Physician Assistant ProgramPhysician Assistant ProgramPhysician Assistant Program
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Physician Assistant Program

Director: David P. Asprey
Medical director: Daniel Fick
Assistant director: Richard W. Dehn
Director of curriculum and evaluation: Theresa Hegmann
Director of clinical education: Anthony Brenneman
Clinical professor: Richard W. Dehn
Associate professor: David P. Asprey
Assistant professors (clinical): Anthony Brenneman, Theresa Hegmann
Graduate degree: M.P.A.S.
Web site: http://paprogram.medicine.uiowa.edu/

The Physician Assistant Program is one of five academic units in the Division of Associated Medical Sciences. For information on the division's general academic policies, see Associated Medical Sciences in the Catalog.

The physician assistant profession is one of the newest and most exciting in health care. Physician assistants (PAs) are licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. They are responsible for making medical decisions and providing a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Physician assistants work in a variety of settings, including medical offices, hospital emergency rooms, nursing homes, rural satellite clinics, health maintenance organizations, and patients' homes.

In the traditional office setting, PAs see patients, obtain histories, perform physical examinations, and order necessary laboratory and/or radiological studies. Based on this information, the PA establishes a diagnosis, develops an appropriate management plan, and initiates treatment that may include prescribing medications. The physician is consulted as needed and remains ultimately responsible for the care provided by the physician/PA team. PAs also are involved in both patient and community health education.

Graduate Program

The Physician Assistant Program offers the Master of Physician Assistant Studies (M.P.A.S.). The program emphasizes primary care medicine, particularly family medicine. It also offers elective clinical rotations in selected medical subspecialties.

Students who complete the program are eligible to take the National Certifying Examination for Primary Care Physician Assistants, which they must complete successfully in order to register as physician assistants in the United States.

The Physician Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc., and is a member of the Physician Assistant Education Association.

Master of Physician Assistant Studies

The Master of Physician Assistant Studies requires a minimum of 104 s.h. The curriculum spans 25 months and is divided into two phases: didactic and clinical. Both phases emphasize primary health care delivery and the physician assistant's role as a member of the health care team. The program is integrated with teaching at the Carver College of Medicine, permitting interdisciplinary activities between Doctor of Medicine and health care professions students. Physician assistant students complete approximately 65 percent of the curriculum's didactic phase with second-year M.D. students.

The first phase is conducted on the University's Health Sciences Campus. It begins in late May with seven months of course work in a number of basic science areas, including anatomy, biochemistry, infectious disease, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. Whenever appropriate, related subjects are integrated to provide sequential lecture and laboratory experience. This session also includes courses in clinical decision making and an introductory course on taking a medical history and performing a physical examination.

The program's patient assessment curriculum couples a sequence of didactic instruction with practical experiences involving simulated and real patients. The level and intensity of patient interactions increase throughout the curriculum as the student gains confidence and clinical competence.

The spring semester of the first phase consists of 050:175 Foundations of Clinical Practice IV for Physician Assistants, an 18-week course. Three interrelated courses focus on the application of basic science knowledge to understanding clinical-pathologic correlations of common and/or catastrophic disorders encountered in clinical medicine's major disciplines. The courses continue with instruction in obtaining a problem-oriented medical history and performing a physical examination. The semester also includes continuation of the clinical decision-making course and a short course in clinical pathology.

Before clinical rotations begin, students complete 117:110 Introduction to Clinical Skills, which includes instruction in several skill areas (e.g., suturing, injections, prescription writing, medical orders). They also complete the Advanced Cardiac Life Support Program and a seminar course, in which they research and discuss professional issues that will affect their practice as physician assistants.

The program's second phase concentrates on clinical education. In 117:201 Clinical Decision Making III, students select a pertinent health question and apply an evidence-based medicine review of the data. They give a PowerPoint presentation of their findings to their colleagues, write a paper for submission to a journal, or prepare a poster presentation for a conference.

Students complete a 42-week core of required primary-care clinical rotations, including six weeks each of family medicine I, family medicine II, general internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery; and four weeks each of emergency medicine, gynecology, and psychiatry. Students also select six-week electives, which may include geriatrics, cardiology, dermatology, and orthopaedics.

The primary-care clinical rotations are designed to provide instruction and experience in caring for patients in a way that enables students to integrate the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes they learned in the program's didactic phase. Clinical training is provided at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the Veterans Affairs Iowa City Health Care System, the Veterans Affairs Central Iowa Health Care System and Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, and other affiliated hospitals throughout Iowa. In elective rotations, students gain additional clinical experience through placement with selected preceptors involved in office-based practices, typically in medically underserved rural areas.

The curriculum is as follows.

