PA Program Competency Requirements
The Bethel University Physician Assistant Program (BUPAP) Competencies for the PA Student represent the requisite medical knowledge, interpersonal, clinical, and technical skills, professional behaviors, and critical reasoning and problem-solving abilities each student must demonstrate in order to graduate from BUPAP.
Competency Overview
The development and framework of these competencies was informed by the Cross-Org Competencies Review Task Force’s “Competencies for the Physician Assistant Profession” (2021), the PAEA’s “Core Competencies for New Physician Assistant Graduates” (2018), BUPAP’s former Competencies for the PA Student (2022), and the mission and values of BUPAP. These competencies are an aggregate of the BUPAP’s former competencies.
BUPAP’s Competencies for the PA Student are organized into 7 domains outlined below:
1. Medical Knowledge (MK)
PLO 1. Apply the medical knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences to patient care across the life span. (OSCE, OB, ePACKRAT, EOC Exam, PALS)
2. Interpersonal and Communication Skills (ICS)
PLO 2. Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration. (OSCE, OB, PALS)
3. Patient Care (PC)
PLO 3. Demonstrate patient care that includes person- and setting- specific assessment, evaluation, and healthcare that is evidence-based, supports patient safety, and advances health equity. (CRPS) (OSCE, OB, ePACKRAT, EOC Exam, PALS, CS)
4. Clinical and Technical Skills (CTS)
PLO 4. Attain proficiency to safely perform clinical and technical skills for entry level practice. (CS, EOC Exam)
5. Professionalism (PRO)
PLO 5. Demonstrate a commitment to practicing medicine and advocate for the patient within a moral, ethical, and legal framework. (OSCE, OB, EOC Exam, ePACKRAT)
6. Quality Improvement (QI)
PLO 6. Demonstrate the ability to learn and implement quality improvement practices by engaging in self-assessment for the purpose of self-evaluation, lifelong learning, and practice improvement. (Self-assessment, Summative Advising, Final PRD, PANCE Preparation)
7. Society and Population Health (SPH)
PLO 7. Integrate the knowledge of the social determinants of health from the influences of the ecosystem of person, family, population, environment, and policy into patient care decisions. (EOC exam, ePACKRAT)
