SWAGÊÓƵ

The mission of the SWAGÊÓƵ Physician Assistant (PA) Program is to prepare master's level primary care Physician Assistants to be highly skilled members of interprofessional healthcare teams.

Vision

The SWAGÊÓƵ PA Program’s vision is to become a recognized leader in northern New England for the education and training of high-quality PA healthcare providers. We strive to teach our graduates to become leaders and partners with all members of an interprofessional healthcare team.

Prepare our graduates to:

• Provide high-quality, patient-centered and evidence-based, equitable healthcare to diverse populations of patients.
• Work in rural, underserved, and geriatric populations, with an understanding of the special needs of these populations.
• Advocate for the health and social needs of patients and their communities, thereby addressing and overcoming health disparities and barriers, with the goal of finding innovative ways to develop healthier communities through provision of equitable care.

Core Values

Similar to the core values of the PA Profession, the SWAGÊÓƵ PA Program’s values are:

• Excellence in Clinical Care – through education and lifelong learning.
• Integrity and Professionalism – as a PA and in providing patient care.
• Empathy – for patients, their families and the community.
• Interprofessional Collaboration – as a member of the healthcare team.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – delivery of equitable, inclusive, patient-centered care to a diverse population of patients, with cultural humility.

Goals

The ongoing goals of the SWAGÊÓƵ PA Program are:

1. Maintain ARC accreditation. 
2. Maintain curriculum designed to educate students meeting all the entry-level PA competencies (according to PAEA, AAPA, NCCPA, and ARC-PA competencies).
3. Recruit qualified applicants from underrepresented backgrounds.
4. Contribute to the PA workforce needs of New England.
5. Graduate clinicians knowledgeable about the aging population and competent to practice in rural and underserved populations.

The mission of the program is accomplished by having graduates who meet the goals of the educational process. Graduates of the Physician Assistant (PA) program will show competency in the following areas:

Knowledge for Patient-Centered Practice

Demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences, resources surrounding this information, and the application of this knowledge to individualized patient-centered care.

Communication

Demonstrate effective interpersonal, professional, and clinical communication skills.

Interprofessional 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.

Society and Population Health

Recognize how the larger community affects the health of patients. Integrate knowledge of social determinants of health into healthcare decisions. Provide compassionate and competent healthcare to patients of all ages and backgrounds, with special emphasis on underserved, rural, and geriatric populations.

Professionalism, Legal Aspects, and Ethics of the PA in Healthcare

Demonstrate an understanding of the historical and contemporary role of the PA in the healthcare system. 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.

Healthcare Finance and Systems

Articulate the essential aspects of value-based healthcare and apply this understanding to the delivery of safe and quality care.

The following are interwoven among various courses and experiences within the program.

Quality Improvement, Self-Assessment, and Lifelong Learning

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.

Cultural Humility

Develop a state of openness toward understanding and respecting important aspects of other people’s cultural identities, including an awareness of one’s personal and professional beliefs, biases, attitudes, and actions that affect patient care. Develop a commitment to ongoing personal and professional development surrounding cultural competence and humility.

The Master of Science – Physician Assistant Program (M.S.P.A.) has been planned to effectively utilize faculty expertise from the University's five (5) colleges. Some faculty hold joint appointments with responsibility for teaching medical and PA students as well as other health profession matriculants. Similarly, PA candidates will receive clinical supervision as part of an integrated team of healthcare providers. It is our expectation that these collaborative strategies toward teaching and learning will ultimately result in high quality, cost-effective healthcare delivery, particularly in medically underserved regions of New England.

Upon successful completion of the Physician Assistant Program, the SWAGÊÓƵ awards the Master of Science degree. The program operates on a twenty-four (24)-month full-time calendar, beginning in late May of each year with a new incoming class.

What is a PA?

Physician Assistants (PAs) are healthcare professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. PAs are qualified by graduation from an accredited Physician Assistant educational program and/or certification by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Within the physician/PA relationship, PAs exercise autonomy in medical decision-making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services under the general supervision of the physician.

Other

The SWAGÊÓƵ's M.S.P.A. program was designed according to the Essentials and Guidelines for an Accredited Educational Program for the Physician Assistant. The SWAGÊÓƵ Physician Assistant Program is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA).

Phase I of the Program of study consists of sixty-one (61) credit hours in pre-clinical didactic coursework. The summer, fall, and spring terms include instruction in the fields of biomedical sciences, clinical medicine, public health, pharmacology, clinical assessment, anatomy, physiology, evidence-based medicine, ethics and professionalism, specialty disciplines, and geriatrics. Twelve (12) months of clinical rotations will take place upon successful completion of the didactic phase. The Program ends with a final week on campus, which provides a forum for the presentation of students' research projects to peers and faculty, offers assistance in preparing the graduating students for certification, and gives PA candidates an opportunity to integrate the didactic and clinical portions of their training in preparation for the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE). The purpose of the catalog is to provide a comprehensive list of required courses. The Physician Assistant program can provide a degree map listing which courses should be taken in each stage of this timeline.

