Department:
Physician Assistant Sciences
Master of Physician Assistant Science Program
Department Learning Objectives
1. Medical Knowledge: Graduates will have medical knowledge including an understanding of anatomy and
physiology, pathophysiology, patient presentation, differential diagnosis, patient evaluation and management,
surgical principles, health promotion and disease prevention to be able to provide competent and comprehensive
health care. Graduates will be able to demonstrate core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical
and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care utilizing an investigatory and analytic
thinking approach to clinical situations. (PHYA 111, PHYA 112, PHYA 210, PHYA 211, PHYA211L, PHYA
440, PHYA 441, PHYA 442, PHYA 450, PHYA 451, PHYA 452, PHYA 460, PHYA 461, PHYA 462, PHYA
470, PHYA 471, PHYA 472, PHYA 480, PHYA 491, PHYA 492, PHYA 493, PHYA 494, PHYA 496, PHYA
503, all MPAS 500 level)
2. Clinical Competence: Graduates will have the ability to provide effective patient care that includes assessment,
evaluation and management to diverse populations across the life-span in an ethical, compassionate and interprofessionally collaborative manner. Graduates will possess the necessary technical skills as well as clinical
reasoning and problem-solving abilities to provide equitable and efficient patient-centered care. (PHYA 111,
PHYA 112, PHYA 210, PHYA 211, PHYA 450, PHYA 451, PHYA 452, PHYA 460, PHYA 461, PHYA 462,
PHYA 470, PHYA 471, PHYA 472, PHYA 480, PHYA 481, PHYA 490, PHYA 491, PHYA 492, PHYA 493,
PHYA 494, PHYA 495, PHYA 496, all MPAS 500 level).
3. Interpersonal and Communication Skills
Graduates will possess interpersonal and communication skills including verbal, nonverbal and written that result
in effective information exchange with patients, families, physicians and other health professionals. (PHYA 111,
PHYA 112, PHYA 210, PHYA 211, PHYA 211L, PHYA 450, PHYA 451, PHYA 452, PHYA 460, PHYA 461,
PHYA 462, PHYA 470, PHYA 471, PHYA 472, PHYA 480, PHYA 481, PHYA 490, PHYA 491, PHYA 492,
PHYA 495, PHYA 503, PHYA 505, all MPAS 500 level)
4. Professionalism
Graduates will be able to demonstrate appropriate academic and professional skills, attributes, attitudes and
behaviors necessary to function as a physician assistant. Graduates will possess an understanding of health
policies and delivery systems to promote their participation as health care leaders in identifying solutions to
community and professional endeavors, including service to people and communities in need, as expressed
through the Franciscan tradition. (PHYA 111, PHYA 112, PHYA 210, PHYA 211, PHYA 440, PHYA 441,
PHYA 442, PHYA 450, PHYA 451, PHYA 452, PHYA 460, PHYA 461, PHYA 462, PHYA 47-, PHYA 471,
PHYA 472, PHYA 480, PHYA 481, PHYA 490, PHYA 491, PHYA 492, PHYA 493, PHYA 494, PHYA 495,
PHYA 496, PHYA 503, PHYA 505, all MPAS 500 level).
5.
Measures and Objectives
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Written Course Exams – Didactic year (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 4)
Word Association Assessment
End of Rotation Exams
A&P Practical Exams (Objectives covered: 1)
CM Practical Exams (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
H&P Practical Exams (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
History Taking Exercises (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Fall Write-ups (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
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Spring Write-ups (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
SOAPs (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Half-Day Clinical Experience Evaluations (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Mid-term Rotation Evaluation (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Student Site Visits (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Preceptor Evaluation (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Summative Evaluation (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Clinical Year OSCE (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Clinical Year PES (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Graduate Survey – Evaluation of Curriculum (Objectives covered: 1, 4)
PACKRAT Exam (Objectives covered: 1, 2)
MPAS Capstone Project (Objective(s) covered: 1, 3, 4)
NCCPA PANCE Exam (Objectives covered: 1, 2)
Didactic Year Presentations (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Clinical Year Case Presentations (Objectives covered: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Benchmarks for Action
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95% of the students will obtain above a 72.5% on each written exam in didactic year.
All students pass the Word Association Assessment.
90% of the students will obtain the required score (5-year average) on each EOR Exam.
95% of the students will obtain above a 72.5% on each A&P practical exam.
95% of the students will obtain above a 72.5% on each CM practical exam.
90% of the students will obtain above a 72.5% on each H&P practical exam.
All of the students will obtain an average of a 72.5% on the exercises.
All of the students will obtain an average of a 75% on the Fall H&P Write-ups.
All of the students will obtain an average of a 79.5% on the Spring H&P Write-ups.
All of the students will obtain an average of a 75% on the SOAPs.
All students will receive “average” or better rankings on the Clinical Performance categories and “Yes” on
Professional Conduct categories.
All of the students will receive “appropriate” or “exceeds” ratings in clinical performance and “yes” ratings for
professional conduct.
