Cirriculum

Core Competencies

The Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession were originally developed in response to the growing demand for accountability and assessment in clinical practice and reflected similar efforts conducted by other healthcare professions. In 2005, a collaborative effort among four national PA organizations produced the first document outlining the Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession. While necessary for the profession as a whole, these competencies are insufficient for making decisions about the practice readiness of new graduates. Thus, in 2016, the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) created a task force to explore how best to set standards for new graduates entering the PA profession. The resultant document, Core Competencies for Graduates of the Physician Assistant Program, defines the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors required of all graduates of PA programs.  

The Carroll College PA Program has adapted these Core Competencies to help guide the curricular components of the program and specify the essential and routine skills that every graduate entering clinical practice must be able to safely and effectively perform.   Each competency domain includes specific, measurable outcomes and expectations of performance to help ensure that new graduates are prepared to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care from “day one”.  Achieving competence in these areas is intended to be developmental and requires the integration of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. In order to graduate from the Carroll College PA program, graduates must demonstrate competence in each of the following domains.  Students will have opportunities to develop and demonstrate competence in each of these areas throughout the program, culminating in a summative assessment near the end of program completion. 

Competency domains will be updated once finalized. 

General Curriculum

The Physician Assistant (PA) program is a professional degree program intended to prepare students academically and professionally for responsibilities and services as a PA. The Carroll College PA curriculum is a full-time, lock-step, 27-month program leading to a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS) degree. The curriculum is organized into didactic (pre-clinical) and clinical phases. The curriculum will commence in May each year and run seven consecutive terms, with graduation occurring in August.  Pending approval for provisional accreditation, we anticipate matriculating the first cohort of 34 students in May 2028.

During the 14-month didactic phase, students review foundational concepts in the basic sciences that focus on clinical anatomy and physiology and underlying mechanisms of health and disease. In addition, students receive instruction in clinical medicine, pharmacology, medical interviewing, physical examination techniques, clinical procedures, population and community-based health, and a variety of topics related to PA professional practice. Students will develop clinical reasoning skills and incorporate evidence-based research to support clinical decision-making.  The curriculum incorporates a variety of teaching modalities that occur in the classroom, clinical laboratories, and small group seminar sessions.

Didactic coursework will include classes such as Clinical Anatomy & Physiology, Clinical Medicine, Health History & Medical Interviewing, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Physical Diagnosis & Diagnostic Studies, Epidemiology & Research Methodology, and Professional Practice. Clinical Skills courses with integrated lab space will also be provided.
 

The clinical phase of the program is approximately 13 months long and is designed to provide students supervised opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills in a variety of clinical settings, specialties and sites. Students complete nine (9) Supervised Clinical Practice Experiences (SCPEs/clinical rotations), including eight (8) required rotations with one (1) elective rotation.

Prior to beginning clinical rotations, students will complete the Transition to Clinical Year course, which will help prepare students for the expectations of the clinical year and provide additional training in a variety of hands-on skills and procedures.  

Each clinical rotation is five (5) weeks long (5 credits) and requires a minimum of 40 hours per week of patient care.  Some rotations may exceed this requirement.  In all, these rotations will provide approximately 1800 clinical hours of training.  Students can expect to be assigned to clinical rotation sites throughout Montana and possibly in neighboring states.  The sequence of clinical courses varies from student-to-student, but all students must successfully complete all rotations in order to be eligible for graduation.  

Students are not required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors.  Student requests to arrange a clinical rotation with a particular preceptor or clinical site will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Required Rotations

  • Family Medicine
  • Inpatient (Internal) Medicine
  • Primary Care (outpatient – may include Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics)
  • Pediatrics
  • Women’s Health
  • Surgery
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Behavioral Health
  • Elective

Elective Rotations

In addition to the required rotations, students will choose one elective rotation in a medical or surgical subspecialty based on their area of interest and subject to availability.  In some cases, students may be required to complete an elective rotation in a specific specialty in order to address deficiencies and/or as part of a remediation plan.  Examples of elective rotations that may be available include:

  • Cardiology
  • Critical Care
  • CT/CV Surgery
  • Dermatology
  • Endocrinology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Hematology/Oncology
  • Nephrology
  • Neurology
  • Orthopedics
  • Rheumatology
  • Urology

Students will return to campus several times throughout the Clinical Phase to participate in additional learning opportunities and skills refinement. Curricular materials will include Call Backs and Assessments, as well as other instructional materials developed by the program.