Graduation Requirements

Students must complete all program requirements before the issuance of their Master of Science degree and the certificate of completion of the program.

WCHP Academic Policies

The Department of Physician Assistant, the Westbrook College of Health Professions, and the SWAGÊÓƵ are committed to offering a quality Physician Assistant education program that complies with the evaluative criteria of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant. The program provides learning experiences to enable graduates to achieve the outcomes required for the practice of Physician Assistant. Please refer to the WCHP Graduate Program Progression Policies and Procedures (PDF) for a detailed description of academic standards.

Technical Standards

A student in the PA Program must have abilities and skills in five (5) categories: observation, communication, motor, intellectual, and behavioral/social. All students admitted to the Program must meet the following abilities and expectations upon matriculation and maintain these standards while enrolled in the PA Program. In the event a student is unable to fulfill these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, the student will be subject to dismissal after admission.

Reasonable accommodation for persons with documented disabilities will be considered on an individual basis. However, a candidate must be able to perform these skills in an independent manner. Accordingly, the program requires each student to meet the following technical standards with or without accommodation:

Observation

Students must have sufficient sensory capacity to observe in the lecture hall, the laboratory, the outpatient setting, and the patient’s bedside. Sensory skills adequate to perform a physical examination are required. The ability to acquire sensory input using vision, hearing, and tactile sensation must be adequate to observe a patient’s condition and to elicit information through procedures regularly required in a physical examination, such as inspection, auscultation, percussion, and palpation.

In any case, where a student’s ability to observe or acquire information through these sensory modalities is compromised, the student must demonstrate alternative means and/or abilities to acquire and demonstrate the essential information without reliance upon another person’s interpretation of the information. It is expected that obtaining and using such alternative means and/or abilities shall be the responsibility of the student. The University will reasonably assist the student where necessary.

Communication

The student must be able to effectively and efficiently communicate in the English language using verbal, written, and reading skills, in a manner that demonstrates sensitivity to fellow students, patients, their families, and all members of the healthcare team.

• A student must be able to accurately elicit information, describe a patient’s change in mood, thought, activity, and posture. Students must demonstrate established communication skills using traditional means which may include the use of assistive devices. 
• The student must be able to communicate complex findings in appropriate terms for patients/caregivers and other members of the healthcare team.
• A student must be able to communicate clearly and audibly during interactions with classmates, professors, patients, and members of the healthcare team. 
• A student must be able to receive, write legibly, and interpret written and verbal communication in both clinical and academic settings.
• The student must be able to interpret and record legibly observations in a manner that is efficient and accurate using handwritten and electronic and dictating formats.

Motor

The ability to participate in basic diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers and procedures (e.g. palpation, percussion, auscultation) is required. Students must have sufficient motor function to safely execute movements required to provide care to patients. Students must be able to negotiate patient care environments and must be able to move between settings, such as clinic, classroom building, and hospital. Physical stamina sufficient to complete the rigorous course of didactic and clinical study in required. Long periods of sitting, standing, or moving are required in the classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences.

The student must be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general and emergency diagnosis and medical care such as airway management, placement of intravenous catheters, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and suturing of wounds. At all times the ability to administer care to patients in a safe manner is paramount.

Intellectual

Students must be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize information effectively in a precisely limited time as would be appropriate for the individual’s level of training in a given clinical setting, while under stress, and in an environment in which other distractions may be present. Problem-solving, one of the critical skills demanded of PAs, requires all of these intellectual abilities. In addition, students should be able to comprehend three (3)-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures.

Students must be able to read and understand medical literature. The student must be able to demonstrate mastery of these skills and the ability to use them together in a timely fashion in medical problem solving and patient care.

The student must be able to, with or without the use of assistive devices, but without reliance on another person, interpret x-ray, and other graphic images and digital or analog representations of physiologic phenomena (such as EKGs).

Behavioral and Social Attributes

Students must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, and the prompt completion of all academic and patient care responsibilities. The development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients and other members of the healthcare team are essential. Flexibility, compassion, integrity, motivation, interpersonal skills, and the ability to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice are required.

Students must function professionally and effectively in any academic or clinical setting. Students must always demonstrate the psychological and emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, and the prompt completion of all academic and clinical responsibilities.

