Randolph-MacOn College issued the following announcement on Dec. 28
Think. Feel. Know. Do. These pillars form the core philosophy of Randolph-Macon’s developing Physician Assistant (PA) graduate program, the first-ever graduate clinical program at R-MC. PA Department Chair and Program Director Erich Grant says the goal was to develop an understandable philosophy that students can apply from day one.
“Physician assistants are quintessential team players,” Grant explains. “They’re the content specialist, the person who holds your hand, the action-oriented leader who can do it all. Our graduates need to be comprehensively prepared, so everything in our curriculum is built around one or more of those four pillars.”
R-MC’s PA program, which plans to matriculate its first class in January 2023 pending provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, provides students a graduate pathway into a high demand field ranked #1 in “100 Best Jobs” and “Best Healthcare Jobs” by U.S. News and World Report. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the field to grow by 30% over the next decade. (The average across all jobs is 8%.)
The immersive two-year Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies degree readies students for the medical environment of the future, which Grant maintains will require students to make connections across the arts and sciences to better understand and provide care for others.
“Most patients decide how effective their health care practitioner is based on two things,” Grant says. “One is, Did they listen to me? The other is, Did I get better?”
Grant believes Randolph-Macon’s intimate class sizes and liberal arts foundation provide unique opportunities for PA students to learn practical methods of addressing patients’ concerns and fears. Courses will be grounded in small group, problem-based exercises that incorporate creative arts, role-playing, personal narratives, and peer review. The discipline-spanning curriculum is designed to bring each student’s individual beliefs and experiences into the patient care scenario alongside core biomedical knowledge.
“It’s one thing to tell a student to be a better communicator,” Grant says. “It’s another to ask them to engage with poetry, music, and other expressive works so that they can build the capacity for care alongside other students while also learning the skills needed to put that care into practice.”
Community service also plays a central role in the curriculum. The PA program’s culminating graduate project plans to ask students to conduct a community needs health assessment, during which they collect and analyze data from a local health organization to identify key health issues and opportunities.
Grant says the project will help students take the first steps toward reviewing health policy, submitting grant applications, and bringing change to organizations and institutions.
“We’re not asking students for an abstract, theoretical research paper,” Grant says. “We want them to apply their knowledge in tangible ways that benefit real communities. It’s hands-on work that’s grounded in theory.”
Grant says he’s excited to see the new professional training program fill a need for students in the biomedical sciences who know the exact job they want after college. This move is just one of the exciting ways R-MC is diversifying its offerings while adapting to job market trends.
“The PA program keeps the liberal arts core that Randolph-Macon is founded on,” Grant says. “Our goal is the same: to build well-rounded, self-aware students who can achieve clinical competency and facilitate access to high-quality care. But the program also signals a response to the evolving future into which students are preparing to enter.”
Original source can be found here.
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