Physician Assistant Studies

Educational Objectives


The educational objectives of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies are:

  1. Educate physician assistants who are qualified by academic and clinical training to provide patient care services with the appropriate supervision of a licensed physician.
  2. Provide a course of professional study that will provide graduates with appropriate knowledge of physical and mental function and disease and the skills to accurately and reliably perform the range of health care procedures and duties customarily ascribed to the physician assistant.
  3. Furnish instruction that stresses the role of the physician assistant in health maintenance and preventive medicine while considering the social, economic, environmental, cultural, and ethical aspects of the people served.  
  4. Develop the intellectual, ethical, and professional attitudes and behaviors that generate trust and respect from the patient population served by the physician assistant
  5. Provide educational and clinical experiences that promote understanding of the interdependence of health professionals and that foster the utilization of the interdisciplinary team approach to the delivery of primary health care.
  6. Provide didactic and clinical educational experiences in order to prepare physician assistants with the knowledge, technical capabilities, and judgment necessary to perform in a highly professional and skilled capacity.
  7. Provide educational experiences that stimulate active learning in the science and art of medicine and foster an appreciation for “life long” learning as a practicing professional.
  8. Foster development of skills and processes to meet the unique needs of South Texas.  These needs include, but are not limited to understanding the languages and cultural diversity of groups found in the region.
  9. Instill a desire and prepare students to enter primary care careers in rural or urban medically underserved areas.
  10. To develop a service orientation to the community, profession, and those whose need is greatest.
  11. To become the Physician Assistant Program of choice for South Texas citizens.

 

 

Effective: August 21, 2000
Revised: July 2009