The student must demonstrate mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with University faculty and professional staff, peers and classmates, patients and other members of the healthcare team. Flexibility, compassion, integrity, motivation, interpersonal skills, and the ability to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical practice are all required.

For more information on disabilities and accommodation, please contact the SWAGÊÓƵ Student Access Center at (207) 602-2815.

Grading

Upon completion of a course of study, the faculty member in charge of that course submits the number of hours taught and a grade for each student to the academic coordinator. The M.S.P.A. program uses a standard letter grading system.

Course Add/Drop or Withdrawal Policy

Due to the standard curriculum sequence within the M.S.P.A. program, students are not allowed to add or drop courses. Students may not withdraw from an individual M.S.P.A. course, to do so indicates a complete withdrawal from the MSPA Program.

Repeat Course Policy

Courses in the M.S.P.A. program are offered once per year. All courses within the program must be completed with a minimum final grade of at least 74%. Students must successfully complete each course within a given semester to progress to the next semester. If the student does not pass the course, they may be given the opportunity to remediate the course by repeating the course the next time it is offered. An unsuccessful course remediation will result in dismissal from the program. If the student is successful at remediating the failed course and fails another course during their time in the program (two (2) course failures), they will be dismissed. If the student has taken a leave of absence and fails the retaken course the following year, they will also be dismissed.

If the student is repeating a course due to a leave of absence or deceleration taken before that semester was completed, a new listing and assigned grade are placed on the student's transcript. The original course listing and grade remain on the student's transcript (e.g. Withdrawal Pass, Withdrawal Fail, etc.). All courses are listed chronologically on the transcript by semester or academic period in which they are enrolled.

When it is determined appropriate for a student to repeat a course, the following minimum grade requirements must be met. Failure to achieve this standard will ordinarily result in dismissal from the program. For the PA student the minimum grade is a C+.

Please refer to the Westbrook College of Health Professions Graduate Progression Policy and Procedures (PDF) for further information regarding graduate program progression. 

Transfer credit is not accepted or awarded.

Application

The SWAGÊÓƵ Master of Science, Physician Assistant program participates in the . All applicants are required to apply online through this service.

Degree Requirements

• Completion of a Bachelor’s Degree from a U.S. regionally accredited institution, or international equivalent, prior to matriculation.
• All applicants are required to submit official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended. Official transcripts should be sent directly to . Please see the application for additional information and instructions.

GPA Requirements

• Prerequisite GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Last sixty (60) credit hour GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• All applicants must meet minimum GPA requirements to be considered for admission.

Prerequisite Coursework Requirements

Highly Recommended Courses

Additional consideration will be given to applicants who have successfully completed one (1) or more of the courses listed below:

• Pathophysiology
• Advanced Physiology
• Immunology
• Cell Biology
• Organic Chemistry w/lab

Other Important Prerequisite Coursework Considerations

• All prerequisite courses must be successfully completed with a grade of C or better (C- grades are not acceptable).
• Applicants with questions about the equivalency of specific prerequisite course(s) are encouraged to submit the form.
• All prerequisite courses must be completed at a regionally accredited U.S. college or university, or international equivalent.
• Prerequisite courses may be in progress or planned at the time of application, although all courses must be completed with official transcripts submitted to CASPA no later than December 31, 2024.
• Official transcripts for coursework and/or degrees completed in the summer/fall term should be submitted to CASPA for verification during the CASPA period.
• All planned or in-progress coursework should be listed on the CASPA application at the time of application submission.
• Online courses offered through as well as online courses from other regionally accredited U.S. colleges or universities are acceptable with program approval.

Letters of Evaluation

Three (3) letters of evaluation are required- submitted via CASPA.

• One (1) letter must come from a practicing PA (or PA-C).
• Two (2) letters should come from other healthcare providers, professors, supervisors, or co-workers. Letters should be requested from those who can speak to the applicant’s academic abilities and/or professional experiences.
• Letters from friends or family members are not acceptable.

Standardized Tests

SWAGÊÓƵ PA encourages all applicants to complete and upload a copy of their test score report alongside the CASPA application. While the test is not required, it is highly recommended and helps the admissions committee gain valuable insight as part of our holistic application review process. Applicants who submit a Casper test score report may receive additional consideration during application review.

Experience Hours

SWAGÊÓƵ PA applicants should complete a minimum of one thousand (1,000) hours of direct patient care experience before application submission:

• Patient care experience (PCE) is direct and hands-on, and generally takes place in an allopathic or osteopathic medical setting.
• Hours can be completed through paid employment or volunteer work.
• Hours completed for academic credit, e.g. internship hours to complete a bachelor’s degree are acceptable.
• All hours must be documented within the CASPA application, specifically within the Patient Care Experiences section.
• Examples of acceptable patient care experiences are available via the linked PDF: SWAGÊÓƵ Patient Care Experiences.
• Applicants with specific questions about this requirement are welcome to submit inquiries via the form.