Each student receives at a minimum, acceptable level of training on the Clinical site visit.
All students receive at or above “average” rating for each category.
All students will pass the summative evaluation.
90% of the students will receive above a 72.5% on the clinical year Objective Structured Clinical Examinations
(OSCE).
90% of the students will receive above a 72.5% on the clinical year on-line Patient Encounter Simulations.
Each category receives an average rating of a 2.5/4.0.
60% of the students will receive a score above the national average of the PACKRAT exam.
Each MPAS capstone project will be assessed to verify the adequacy of the student‘s communication skills and
professional competence.
The SFU MPAS Pass rate is above the national average.
Each student will earn above an 82.5% on the presentation.
All students obtain a minimum grade of an 82.5%.
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Timeline for Administration and Review
Measure
Written Course Exams – Didactic yr
Word Association Assessment
End of Rotation Exams
A&P Practical Exams
CM Practical Exams
H&P Practical Exams
History Taking Exercises
Fall Write-ups
Spring Write-ups
SOAPs
Half-Day Clinical Experience Evals
Administration
Per course schedule
Each semester
At the end of each rotation
Per course schedule
Per course schedule
Per course schedule
Per course schedule
Per schedule
Per schedule
Per schedule
Per schedule
Mid-term Rotation Evaluation
Student Site Visits
Half-way through each rotation
As scheduled by Clinical
Coordinators
At the end of each rotation
Toward the end of the clinical
year
Once each semester in the
clinical year
At the end of each rotation,
unless an OSCE is scheduled
End of clinical year
Preceptor Evaluation
Summative Evaluation
Clinical Year OSCE
Clinical Year PES
Graduate Survey – Evaluation of
Curriculum
PACKRAT Exam
MPAS Capstone Project
NCCPA PANCE Exam
Didactic Year Presentations
Clinical Year Case Presentations
At the end of didactic yr and at
the end of clinical yr
End of rotation #7
After graduation
One per student during didactic
year
Once per student during clinical
year
Review
After all students have completed the exam
At the completion of the assessment
Completion of clinical year
After all students have completed the exam
After all students have completed the exam
After all students have completed the exam
End of the course
End of fall semester
End of spring semester
End of fall and spring semester
After completion of experience and again
at the end of didactic year
Half-way through each rotation
After the site visit and at the end of the
clinical year
At the end of each rotation
After completion of summative exams
After the completion of the exam
At the end of the clinical year
After all students have completed the
evaluation
After each student has completed the exam,
then again when national data is available
End of the clinical year
After all students have taken the exam once
and then again when national data is
available
After the completion of the presentation
After the completion of the presentation
Record of Assessment Based Action for the Past Academic Year
2010 PANCE Performance
1. Final national statistics
 pass rate average for 2010 graduates is 94% while SFU graduates is 91%
 multiple choice average score was 560 while SFU graduates is 510
2. NCCPA Task Areas: SFU 2010 graduate performance was below the national average in all task areas
3. Organ Systems
 SFU 2010 graduate performance was at the national average in EENT, Dermatology and Neurology
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
SFU 2010 graduate performance was the lowest in Endocrine, GI, Hematology and Infectious diseases
Discussion
Additional suggestions that were discussed to attempt to increase student preparation for the PANCE
examination included:
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

A look at the top 100 IDC diseases seen in clinical practice revealed that a lot of the disease topics that
were in the organ systems that did not perform well were at the lower end of the list except for Diabetes
mellitus (#2) and Anemia (#84). GI topics were seen less.
