Oklahoma City University (OCU) developed a Physician Assistant (PA) Program to impact the delivery of health care in Oklahoma. PAs have repeatedly demonstrated their value as competent, flexible and economically prudent medical practitioners in today’s society. With Oklahoma ranking near the bottom of states in access to primary care and in metrics of health status, a more robust PA workforce is a vital need for our citizens.
The PA Program received accreditation-provisional in September 2015 and matriculated its first cohort of students in January 2016. In March 2020, the program successfully navigated the accreditation process and gained Accreditation-Continued for a full cycle of 10 years. This milestone was accomplished with support from many PAs, physicians and community leaders who worked with faculty to develop a Program that produces graduates with a mission to improve the lives of citizens in the communities they serve through a thorough understanding of disease mechanisms, application of critical thought, community service, servant leadership and life-long learning.
The OCU curriculum provides 15 months of classroom training presented in an integrated systems-based format. In addition to the basic and medical sciences, the Program has a specific interest in developing student understanding of a variety of social and ethical issues faced in the medical humanities by reading and discussing short stories and novellas.
The classroom phase is followed immediately by 13 months of supervised clinical practice experiences in various medical settings and specialties. A unique aspect of the OCU program involves providing a parallel courses of study in business aspects of medicine. This added curriculum provides the OCU PA student a greater understanding of medical practice management which is critical to a successful practice. The final month of the PA Program is a time for students to demonstrate competence in the art and science of medicine and readiness to enter the PA profession.
Ongoing program self-assessment processes including analysis of test and skill performance data, student and faculty evaluations of courses and clinical experiences and analysis of graduate metrics will provide evidence that Program Goals and student learning outcomes have been satisfied. The Program makes these data and analyses available on its website for public review.
More Information
Graduate Admissions can be reached at [email protected] or call 405-208-5054.