Shadowing Hours

All applicants are required to complete at least twenty (20) hours of Physician Assistant (PA) shadowing prior to application submission:

• Shadowing hours must be completed with a licensed PA.
• Shadowing in more than one (1) practice facility and practice area is recommended in order to gain a clear understanding of the PA role within a medical team.
• Shadowing hours do not count toward direct patient care experience hours.

Personal Statement

• Please refer to the CASPA application for writing prompts and additional information.

Interviews

Interviews are a required part of the application process:

• Highly qualified applicants will be contacted and invited to interview by the Office of Graduate Admissions & Recruitment.
• All interviews are done virtually.

International Applicants

International applicants and those with foreign degrees and coursework are required to satisfy the following additional requirements:

• Official credential evaluation by , confirming degree and grade equivalency to that of a U.S. bachelor’s degree. The completed credential evaluation should be submitted directly to CASPA. Please refer to the International Admissions section of the SWAGÊÓƵ website for more information on the type of credential evaluation required for admission review.
• Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate written and spoken fluency through the successful completion of an English language proficiency test. Applicants should refer to the English Language Proficiency page on the SWAGÊÓƵ website for specific information, minimum score requirements, and test score submission instructions.

Other Requirements

Prior to matriculation, accepted and deposited students will be required to complete the following compliance requirements:

• Completion of physical examination with proof of up-to-date immunization status. Please refer to SWAGÊÓƵ’s Student Health Center for detailed information.
• Satisfactory completion of a criminal background check and/or drug screen prior to matriculation, as well as periodically throughout the program (as required by clinical affiliations).
• All students must have a current American Heart Association Basic Life Support (BLS) certification at the time of matriculation. BLS certification status must remain current throughout the duration of the program.
• Proficiency with commonly used current information technology is required.
• All students must be able to meet the Academic and Technical Standards of the Physician Assistant profession.

All materials submitted as part of the application become the property of SWAGÊÓƵ and will not be returned or released to anyone, including the applicant. This policy includes letters of reference, primary and secondary applications, personal statements, transcripts, and other supporting materials.

Policy Exceptions

• Policies have been established to ensure fair and consistent admissions practice for all applicants.
• Exceptions to existing admission policies are rare and made on a case-by-case basis, only when it is deemed necessary and appropriate to maintain fair and consistent practice for all candidates.
• All academic (coursework and degree), health, and experience requirements presented in this summary are subject to change per accreditation mandates or clinical affiliation requirements.

Advanced Standing

• No advanced standing is available.

Experiential Learning

• No credit is awarded for experiential learning.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees for subsequent years may vary. Other expenses include books and housing. For more information regarding tuition and fees, please consult the Financial Information section of this catalog.

Lab Fees

A fee is charged to cover the expenses for specific science courses (e.g., anatomy), certain specific course or program components (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), evaluative testing, including the use of high-fidelity simulators, etc.) and an equipment fee for personal medical equipment.

Clinical Fee

The Clinical Fee is dispersed to clinical sites during the student's clinical year. It is an honorarium paid to the clinical site in appreciation for clinical training. While dispersed to clinical sites during the clinical year, to better equalize charges and award financial aid, a portion of the fee is billed to students during both the didactic and clinical year.

Tuition and fees are refunded per SWAGÊÓƵ policy. The refund policy can be found in the University Catalog section on Financial Information for Graduate Programs.

Equipment

Students are required to have certain personal medical equipment. This equipment is group purchased (at a significant discount) for each entering class and the equipment is delivered to students during the first week of the program. Please do not purchase personal medical equipment from sources other than the program's group purchase.

Books

Students in the didactic phase can plan on spending approximately $1,500 to $2,000 on required textbooks if they wish for a hard copy. Most of the texts used in the program are available digitally via the SWAGÊÓƵ Library's Portal and can be accessed without additional expense.

Course syllabi and the program booklist may also include recommended books that students are not required to purchase but may wish to have as important reference materials.

Other Expenses

Students are responsible for expenses involved with travel, parking, living expenses, and meals.

Student Employment

The program discourages students from having outside employment while attending the PA program due to its rigorous academic requirements. If a student feels that it is necessary to work while in the program, it is advisable that the student inform their academic advisor. Students are not permitted to work for the program.

Financial Aid

Detailed information and applications are available on request from the Financial Aid Office on the Biddeford Campus. Call (207) 602-2342 or visit the Financial Aid website.