PA Post-Professional: Program Description

 

Please Note: This program is no longer active - for informational purposes only

As providers of medical care and members of the health care team, physician assistants (PAs) must respond to new standards of practice, evolving delivery systems, changes in reimbursement procedures, shifts in population demographics, and the opportunities and challenges of technology. Stony Brook University's Physician Assistant Post-Professional Masters Program that will help insure that PAs have the opportunity to advance their academic credentials to meet these challenges while working full time. Our post-professional program will increase the depth and breadth of student medical knowledge and skills well beyond that attained during entry-level PA education. It will prepare graduates for career advancement and leadership in areas such as administration, management, education, and research. Our innovative post-professional program will promote the personal and professional development of our post-professional students and result in improved services to the patients and communities that they serve.

Students must complete a total of 30 credits within five (5) years in order to graduate. Eighteen credits are included in the core curriculum and include the topics of evidence-based medicine, ethics and health care, contemporary issues in health care delivery, clinical pharmacology, research writing, and clinical prevention and population health. The remaining twelve credits of elective courses will allow students to tailor their graduate education to both their personal interests and clinical practice or other work settings.

In addition, we have collaborations with the Department of Health Care Policy and Management to offer an Advanced Certificate in Health Care Management and the Graduate Nutrition Program in the Department of Family Medicine to offer an Advanced Certificate in Nutrition. These opportunities are intended for physician assistants who require or desire training in the areas of management and/or nutrition. Full details are available on the Advanced Certificate Program web page.

Of particular note is that the program is highly cost effective, convenient, flexible, and consistent with the reputation for high quality that our existing masters PA program enjoys. Small classes offered at a variety of times and in a variety of settings are an integral part of responding to the part time desires and needs of graduate PAs. Courses are offered in the traditional classroom setting, in on-line format, and as hybrids of these two approaches. Evening and weekend courses will be available at various junctures throughout a student’s post-professional education.