Indicators of Success | College of Health Sciences

PA Department Goal Achievements

Medical Knowledge

The NCCPA board scores are a good indicator of medical knowledge. The goal of the PA department is to obtain a first time passing rate in the 90 percent range. Three of the classes that graduated in the past five years have passing rates greater than 90%, most importantly the two most recent classes.

In the graduate survey sent to the most two recent classes, 95% of the alumni agreed or strongly agreed that the course work provided solid fundamental knowledge for rotations. The practical department goal is for at least 90% of the graduates to agree or strongly agree.

Communication Skills

The PA Department goal is that at least 90% of our students to average “3”or higher on all questions in the assessment tool that pertain to communication in the summative Problem Oriented Physical given to second year PA students.

99% of the students in the last three graduating classes received a score of three or higher.

In the graduate survey sent to the most three recent classes, 94-96% of the alumni agreed or strongly agreed that the communication skills taught in the program are used by the graduates (N=134). The practical department goal is for at least 90% of the graduates to agree or strongly agree.

Patient Care Knowledge

The PA Department goal is that all students earn a passing grade in clinical education rotations. The grade is composed of a preceptor evaluation, end of rotation exam, and sample patient note.

For the last three graduating classes, 100% of all students have passed all their rotations. No unsatisfactory grades were recorded.

Professionalism

The PA Department goal is for all students to achieve at least a score of 4 out of 5 points in areas of professionalism on the Clinical Preceptor Evaluation Form given to second-year PA students. For the most recent graduating class, all students were above 4 points. 94% of the class was in the 4.9 to 5.0 range.

Critical Thinking

The practical PA Department working goal is that at least 80% of the students correctly diagnose a patient in a summative Problem Oriented Physical Examinations given to second year students near the end of the curriculum.

For the last two graduating classes 87% of the students were able to correctly diagnose a patient based on history, physical exam and laboratory findings in a Problem Oriented Exam situation.

The graduate survey sent to the most recent graduating class (response rate = 65%) indicated that 94% either moderately or greatly agreed that critical thinking skills learned in the program assist in decision making in their daily practice.

Evidence Based Medicine

The program goal is for all students to achieve a passing grade on the evidence based examination taught during the first-year of the PA curriculum.

100% of the students in the last two graduating classes have achieved passing scores, with 92% of the students achieving scores between 90-100%.

One assessment in the graduate survey address evidence based medicine and 97.8% of the graduates in the last three classes agree or strongly agreed that they integrate scientific knowledge into clinical decision making. The Program goal is for at least 90% of alumni to agree or strongly agree.