Potentially identify top 20 diseases that should be concentrated on during each required rotation with
required text books and readings that end-of-rotation questions can also be drawn from
Assess current end-of rotation examinations and move towards potentially classifying them into task areas
to ensure the breadth of evaluation in relation to each area
Analysis
 December 16, 2010 Departmental Retreat discussed and analyzed 2010 Graduate PANCE
performance in detail
 Will need to continue ongoing evaluation in relation to graduate performance on PANCE to see if any
improvement in performance results from changes initiated, such as: PANCE Word Association (pilot
with 2012 graduates; full implementation 2013 graduates), increased Progression Standards for the
professional phase (2013 graduates) and evaluation of current end-of-rotation examinations (initiated
with 2012 graduates, but on-going)
Action:
P2 Committee needs to assess current rotation objectives and determine need to implement
identification of top diseases with required text book readings and subsequent revision of end-ofrotation examination questions
PACKRAT Results – new data was reviewed
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
2011 average raw score of both the first (didactic) and second (clinical) year student cohorts were better on
PACKRAT than last year with an average score of 149 (2010 – didactic score 134 above national average of
131; clinical score of 136 below national average of 145)
Task areas
o 2009 and 2010 performance in all task areas on the PACKRAT for both the didactic and clinical classes
was similar to the national PACKRAT average
o 2010 Graduate performance on PACKRAT vs. PANCE – performance increased in all task areas between
the clinical year PACKRAT examination and subsequent PANCE performance
o 2011 PACKRAT results on task areas reveals similar performance between the didactic and clinical year
o Review of task area didactic cohort performance on PACKRAT for past 4 years revealed that the 2011
didactic cohort did better than the 2009 and 2010 didactic cohort, but about the same or slightly lower
than the 2008 didactic cohort
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o

Review of task area clinical cohort performance on PACKRAT for past 4 years revealed that the 2011
clinical cohort did better than the 2009 and 2010 clinical cohort, but was the same or slightly lower than
the 2008 clinical cohort
Organ Systems
o 2010 Graduate performance on PACKRAT vs. PANCE – performance comparison in relation to organ
systems is not as clear cut
 Clinical year PACKRAT performance was very variable with GU being the lowest area and Psych the
best area
 PANCE performance revealed more consistent performance in all organ systems with significant
improvement in some areas as opposed to PACKRAT performance
o Review of organ system didactic performance on PACKRAT for past 4 years revealed:
 2011 didactic cohort did better in the following areas compared to the previous 3 years: Dermatology,
Endocrine, Orthopedics, Pulmonary and GU/Renal
 2011 didactic cohort did better than at least 2 out of 3 years: Cardiovascular, EENT, Hematology,
Ob/Gyn and Infectious Disease
 2011 didactic cohort similar or decreased performance in GI, Neurology and Psych
o Review of organ system didactic performance on PACKRAT for past 4 years revealed:
 2011 clinical cohort did better in the following areas compared to the previous 3 years: Dermatology,
Endocrine and Orthopedics
 2011 clinical cohort did better than at least 2 out of 3 years: Cardiovascular, EENT, Hematology,
Pulmonary and GU/Renal
 2011 clinical cohort decreased performance in GI, Neurology, Ob/Gyn, Psych and Infectious Disease
o 2011 Graduate PACKRAT Performance in Didactic vs. Clinical Year
 Majority of organ systems revealed an increase in performance
 Three systems revealed a decrease in performance: EENT, GI and Infectious Disease
Analysis
 2011 PACKRAT raw score average of didactic cohort (149) was the highest raw score average in the
last 6 years
 2011 PACKRAT raw score average of clinical cohort (149) was better than 4 out of the last 5 years
 2011 PACKRAT organ system performance of the didactic class was better in areas that have been
identified as lower performing organ systems on the PANCE
 Improvement in both task areas and organ system performance on the PANCE may be the result of
tailored study habits in weaker areas as identified with PACKRAT examination
Action:
Ongoing evaluation with the 2011 graduate PANCE scores
Assessment of implementation of new Professional Phase Progression Standards and full Word
Association implemented for 2011 cohort (2013 graduate)
2010 Graduate Survey results
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
General Information
o Modified survey to better assess areas of Standards
o Limited response rate 30%
o Benchmark is an average rating of 2.50 on each question
Didactic Year Curriculum Evaluation - none of surveyed areas were below benchmark
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o
o
Lowest
 Genetics: 2.69
 Healthcare Delivery: 2.81
 Pathophysiology: 2.81
Highest
 Counseling/Patient Education & Evaluation, Diagnosis & Management Patients: both 3.50
Discussion
Faculty discussed the possibility of Genetics as pre-requisite course; however, data would need to be
gathered before any changes in current pre-requisite courses could be considered. The didactic year
curriculum is currently being assessed and discussion occurred about ensuring appropriate genetic
coverage; potentially replacing some of the current cell information with more on genetics.

Supervised Clinical Practice (SCP) Experiences Evaluation – required rotation areas evaluated were all
above 3.00; well above benchmark
# of students not meeting the required benchmark on EOR Exams for 2010-2011:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
BM – 1 student
EM – 5 students
FP I – 2 students
FP II – 9 students
WH – 8 students
Peds – 3 students
Surgery – 7 students
IM – 8 students
Discussion/Analysis
Of the students who didn’t pass the PANCE, one student didn’t meet the EOR exam benchmark on 5 of the
exams, two didn’t meet on three, one didn’t meet on one and one student met the benchmark on all of the
exams. 23% of the EOR exams grades that didn’t meet the benchmark were from students who didn’t pass
the boards.
# of students who did not pass a Clinical Year PES:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
EM – 2 students
FP I – 5 students
FP II – 2 students
WH – 5 students
Peds – 3 students
Surgery – 5 students
IM – 3 students
Discussion/Analysis
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BM had no students that did not pass the PES. Of the students who didn’t pass the PANCE, one student
didn’t pass two PES, three didn’t pass one and one passed all PES. 20% of the PES non-passing scores were
from students who didn’t pass the boards.
Conclusion:
Action:
Of those not passing PANCE on the first attempt, they are not doing so low or poorly to be able
to identify a student at risk any earlier.
Will continue to monitor and observe for any trends; will need to assess whether specific EOR and/or
PES areas continue to be lower performing
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