About the Department

About

The Department of Physician Assistant Studies


Mission

The mission of the physician assistant program is based on the fundamental principles of NYIT, the physician assistant profession, and the belief that access to quality health care for all persons is a fundamental right.

Our mission includes educating physician assistant students to:

  • provide high-quality health care services to all segments of the population throughout the country   
  • become culturally sensitive and caring 
  • integrate academic knowledge with practice

Overview of the Program

New York Institute of Technology's (NYIT) physician assistant (PA) program offers students an opportunity to earn a master's degree in physician assistant studies. There is also a combined B.S.-M.S. program for students who do not already have a bachelor's degree that meets the admission requirements of the master's program.

NYIT's physician assistant program was initially designed as a four-year program leading to a bachelor's degree. Based on a number of professional issues including the premise that the education of the physician assistant student has always been at the graduate level, the NYIT physician assistant program transitioned to a master's degree program in September 2005. The Physician Assistant Education Association estimates that most programs in the country are awarding a master's degree or transitioning to a master's program, and the majority of students entering physician assistant programs have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Students entering the NYIT Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program are required to have a bachelor's degree with a strong emphasis in science and mathematics or have successfully completed the pre-professional phase of the B.S.-M.S. combined program. All students entering the master's degree program must show evidence of proficiency in the sciences and have completed prerequisite courses in biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, math, and psychology.

The three-year (30 months onsite) master's program is divided into two didactic years and one clinical year. The design and sequencing of the didactic coursework is structured to provide students with incremental steps toward the development of their cognitive and psychomotor abilities. The program curriculum is designed to provide a basis for the study of clinical medicine. The key basic and behavioral science courses are Gross Anatomy and Physiology, Clinical Pathophysiology, the PA Profession, Behavioral Medicine, and Epidemiology and Interpretation of the Medical Literature.

The fall and spring semesters of the first year introduce the student to the actual practice of medicine by providing lectures in clinical medicine. Clinical Pathophysiology and Pharmacology I and II are coordinated with Clinical Medicine I and II so that all three courses have a simultaneous instructional focus on the same body systems. This serves to enhance and reinforce student learning of the presented materials. The Clinical Skills I and II and Clinical Laboratory Medicine courses provide students with the acquisition of physical diagnosis skills and the use of laboratory procedures needed for formulating a diagnosis and monitoring a patient's status.

The second-year didactic courses are specifically designed to provide students with skills that are essential for transitioning to the clinical clerkship phase. These courses include Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Emergency Medicine, Clinical Decision Making, Clinical Skills III, and Outpatient Medicine. In Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, students learn to further apply behavior modification skills first learned in Behavioral Medicine so as to deliver appropriate patient education. The course in Emergency Medicine is delivered after all of the Clinical Medicine lectures have been presented. Students learn to deal specifically with medical and surgical emergencies and receive certification in basic and advanced cardiac life support.

Throughout the third-year clinical phase, students will attend clerkships designed to expose them to the different disciplinary areas of clinical care. Additional weeks in an elective rotation allow students to enhance their knowledge in a disciplinary area of their interest. Students may opt to repeat a rotation or branch into another medical or surgical specialty. During their clinical year, students also receive instruction on strategies that will prepare them for employment.

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