Technical Standards
The Dominican University Physician Assistant Program is a demanding and concentrated program that places specific requirements and demands on all students enrolled in the program. The minimum technical standards establish the essential qualities considered necessary for students admitted to this program to achieve the knowledge, skills, and competencies of an entry-level physician assistant. In the event an applicant is unable to fulfill these technical standards prior to or any time after admission, with or without established reasonable accommodation, the student will not be allowed to enter or progress within the program. Candidates for admission and students within the Physician Assistant program must possess the aptitude, ability, and skills as follows:
Communication
- Ability to communicate effectively with patients of various social and economic backgrounds and interact professionally with other healthcare providers. Communication includes speech, reading, writing, and nonverbal communication
- Perceive nonverbal communication, speak intelligibly, hear sufficiently, and observe patients in order to elicit information
- Elicit and transmit patient information in oral and written communication to members of the healthcare team
- Communicate effectively and sensitively with patient
- Demonstrate reading skills at a level sufficient to accomplish curricular requirements and provide clinical care for patients
- Be capable of completing appropriate medical records and documents in the written and electronic form in a thorough and timely manner
Student Functional Requirements
A candidate must be able to:
- Possess sufficient motor control, stamina, and hand-eye coordination to effectively use standard medical and surgical instruments
- Possess motor skills sufficient to directly perform palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other fundamental diagnostic procedures
- Execute motor movements required to provide basic medical care. Examples of fundamental medical care include but are not limited to: airway management, placement of catheters, phlebotomy, application of sufficient pressure to control bleeding, simple obstetrical maneuver, etc. (Such actions require coordination of gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium, and functional use of the senses of touch and vision)
- Manipulate equipment and instruments to perform essential laboratory tests and procedures
- Transport themselves from one location to another in a timely fashion in order to facilitate patient care responsibilities and as necessary to receive educational training
Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities
Problem solving is the critical skill demanded of Physician Assistants. This requires that students to be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize. A student must be able to:
- Incorporate new information from peers, teachers, and the medical literature to formulate diagnoses and plans
- Independently access files and interpret medical histories
- Identify significant findings from history, physical examination, and laboratory data
- Provide a reasoned explanation for likely diagnosis and prescribed medications and therapy
- Recall and retain information in an efficient and timely manner
- Assess and deliver the appropriate life-saving treatment if the patient has a known severe allergic reaction(s)/anaphylaxis to environmental allergens, which include but are not limited to latex, tree-nuts, peanuts etc.
Behavior and Social Attributes
A candidate must be able to:
- Possess the ability to use their intellectual capacity, exercise good judgment, and promptly complete all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis under potentially stressful and/or emergency circumstances
- Accept criticism and respond by appropriate modification of behaviors
- Develop mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients and colleagues
- Have a high level of compassion for others with sufficient interpersonal skills to interact positively with people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, and belief systems
- Adapt to changing environments and to learn in the face of the uncertainties inherent in the practice of medicine
- Use supervision appropriately and act independently, when indicated
- Exercise appropriate judgement, establish appropriate, ethical, and caring interactions with patients; work effectively in a team, manage stress, and work effectively in situations that are uncertain or ambiguous
Technological compensation can be made for some disabilities in certain areas, but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner..