More information about this degree program can be found in the College of Health Sciences section of the catalog.
To see course descriptions, click on any linked course number, or click on “Course Descriptions” in the side banner, or view course descriptions in Lipscomb’s online digital catalog.
Field Experience
The program’s supervised clinical practice experiences (SCPEs) are a crucial component of the PA curriculum, providing students with hands-on patient care experience in diverse medical settings. Students complete eight six-week rotations, seven of which are required in core specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral medicine, and emergency medicine. The eighth rotation is an elective, allowing students to explore a medical or surgical subspecialty of their interest, contingent upon availability. These rotations occur in various clinical settings, including hospitals, clinics, and physician offices, and may require students to travel within or outside of commuting distance from campus.
Exit Requirements
Program completion and exit is contingent upon the following:
- Successfully complete all requirements for the Didactic Phase
- Successfully complete all requirements for the SCPE Phase
- Successfully complete the Physician Assistant Summative Exam (PASE) given within the School of Physician Assistant Studies
- Successfully complete all PANCE preparation reviews and activities
- Be in good standing with the Lipscomb University Registrar, Business office, and Security office concerning all tuition, fees, fines, or requirements
- Receive a recommendation for graduation from the Progression & Accountability Council (PAC)
Comprehensive Exam information
The School of Physician Assistant Studies will conduct a comprehensive summative assessment for each student in the final four (4) months of the program. Collectively known as Physician Assistant Summative Evaluation (PASE), the program will use a series of assessments to verify that each student meets the program competencies required for clinical practice. The PASE will measure each student’s medical knowledge, clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills, clinical and technical skills, interpersonal skills, and professional behaviors. PASE will use a combination of traditional testing and authentic assessments explicitly designed to correlate with program competencies. Students must be entrustable with all competencies to be considered eligible for graduation.
Between the sixth (6th) and seventh (7th) supervised clinical practice experiences, each PA student must complete the PASE. During this comprehensive series of evaluations, the School of Physician Assistant Studies will assess the acquisition of the program’s required competencies for new graduates. Students’ results will be tracked in their individual student records (e.g., Progress IQ), ensuring that each student has successfully acquired each assessed competency. Failure to achieve any program competencies will result in focused remediation and reassessment. Students must remediate and reassess until the targeted performance level is obtained. Through this methodology, the program can verify and ensure that each student has achieved the required competencies for graduation.
The program will not use reviews of previous evaluation methods or evaluation products designed for individual student assessment (e.g., PACKRAT) in lieu of or to fulfill the summative testing requirements.