PA Program Receives Accreditation
The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant Inc., had approved the BU School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program for provisional accreditation. Provisional accreditation is granted to programs that have not yet enrolled students but have demonstrated preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with accreditation Standards.
The Physician Assistant profession, which began in 1965 at Duke University, was developed to address the primary care shortage in rural and underserved areas. Physician assistants practice medicine with physician supervision. The profession now includes medical providers in a variety of health-care delivery settings and in virtually all medical and surgical specialties. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is among the fastest growing profession with an expected increase in PA positions of 30% during this decade. There are nearly 84,000 physician assistants practicing in the United States and the average salary is 92,460.
Capitalizing on these statistics the Boston University School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program will educate physician assistants in a novel interprofessional education and practice model. In this first year up to 28 highly qualified candidates will be admitted to the program; in the following years it will comprise a class of 36 students. The 28-month (seven semesters) program, housed in the BUSM Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, includes 12 months of traditional lectures and seminar sessions in medical sciences and pathophysiology, while the second 16 months provides clinical education in hospitals and clinics, and two months dedicated to the thesis proposal. Graduates will receive a Master of Science degree.
The application deadline is Oct. 1, 2013. Applications to the program are submitted through the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants.
For more information, visit the PA program website.