For more information contact:
Email: paadm@gwumc.edu
Phone: (202) 994-7644

Physician Assistant Program

Health care has become one of the top concerns of the United States and indeed, has become one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries. Explosive growth in technology and research has brought greater complexity and expectations in health care delivery, resulting in soaring costs. With this complexity comes the need for skills to understand, evaluate, and manage new information. Patients' high expectations increase the demands for choice and quality in the delivery of services and technology.

Physician Assistants (PAs) are highly qualified health professionals who are prepared, through a demanding academic and clinical curriculum, to provide health care services under physician supervision. PAs gather and evaluate medical data and participate in the process of clinical decision making, diagnosis, and therapeutic management. In a primary care setting, the PA is typically the initial contact for the patient, taking the history, performing the physical examination and ordering appropriate laboratory and radiological tests. In a specialty setting, the PA may assist in surgery or in complex diagnostic procedures, participate in patient rounds and provide a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic services. As a knowledgeable and skilled member of the health care team, the PA improves the patient's access to health care and enhances the physician's effectiveness.

The GW Physician Assistant Program focuses on preparing health professionals who will extend and complement the capabilities of physicians in the delivery of health care. The faculty believe that it is essential for all PA graduates to be well-rounded clinicians, prepared for a variety of medial careers. The GW Physician Assistant Program offers two graduate level programs: the traditional two (2) year program leading to a Master of Science in Health Sciences degree (MSHS) and the three (3) year joint program leading to both an MSHS and a Master of Public Health degree (MPH). Applicants to the joint PA/MPH program must meet admission requirements for both the MSHS program and the MPH program.

It is important that GW PA students demonstrate effectively the capacity to recognize the unique role of the PA and the scope of the professional responsibility inherent to the role. Every PA student should show proficiency in a common body of basic science knowledge and master the principles, knowledge, skills, and procedures of seven major medical disciplines: internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and primary care (ambulatory) medicine. This requires that every candidate should meet basic technical standards by having the capacity to observe and communicate; sufficient motor ability to perform physical examinations, basic laboratory, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures; emotional stability to exercise good judgment and work effectively in stressful situations; and the intellectual ability to integrate and synthesize data, solve problems, and formulate treatment plans.