FIRST YEAR (PHASE I)
Summer and Fall
050:174 Foundations of Clinical Practice for Physician Assistants   5 s.h.
060:111 Gross Human Anatomy for Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
061:104 Principles of Infectious Diseases for Physician Assistant Students   4 s.h.
069:133 Introduction to Human Pathology   4 s.h.
071:125 Pharmacology for Health Sciences: Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
072:164 Human Physiology for Physician Assistant Students   4 s.h.
099:164 Biochemistry for Physician Assistant Students   3 s.h.
117:101 Introduction to Medical History and Physical Examination for Physician Assistant Students   3 s.h.
117:103 Clinical Decision Making I   1 s.h.
Spring
050:175 Foundations of Clinical Practice IV for Physician Assistant Students   13 s.h.
050:183 Healthcare Ethics, Law, and Policy   2 s.h.
069:130 Clinical Laboratory Medicine for Physician Assistant Students   1 s.h.
117:104 Clinical Decision Making II   1 s.h.
SECOND YEAR (PHASE II)
117:107 Seminar for Physician Assistant Students   1 s.h.
117:110 Introduction to Clinical Skills   1 s.h.
117:201 Clinical Decision Making III   1 s.h.

The following are required clinical rotations.

117:300 Emergency Medicine for Physician Assistant Students   4 s.h.
117:301 Gynecology for Physician Assistant Students   4 s.h.
117:302 Family Practice I for Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
117:303 Family Practice II for Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
117:304 General Surgery for Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
117:305 Internal Medicine for Physician Assistant Students   6 s.h.
117:306 Pediatrics for Physician Assistant Students   4, 6 s.h.
117:307 Psychiatry for Physician Assistant Students   4 s.h.

Elective clinical rotations are selected from the following.

117:321 Dermatology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:322 Neurology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:323 Obstetrics for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:324 Ophthalmology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:325 Otolaryngology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:326 Pediatric Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:327 Radiology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:328 Pediatric Elective (Bone Marrow Transplant) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:329 Pediatric (Cardiology) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:330 Psychiatry Elective for Physical Assistant Students   arr.
117:331 Surgery Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:332 Surgery Elective (Transplant/Organ Retrieval) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:333 Surgery Elective (Burn Unit) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:334 Surgery Elective (Cardiac Surgery) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:335 Orthopedics Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:336 Internal Medicine Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:337 Internal Medicine (Cardiology) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:338 Internal Medicine (EKG) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:339 Internal Medicine (Gastroenterology) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:340 Internal Medicine (Oncology) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:341 Internal Medicine (Geriatrics) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:342 Internal Medicine (Pulmonary) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:343 Internal Medicine (Hospice) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:344 Internal Medicine (Infectious Disease) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:345 Internal Medicine (Correctional Medicine) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:347 Urology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:348 Family Practice Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:349 Gynecology Elective (Women's Health) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:350 Migrant Health Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:351 Occupational Medicine Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:352 Pediatrics (Neonatology) Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:353 Internal Medicine (Rheumatology) for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:354 Medical Intensive Care for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:355 International Medicine for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:356 Interventional Radiology for Physician Assistant Students   arr.
117:357 Gynecologic Oncology Elective for Physician Assistant Students   arr.

Admission

Applicants must meet the admission requirements of the Physician Assistant Program. They also must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College or the Graduate College section of the Catalog.

Applicants must have taken the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test within the last 10 years. They must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution in the United States and have a cumulative g.p.a. and a science g.p.a. of at least 3.00 on the last 40 semester hours of college-level work. They must have completed preparatory science courses in organic and inorganic chemistry, introductory animal biology or zoology, and general statistics or biostatistics. They also must have completed upper-level courses in human or animal physiology (lower-level combined anatomy/physiology courses do not satisfy this requirement); three upper-level courses in endocrinology, microbiology, histology, and/or related disciplines; and an introductory biochemistry course (combined organic/biochemistry courses do not satisfy this requirement). Courses in cell biology, cell physiology, genetics, immunology, molecular biology, neurobiology, and parasitology are recommended.

Applicants must have at least 1,200 hours of health care experience.

The admissions committee gives special attention to applicants' performance in science courses. Some successful applicants have had a cumulative and science g.p.a. of at least 3.70; up to 141 s.h. of college credit, including at least 81 s.h. in the sciences; and more than 3,000 hours of clinical and/or research experience.

Satisfaction of the basic admission requirements does not ensure acceptance to the program. The admissions committee selects the applicants it considers best qualified. Previous health care experience involving direct patient contact is preferred. The committee requests interviews with the most qualified applicants.

Applications are accepted from April 1 to November 1 for entry the following May. Each applicant must complete the Physician Assistant Education Association centralized application, which includes three letters of recommendation, GRE scores, and transcripts. The majority of prerequisite course requirements must be completed by the November 1 application deadline.

Expenses

In addition to University of Iowa tuition and fees, Physician Assistant Program students must purchase their medical uniforms and diagnostic equipment, an expense of approximately $1,700. Microscopes are not required.

Courses

 


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