Physician Assistant Program Maintains Full Accreditation

Published 10.25.2002

News

The Physician Assistant program at Pennsylvania College of Technology has maintained its accreditation from the organization that sets standards and ensures compliance for physician-assistant training programs nationwide.

The Accreditation Review Committee on Education for the Physician Assistant first issued provisional accreditation to the Penn College program in 1996, with subsequent accreditations coming in 1998 and 2000. This year's accreditation visit maintains full accreditation for the program until 2006. ARC-PA sets minimum requirements for which physician assistant programs are held accountable. The voluntary process includes a comprehensive review of participating physician-assistant programs.

To sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam, students must graduate from an accredited program, such as the one offered by Penn College. Currently, there are 41 students enrolled in the professional phase of the Physician Assistant bachelor-degree major at the College. The Class of 2001 ranked in the 84th percentile of all programs nationwide on the PANCE. Final results for the Class of 2002 are not yet available.

Physician assistants are licensed health-care professionals who practice medicine with physician supervision, providing a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The clinical role of the physician assistant includes primary and specialty care in medical and surgical settings.

For more information about the Physician Assistant program at Penn College, call (570) 327-4519, send e-mail or visit online.