluation, and management and healthcare that is evidence-based, supports patient safety, and advances health equity.

Interpersonal Collaboration

Demonstrate the ability to engage with a variety of other healthcare professionals in a manner that optimizes safe, effective, patient- and population-centered care.

Professionalism and Ethics

Demonstrate a commitment to practicing medicine in ethically and legally appropriate ways and emphasizing professional maturity and accountability for delivering safe and quality care to patients and populations.

Practice-based Learning and Quality Improvement

Demonstrate the ability to learn and implement quality improvement practices by engaging in critical analysis of one’s own practice experience, the medical literature, and other information resources for the purposes of self-evaluation, lifelong learning, and practice improvement.

Society and Population Health

Recognize and understand the influences of the ecosystem of person, family, population, environment, and policy on the health of patients and integrate knowledge of these determinants of health into patient care decisions.