600

Supervised Clinical Practice Experience

The supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides the PA student an opportunity to apply the principles of general medicine learned in the pre-clinical/didactic curriculum. During each SCPE students work with a practicing clinician (referred to as the preceptor) and are actively participating in the healthcare system as part of the healthcare team. Students are assigned to a preceptor, and through supervised, ongoing patient contact, they are exposed to patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic medical problems. Emphasis is placed on patient history and assessment, differential diagnoses, patient management, maintenance of medical records, performance of diagnostic and therapeutic skills, follow-up care and the provision of health education and counseling. Students must successfully complete all nine SCPEs, which include MPAS 620 Family Medicine SCPE, MPAS 622 Internal Medicine SCPE, MPAS 624 Pediatrics SCPE, MPAS 626 Women's Health SCPE, MPAS 628 Emergency Medicine SCPE, MPAS 630 Surgical Medicine SCPE, MPAS 632 Behavioral Medicine SCPE, MPAS 636 Underserved Populations or Areas/Evidence-Based Medicine SCPE, and MPAS 638 Elective SCPE. Additionally, each student will complete the MPAS 651 Capstone Course in the final semester and participate in the annual College of Health Sciences Scholar's Day.