Graduate Studies in Physician Assistant Studies

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Graduate Studies in Physician Assistant Studies 

Master of Physician Assistant Studies 

Quincy Byrdsong, Vice Provost for Health Affairs
Wade Denney, Medical Director, Graduate Studies in Physician Assistant Studies
Jason Huddleston, Program Director, Graduate Studies in Physician Assistant Studies
 

Principal Faculty

Linda Elrod, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Casie Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Matt Steidl, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Lauren Webb, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Cindy Wingert Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
Geoff Wright, Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies
 

The Physician Assistant program is seven consecutive semesters in duration, requiring full-time, year-round student participation. The curriculum is broken down into a didactic phase (four semesters) and a clinical phase (three semesters). Throughout the program, students will acquire core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences that is focused on application to patient care.  The robust curriculum, which is consistent with the program’s mission, goals, and competencies,  has the breadth and depth designed to prepare the student for the clinical practice of medicine as a Physician Assistant.

Accreditation Statement

At its March 2021 meeting, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) placed the Lipscomb University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Lipscomb University on Accreditation-Probation status until its next review in March 2023. 

Probation accreditation is a temporary accreditation status initially of not less than two years. However, that period may be extended by the ARC-PA for up to an additional two years if the ARC-PA finds that the program is making substantial progress toward meeting all applicable standards but requires additional time to come into full compliance. Probation accreditation status is granted, at the sole discretion of the ARC-PA, when a program holding an accreditation status of Accreditation - Provisional or Accreditation - Continued does not, in the judgment of the ARC-PA, meet the Standards or when the capability of the program to provide an acceptable educational experience for its students is threatened. 

Once placed on probation, a program that fails to comply with accreditation requirements in a timely manner, as specified by the ARC-PA, may be scheduled for a focused site visit and is subject to having its accreditation withdrawn. 

Specific questions regarding the Program and its plans should be directed to the Program Director and/or the appropriate institutional official(s).

The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-lipscomb-university/

Mission

To be the spark that ignites Christ-centered medical practice through excellence in education, meaningful engagement, and empowerment of students.

Admission Requirements 

The admission requirements listed here are relevant to the admissions cycle for the class matriculating in the fall of the 2023-2024 academic year. For the most current admissions information, please visit our website:  https://www.lipscomb.edu/academics/programs/physician-assistant-studies.

Academic Requirements

• A CASPA calculated GPA of 3.0 is required for both the cumulative GPA and the overall science GPA at the time of application submission. The program does not replace grades or recalculate GPAs based on coursework completed after application submission.

• Must have earned a ‘C’ or above in all prerequisite courses.

• Must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, or the international equivalent verified by WES, or anticipate earning a bachelor’s degree prior to matriculation into the physician assistant program. 

• The prerequisite classes must be obtained from a regionally accredited U.S. institution. 

• Science and statistics prerequisites must have been completed within 10 years of matriculation. 

• The only online prerequisite courses considered for acceptance are the psychology and statistics courses, unless a course meets the COVID exception policy. 

• Science prerequisites must be those for science majors only. We will not accept prerequisites for nursing, kinesiology, etc, or those listed as “survey” or “introductory” courses

• The program does not accept Advanced Placement (AP) or CLEP credits for any of our prerequisite coursework.

• For a list of temporary COVID-19 admissions changes, please refer to https://www.lipscomb.edu/academics/programs/physician-assistant-studies. 

Prerequisites

The following prerequisite list is representative of classes that are generally accepted. This list is not all-inclusive. Other courses may substitute based on prior approval on an individual basis.

Chemistry (8 credits)  

• General Chemistry I and II with a Lab
• Organic Chemistry I and II with a Lab
• Chemistry for Health Sciences (including a lab)

Human Anatomy and Physiology (8 credits)

• Human Anatomy/Physiology I
• Human Anatomy/Physiology II
• Human Anatomy
• Human Physiology

Biology (8 credits)

• Principles of Biology I and II with a Lab
• Microbiology with lab
• Immunology
• Virology
• Molecular Basis of Human Disease
• Molecular Biology with lab
• Genetics
• Cell Biology with lab

Psychology (3 credits)

• Developmental Psychology
• General Psychology I
• Abnormal Psychology

Statistics (3 credits)

• Probability & Statistics
• Biostatistics
• Introduction to Statistics

Course Expiration Policy

All prerequisite science and statistics courses must be taken within 10 calendar years of matriculation. If a one-semester course was completed greater than 10 years prior to the year of matriculation, then the course must be repeated. If a two-semester course was completed greater than 10 years prior to the time of matriculation, then at least one-half of the course must be repeated. 

