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Curriculum

Two physician assistants (PA) use a human skeleton model during a demonstration for students.

Curriculum centered on preparing you for the patient needs of tomorrow

This 24-month program is focused on small group interaction with instructors and hands-on patient care, our transformational education engages students through active learning.

A typical day in the life of a PA student at Mayo Clinic

During Year 1, the first 12-months focus on didactic studies and integrates classroom learning with clinical experiences. Classroom learning takes place at Saint Mary’s University Cascade Meadow campus and focuses on the knowledge, skills, and professionalism needed to provide evidence-based patient care to a wide variety of patient populations. Clinical integration and other learning experiences at the Mayo Clinic in downtown Rochester bring you into real-life, team-based care to maximize your education.

Studies involve most weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Formal courses do not fill all of that time, but outside of scheduled learning sessions, students take part in small group assignments, labs, and personal study time. Typically, PA students spend 2-4 hours most evenings in additional study and 4-8 hours of personal study on weekends.

Overview photo of students using technology and 3D models to examine a heart during their PA education

During Year 2, the second 12-months, you’ll dive into direct patient care with a consecutive series of 1-month clinical rotations at sites across the Mayo Clinic Health System, including southern MN, western WI, and northern IA. These experiences offer a remarkable breadth and depth of patient care delivery experiences.

During these rotations, PA students follow the same schedule as their preceptor/mentor. Some rotations will require morning patient rounds at 6 a.m., and some rotations may require the student to be on-call or seeing patients into the evening or through the night.

A clinical rotation often requires 40-50 hours of supervised patient care experience each week. If your preceptor/mentor is responsible for weekend or evening hours, you should plan to follow suit. PA students continue focused personal study during the clinical rotations to build on learning from daily patient experiences. Regular testing is required throughout the year of rotations with occasional added learning experiences that require study. Students personally study 1-2 hours most evenings.

Curriculum sequence and course descriptions

Facilities

Cascade Meadow at Saint Mary’s University – Rochester 

The Saint Mary’s University campus in Rochester serves as the main learning facility for students during their first year of graduate studies. This Cascade Meadow expansion, ten minutes from the downtown Mayo complex, includes new, state-of-the-art classrooms, clinical skills and simulation labs, and offices. The setting features 100 acres of meadows and wetlands with walking trails and green space to maintain thriving ecological and social communities.

Mayo Clinic Health System

Mayo Clinic Health System is comprised of facilities in more than 60 communities across southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin, and northern Iowa. These facilities combined with those in Rochester, offer students broad and diverse learning experiences in both inpatient and outpatient care.

Mayo Clinic Hospital – Rochester

Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota includes an extensive outpatient complex, as well as substantial research and education facilities. This Mayo Clinic site is among the largest and most advanced medical centers in the world.

Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester has one of the largest surgical suites in the nation with more than 120 operating rooms. Each year, Mayo Clinic surgeons perform nearly 50,000 surgical procedures — about 200 a day — at the hospital's two campuses. The vast number and type of surgeries, in combination with a highly educated faculty, make Mayo Clinic an ideal educational setting for physician assistant students to master their surgical skills.

Grading and evaluation

Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences uses these evaluative tools:

  • Objective examination
  • Demonstration of skills
  • Self-assessment exercises
  • Self-reflection
  • Faculty reviews

Mayo Clinic's system of evaluation provides students and faculty with a comprehensive look at individual performance. This allows faculty and administrative staff to direct students who are experiencing academic difficulty to the appropriate support resources, including tutoring programs and counseling opportunities.

Graduation and certification

After successfully completing this program, you will receive a Master of Health Sciences degree in PA studies from Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.

Graduates are eligible to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, Inc. (NCCPA).

Facilities used for PA Program at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science: Cascade Meadow at Saint Mary’s University – Rochester, Minnesota

 

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