PA Entry-Level: Masters Project Descriptions

Students will work with a faculty mentor to create and shape a clinical question followed by a detailed literature search on their medical topic of interest. Students will be encouraged to select clinical topics focused on diagnostic or treatment-related questions, but may also include psychosocial, economic, or ethical issues in healthcare as well. Emphasis will be placed on thoroughness of the literature search and relevance to the clinical question selected. Students will write detailed summaries of their literature searches identifying clinical relevance, strengths and weaknesses, and potential biases among selected articles. These summaries will form the basis for the final paper (see Masters Project II) on the approved topic.

Students will work with their faculty mentor to refine their clinical questions and write their capstone paper utilizing the materials gathered in Masters Project I.  The paper will focus on the clinical background of the problem, a detailed discussion of its relevance, and an integrated analysis and synthesis of available data resulting in a summary and conclusions as to the appropriateness and applicability of the final PICO question with appropriately cited references. 

Utilizing their final paper for Masters Project II, students will develop a concise, professional-appearing medical poster suitable for presentation at a professional conference related to their PICO question. Students will be present their posters at a program-sponsored event for classmates, faculty, mentors and other members of the university community. Student performance will be evaluated on both the visual and oral components of their work.