Technical Standards

This policy outlines the necessary criteria for individuals to matriculate into and complete the curriculum. Students admitted to the program must meet the following technical standards to achieve the expected learning outcomes and competencies of the Tarleton State University Master of Medical Sciences in Physician Assistant Medicine (MMSc-PAM) program. These abilities and characteristics, known as technical standards, are essential for admission, retention, progression, and graduation. All candidates for the Tarleton MMSc-PAM program must meet these standards, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Information Acquisition

The learner should be able to:

  • Acquire information from demonstrations and experiences in courses, such as lectures, groups, and physical demonstrations.
  • Acquire information from written documents and computer systems (e.g., electronic literature searches and data retrieval).
  • Identify information presented in accessible images from paper, slides, and videos with audio descriptions and transparencies.
  • Recognize and evaluate patient changes in mood, activity, cognition, and verbal and non-verbal communication.

Communication and Observation

The learner should be able to:

  • Communicate with patients to elicit information and succinctly and effectively document changes in mood and activity.
  • Discern and appropriately respond to patients to establish a therapeutic relationship and to communicate in person and in writing in the English language.
  • Establish rapport and maintain sensitive, respectful, interpersonal relationships with individuals, families, and groups from diverse social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds.

Accurately assess a patient and interpret findings. These skills require the use of vision, hearing, and touch, or their functional equivalents.

Motor

The learner should be able to:

  • Possess the capacity to perform a physical examination and perform diagnostic maneuvers.
  • Perform motor movements required for providing general patient care and administering or directing emergency treatment. These actions require coordination of gross and fine motor movements, balance, and equilibrium coordination.
  • Possess psychomotor skills necessary to provide or assist in patient care and perform or assist with procedures and treatments.
  • Safely and effectively deliver patient care and assessments during emergencies and life support procedures, while following universal precautions to prevent contamination.

Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative

The learner should be able to:

  • Assimilate detailed and complex information presented in both didactic and clinical coursework and engage in problem-solving.
  • Measure, calculate, analyze, and synthesize subjective and objective data.
  • Comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand the spatial relationships of structures.
  • Independently read and review medical literature and integrate relevant findings into patient diagnosis and treatment.
  • Effectively adapt to different learning environments and modalities.

Social and Behavioral

The learner should be able to:

  • Demonstrate the maturity and emotional stability necessary to fully utilize their intellectual capabilities.
  • Exercise good judgment and prompt completion of responsibilities associated with the diagnosis and care of patients.
  • Exhibit integrity, honesty, professionalism, and compassion.
  • Display a spirit of cooperation and teamwork.
  • Tolerate physically taxing workloads, function effectively under stress, and adapt to changing environments.
  • Display flexibility and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in patients’ clinical problems.
  • Contribute to collaborative, constructive learning environments and accept constructive feedback from others.
  • Take personal responsibility for making appropriate positive changes.
  • Demonstrate compassion for others, a consciousness of social values, and appropriate interpersonal skills that results in positive interactions with all people.

Professionalism and Ethics

The learner should be able to:

  • Maintain the highest level of professional behavior.
  • Exhibit the emotional maturity required for full participation in training.
  • Exhibit regular, reliable, and punctual attendance at all learning events and clinical assignments, understanding that this may require physical presence during the day, evening, or overnight hours and any day of the week, often with very early morning reporting times.
  • Maintain and display ethical and moral behaviors commensurate with the role of a physician assistant in all interactions with patients, faculty, staff, clinical team members, fellow learners, and the public.
  • Consistently recognize the legal and ethical dimensions of medical practice and operate within the legal framework and ethical standards of the profession.
  • Travel to and live in remote, rural, or distant locations.
  • Provide and maintain reliable transportation.
  • Secure housing and plan for added expenses.
  • Demonstrate intent and desire to follow program rules, codes of conduct, and all Tarleton State University policies.

Assessments and Evaluations

To evaluate competence, the program employs periodic assessment in various formats, including oral, written, and practical, as an essential component of the curriculum. Successful completion of these assessments is required of all learners as a condition for continued progress through the curriculum.

Clinical Performance

Demonstrating clinical competence is essential to the program. Attending to patient care needs is central to the practice of medicine. Preceptor evaluations of a learner’s clinical performance are a vital part of the curriculum. Additionally, learners must fulfill program expectations for each clinical experience, as specified in the learning outcomes for each clinical rotation.