For example, for an applicant expecting to matriculate in Fall 2024, all prerequisite science and statistics courses must have been taken no later than 2014. 

Holistic Applicant Review

The Admissions Committee takes a broad range of factors into consideration as we select candidates, including:

• Capacity for academic success* 
• Patient care experience*
• Medical scribe experience*
• Evidence of service*
• Superior interpersonal skills
• An understanding of the PA profession with PA shadowing experience*
• Letters of recommendation (3 required) with additional weight given for those from a healthcare provider (PA, NP, MD, DO)*
• Written expression of personal thought and technical proficiency of writing

*Applicants who exceed the minimum requirements for certain admission criteria will receive incremental weighting during the applicant review process. 

The Lipscomb University School of Physician Assistant Studies endeavors to recruit and retain a diverse community of physician assistant students whose qualifications align with the programmatic mission and goals. As such, the program has admissions and enrollment practices that advantage specific individuals or groups. Applicants demonstrating any of the following attributes will receive incremental weighting within various sections of the admission’s rubric:

• Multilingual
• Applicants from a rural or medically underserved area
• Socioeconomic indicators as reported in CASPA
• First-generation college students
• Applicants from a disadvantaged background
• Military service with honorable discharge
• Lipscomb graduates

Patient Care Experience

Lipscomb requires all applicants to have patient care experience. However, we do not require a specific number of hours to be considered for an interview. Patient care experience is defined as those experiences in which you are directly responsible for an aspect of a patient’s care. Patient care hours may be paid or volunteer. It is extremely important to provide a detailed description of your experiences on your CASPA application to assure that you are given appropriate credit. Examples include but are not limited to nursing assistant, medical assistant, emergency medical technician/paramedic, emergency room technician, home health aide, and phlebotomist.

Healthcare Experience

Healthcare experience is defined as experience in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient’s care, but may still have patient interaction. Additional weight within the admissions rubric will be given for medical scribe experience. 

PA Shadowing

Lipscomb requires all applicants to have PA shadowing experience. However, we do not require a specific number of hours to be considered for an interview. We prefer you seek quality interactions with a practicing PA rather than just accumulating higher quantity hours.

Technical Standards

Professional healthcare providers are challenged in environments that demand certain abilities, behaviors, and skills. The Lipscomb University School of Physician Assistant Studies has identified certain professional behaviors, abilities, and skills that are essential for students to be able to succeed within the program and provide excellent care to patients. In order for a student to be eligible to enroll in the program, he or she must be able to perform these skills and behaviors successfully either unassisted, with dependable use of reasonable assistive devices, or by employing another reasonable accommodation. The following descriptions define the capabilities expected from an individual in order to successfully complete the Lipscomb University Physician Assistant Program. 

Minimum Performance

The PA student must possess the skills related to critical thinking, communication, gross motor dexterity, fine motor coordination, interpersonal skills, observational abilities, and social skills in an individual, group, classroom, laboratory, or other educational settings. All students must be able to effectively perform and function in settings that are solitary, small group, large group, social environment, public space, or large classroom settings without disruption to other students, patients, faculty, or staff. All students must be able to function and remain calm within stressful situations. All students must be able to attend classes and laboratory sessions and be present for examination and testing. All students must be able to perform overnight call when required on supervised clinical rotations.

Communication Skills

The PA student must be able to effectively hear, understand, speak, and observe patients in order to elicit history and other necessary information from patients, students, faculty, and staff. The student must be able to perceive nonverbal communication and cues, describe patient mood or changes, describe posture and appearance, and interpret and describe patient activity and behavior. The PA student must be able to communicate in verbal, written, typed, and electronic formats in a manner that is effective, efficient, and sensitive, and in the English language. The PA student must be able to receive and give communication effectively with others in a professional manner. The PA student must be able to interact, communicate, and understand other students, clinicians, faculty, patients, and their families in order to respond appropriately and in a timely fashion.

Intellectual Capabilities

The PA student must possess and demonstrate the physical, emotional, intellectual, compassionate, and ethical capabilities required to undertake the full curriculum at a normal pace with on-time completion. The student must be able to learn, retain, and recall information and make reasoned decisions in a timely fashion. The student must be able to achieve a competent level of critical thinking and reasoning required to function in an entry-level PA position. In order to achieve this level, the student must be able to perform in areas of reasoning, measurement, analysis, interpretation, synthesis, calculation, and deduction. These skills must be evident in dealing with other students, faculty, staff, patients, patient families, and other health care professionals. Critical thinking and problem solving, while in stressful situations, are necessary to complete the program.

Interpersonal Abilities and Social Interactions

The PA student must be able to establish and maintain appropriate relationships in a professional manner with other students, faculty, staff, health care professionals, patients, and patient families. This encompasses possessing the maturity and emotional health necessary to function within the health care and educational environments while achieving full utilization of his or her abilities, intellectual function, sound judgment, sensory input, critical thinking, and promptness. The student must be able to demonstrate compassion, empathy, responsibility, and tolerance towards patients, families, faculty, staff, other students, and colleagues. This includes the ability to remain calm and function at this level within stressful situations and with competing demands for the student’s time and energies.

Fine and Gross Motor Skills and Strength

The interaction with patients and the demands of the health care and educational environments while in training and practice require strength, coordination, and endurance. The PA student must have sufficient fine and gross motor coordination to function within the patient care and educational environments that may include clutter, equipment, tables, family members, stairs, textbooks, supplies, and distractions. This includes the ability to ambulate, stand for extended periods of time, concentrate, balance, interact, assist in movement, use medical instruments, use electronic devices, position patients, and lift heavy objects. In general, a PA student should be able to safely lift 50+ pounds without any assistance or injury. Interaction within the environment may include classrooms, treatment rooms, laboratory spaces, patient rooms, waiting rooms, operating rooms, public spaces, stairwells, outdoors, and any other space generally necessary to interact with and treat patients or interact in the educational environment. This interaction may require standing or sitting for extended periods of time without disruption or change in position. This interaction may require altering lighting, including bright or fluorescent lights or low light conditions. All students must be able to travel to clinical rotation sites.

Observational Skills

The PA student must be able to observe a patient or simulated patient accurately from varying distances. This includes adequate vision. The PA student must possess the visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory sensations sufficient enough to receive the sensory input in the classroom, clinical, laboratory, or educational setting. These skills include the ability to inspect, palpate, percuss, and auscultate accurately during the physical examination.

Programmatic & Academic Policies

Advanced Placement

Advanced placement is defined as a waiver of required coursework included in the PA curriculum for applicants to the program and/or a waiver of required coursework included in the PA curriculum for currently enrolled students in the program which results in the student advancing in the curriculum without completing required curriculum components at the sponsoring institution.

The School of Physician Assistant Studies does not offer advanced placement for applicants to the program or currently enrolled students in the program. 

International Student Policy

Lipscomb University, the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and the School of Physician Assistant studies require international students to be proficient in written and oral English before submitting an application. Applicants whose native language is not English must present the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), prior to applying for admission to the college. For more information, visit www.toefl.org. Minimum TOEFL scores are 213 for the computer exam and 550 for the paper exam. The equivalent TOEFL iBT score is 80. Lipscomb’s TOEFL code is 1161. 

Applicants that are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may apply. Graduates of foreign institutions must have a degree equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree as verified by World Education Services (WES). Contact information for WES can be found at www.wes.org. Transcripts must be provided in the original language and with an English translation. In addition, all prerequisite classes must be completed from a regionally accredited U.S. higher education institution.  The Physician Assistant Program requires a course-by-course evaluation including verification of lab components of the courses with the CASPA application. Applications will not be considered for admission until the WES report is received.

Academic Policies

In accordance with accreditation standards as defined by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for Physician Assistants (ARC-PA), all academic policies must be made available to students on admission. Academic policies are updated annually and defined exclusively by the School of Physician Assistant Studies Student Handbook. As such, the Student Handbook supersedes all programmatic policies that may or may not be contained herein.  

Financial Information 

Tuition and Fees for 2022-23

** All amounts shown are estimates and subject to change.

Program of Study Requirements

• Physician Assistant Studies, MPAS

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