Physician Assistant (PA) Program

The Baldwin Wallace PA program is rigorous and intense. The 24-month, full-time curriculum is divided into 12 months of didactic coursework and 12 months of clinical rotations. The PA educational program is modeled on the medical school curriculum and includes a combination of classroom and clinical instruction.

Didactic Year

The didactic year includes instruction in core sciences - anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and pathophysiology - along with clinical-medicine-related coursework which includes history-taking and documentation, lab and diagnostic testing, physical exam techniques, procedural skills and special populations, behavioral science, clinical medicine and emergency medicine. This year also focuses on the organizational laws and policies of the physician assistant profession and provides a strong foundation in biomedical ethics, public health and policy, evidence-based medicine and healthcare leadership.

Clinical Year

Following the didactic year, BW PA students enter the clinical phase of their education and training, where they work directly with a preceptor, interact with patients and medical staff, learn on their feet and apply their knowledge on a daily basis. All BW students complete 11 clinical rotations - eight are standard clinical placements and three are electives that can be chosen from many different specialties, allowing students to bring individualized focus and interest to their training.

Required clinical placements include the following:

• Family medicine
• Surgery
• Emergency medicine
• OB/GYN
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Internal medicine I
• Internal medicine II
• Three mandatory elective rotations

PANCE Results

All students who graduate from BW's physician assistant program achieve incredibly strong pass rates on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) exam with 99% passing on the first-time.

Alumni Success

BW physician assistants have launched careers throughout Ohio, as well as nationwide in Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Alumni are practicing in specialties including:

• Critical Care
• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• ENT
• Family Practice
• Gastroenterology
• Gynecologic Oncology
• Infectious Disease
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics
• Pediatrics
• Pediatric Neurology
• Plastic Surgery
• Psychiatry
• Surgery
• Thoracic Surgery
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma
• Urgent Care
• Women's Health

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Baldwin Wallace University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Baldwin Wallace University. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

View accreditation history >

Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be June 2026. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

Clinical partners facilitate real-world learning. As a student in the physician assistant program, you'll complete more than 2,000 hours of clinical experience working with practicing professionals in a variety of settings, from major research hospitals to clinics and extended care facilities. BW has over 250 clinical affiliation agreements for the physician assistant program with the following health-care organizations:

• Akron Children's Hospital
• Aultman Hospital - Canton
• Clear Vista Health & Wellness
• Cleveland Clinic
• Fisher Titus Medical Center
• Lake Health
• MetroHealth Medical Center
• Nirvana Health & Wellness, Inc
• Northcoast Behavioral Health
• Southwest General Health Center
• Summa Health System
• Unity Health Network
• University Hospital Health System
• Veteran's Administration

Mission

Educate talented physician assistants who strive to promote the PA profession, understand the primary care workforce needs of the future, and act competently when providing excellent patient care, utilizing an evidence-based and dynamic team approach.

Vision

Create a physician assistant education program with an outstanding reputation in the community and throughout the nation which allows students the opportunity to become physician assistants and effective leaders who will practice, teach, and continue to enhance the quality of care for each patient.

We have been successful in recruiting students who perform strongly throughout the program. Our current incoming cohort (class of 2023) have an average cumulative GPA of 3.84 with an average science GPA of 3.83 which is above the PA program national averages of 3.6 (overall) and 3.53 (science). (PAEA 35th Annual Report, 2019)

The PA program attrition rate is approximately 3% on average over the past five cohorts compared to a national average of 6.8% (PAEA 35th Annual Report, 2019). Attrition includes students dismissed from the program for academic or professional reasons, voluntary withdrawal for personal or medical reasons, or deceleration to another cohort.

Attrition Data

Didactic Year

Students' behavior and display of professionalism are monitored throughout the educational program. Formal evaluations of professionalism are performed upon completion of the first summer semester, and upon completion of the first spring semester. All four recent cohorts have scored above 90% in all areas of professionalism.

