Program Technical Standards (A3.13e)

The Drury University Physician Assistant Program is a rigorous and intense program that places specific requirements and demands on all students enrolled in the program. The minimum technical standards establish the essential qualities considered necessary for students admitted to this program to achieve the knowledge, skills, and competencies of an entry-level physician assistant. In the event an applicant is unable to fulfill these technical standards prior to or any time after admission, with or without reasonable accommodation, the student will not be allowed to enter or progress within the program. Candidates for admission and students within the physician assistant program must possess the aptitude, ability, and skills as follows:

1. Observation

   • Able to observe materials presented in the learning environment at a distance and close-up. These materials include audiovisual presentations in lectures, laboratories, and gross organs and tissues in normal and pathologic states which requires the use of functional vision with the ability to identify individual colors, hearing, and somatic sensation.
   • Able to observe patients at a distance and close-up requiring functional vision, hearing, and somatic sensation.

2. Communication

   • Able to sensitively exchange information at a lay-person’s level through both speaking to and hearing patients and family members.
   • Communicate professionally and competently in oral and written forms with all members of the healthcare team.
   • Possess appropriate reading and writing skills to successfully complete graduate-level work and to comprehend and communicate patient encounters in the medical record.

3. Motor skills

   • Possess motor skills required to perform physical examinations such as palpitation, auscultation, percussion, and other diagnostic maneuvers and procedures requiring the use of a stethoscope, ophthalmoscope/otoscope, tongue blade, intravenous equipment, gynecologic speculum, and scalpel.
   • Possess gross and fine muscular movement, equilibrium, and functional use of the sense of touch and vision to provide care in the general and emergency care setting.
     • Examples of emergency treatment required of a physician assistant are cardiopulmonary resuscitation, administration of intravenous medication, suturing of wounds, obstetrical maneuvers, and incision and drainage of abscesses.

4. Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities

   • Able to learn large amounts of complex, technical, and detailed information for independent problem solving and decision making.
   • Able to learn through multiple modalities including, but not limited to, classroom instruction, small group, team, collaborative activities, clinical settings, and simulated environments.
   • Capable of memorizing, measuring, calculating, reasoning, analyzing, synthesizing, and reporting clinical data.
   • Able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and the spatial relationship of structures.
   • Able to read, understand, and critically evaluate medical literature.

5. Behavioral and Social Attributes

   • Possess emotional maturity and the ability to tolerate and maintain composure when experiencing physical, mental, and emotional stress related to PA training and the profession and knowing when to seek appropriate help as needed.
   • Exercise good judgment in all academic and patient care settings.
   • Capable of responsive, empathetic listening; compassion for others; integrity; and respectful relationships with peers, patients, patient families, and all members of the academic and healthcare communities.
   • Ability to take personal responsibility for their own learning, recognize their limitations in knowledge, skills and abilities, and seek appropriate assistance when needed.