Program Overview & Curriculum
The MS in Physician Assistant is an accredited, full-time, 30-month, 95-credit program completed over three years’ time. The program begins each fall. One class is admitted per year.
The program is cohort-based, meaning that students have a predetermined course schedule each semester and move along in the program with the same group of peers. They also take classes in one location throughout the day: the Monmouth University Graduate Center in Monmouth Park Corporate Center. As a result, students are able to support each other and work and study in a community-like atmosphere.
Program Vision and Mission Statements
Our vision is to become a premier PA program offering our students extensive, high quality educational experiences that will allow them to become empathic practitioners and leaders in their community .
The mission of Monmouth University’s physician assistant program is to educate physician assistants to provide compassionate, patient-centered, quality healthcare in a variety of settings. Program graduates will possess clinical skills to serve a diverse patient population and have the ability to advance the profession through leadership and research.
Program Goals
To learn more about our program goals and how we have achieved those goals, visit our Program Outcomes page.
Curriculum
The program consists of two phases: the didactic phase and the clinical phase. The didactic phase includes four intensive semesters (14 months) of classroom and laboratory instruction and clinical experiences. The clinical phase includes four semesters (16 months) of supervised clinical practice experiences (SCPEs; clinical clerkships/rotations), where students are assigned to clinical preceptors at various inpatient and outpatient facilities, and clinically related didactic activities. The average PA program consists of 12 months of clinical experience; having an extra 4 months gives Monmouth students more time to learn and prepare.
All MSPA program courses must be taken in full and successfully completed regardless of academic or clinical backgrounds, past courses completed, or degrees earned.
The requirements for supervised clinical practice experiences are fulfilled by clinical clerkships in the following practice specialty areas:
- Behavioral Medicine/Psychiatry
- Emergency Medicine
- Family Medicine
- General Surgery
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatric Medicine
- Women’s Health Care (Obstetrics & Gynecology)
- Selective Specialty Areas