Clinical Year

Student professionalism is also monitored and assessed during the clinical year via preceptor evaluations. Policy dictates that any student not meeting program benchmarks during the evaluation process meet with clinical faculty to activate a performance improvement plan. BW PA students consistently demonstrate professional traits while in the clinical setting as evidenced by preceptor evaluations of performance.

PA Program Activities

PA students undergo a professionalism seminar approximately one to two weeks after matriculating into the program, to explain the importance of professionalism within the program and in the practice of medicine. A healthcare leadership course, required of all students in the program, has been successfully completed by 100% of students who have been enrolled in the course.

Student membership in the Ohio Association of Physician Assistants (OAPA) and the American Academy of Physician Assistant (AAPA) is mandatory and provided by the PA program for two years. Student representatives serve in both OAPA and AAPA to connect our program to the state and national level. Many students elect to attend the AAPA national conference, held in May of each year. Our program sends teams to complete in both the student challenge bowl and the iScan student ultrasound competition.

All students are required to complete volunteer hours during their time in the program. The program assists with finding locations for volunteer hours or students may elect to identify their own volunteer opportunities. Examples of volunteering include Absolute Hospice, Camp Ho Mita Koda (camp for youth with type 1 diabetes) and the Up Side of Downs.

All students are eligible for membership in the Baldwin Wallace University Physician Assistant Student Society (BWUPASS). The purpose of BWUPASS is to serve as the official organization for the students and to promote the physician assistant as a member of the healthcare delivery team. BWUPASS also strives to fundraise for local and national charitable organizations.

BWUPASS routinely performs health screenings on campus as part of Wellfest, Community and Family Day and the spring health fair. Students have volunteered during a number of Cleveland-area events, including the Alzheimer's Association Walk, the Walk to Defeat ALS and the Cleveland Marathon. Students have coordinated bone marrow drives through Be The Match.

Every year, BWUPASS helps organize and participate in the PA Olympics. The PA Olympics is an event open to any PA program in the state of Ohio. The day is filled with games and social activities but focuses on coming together to fundraise for a chosen charity. Students from various programs also host fundraisers prior to the event to benefit the chosen charity. In 2016, BWUPASS hosted the first annual PA Olympics on campus. In the following years, our students have planned and participated in the event. Chosen charities have included the Alzheimer's Association and the National MS Society.

Students who graduated from BW's physician assistant program since 2015 have achieved a 99% cumulative first-time pass rate on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE).

The PA program provides excellent supervised clinical training experiences for students within Ohio. These in-state experiences lead most BW PA graduates to land their first post-graduate jobs in Ohio.

Our PA students are required to complete clinical rotations in the following core specialties: emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, behavioral medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, and women's health. Students are also afforded three elective rotations which allow them to explore personal areas of interest. Each clinical experience allows the PA student to have exposure to patient populations in inpatient, outpatient, operating room and emergency department settings over the course of the clinical year. These clinical opportunities allow the student to further develop competencies in the areas of medical knowledge, communication skills, high quality patient care and professionalism. Students successfully completed all clinical experiences with an overall aggregate score of 96.2%.

It is expected that, over the course of the students' clinical learning experience, they will have encounters with patients seeking medical care across the life span to include infants, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.

End of Rotation Examinations:

To ensure each student can demonstrate proficiency in medical knowledge, students take an end-of-rotation exam as a means to measure that knowledge base. As evidenced by our end-of-rotation exam scores, which are consistently higher than national average, BW PA students effectively demonstrate they are intellectually prepared to enter clinical practice.

Clinical Evaluation:

To ensure each student has demonstrated proficiency in the clinical setting and that each possesses the intellectual, technical and professional attributes necessary to enter clinical practice, preceptors formally evaluate students during each of the 11 clinical rotations. Professional competencies that are evaluated include effective application of medical knowledge, interpersonal and communication skills, patient care, and professionalism.

As evidenced by clinical preceptor evaluations, BW PA students consistently demonstrate they possess the intellectual, technical and professional attributes that are necessary to enter clinical practice as effective physician assistants. Policy dictates that any student not meeting program benchmarks during the evaluation process meet with clinical faculty to activate a performance-improvement plan. By the end of the clinical year, all students meet program expectations.