The mission of the South College, Indianapolis Campus, Master of Health Science in Physician Assistant Studies program is to educate highly qualified physician assistants, preparing them to become competent, compassionate, and comprehensive healthcare providers for clinical practice in rural and urban areas, who will mature into leaders within the medical community.

Endeavoring to provide students with a comprehensive evidence-based medical education that focuses on the future delivery of excellent healthcare, the program promotes the importance of health maintenance, health education, the prevention of disease, and the need for a lifelong path dedicated to continuous learning and self-assessment. The faculty strive for educational excellence as they prepare physician assistant students to think critically, communicate compassionately, and understand the importance of collaborating in interdisciplinary healthcare teams to meet patient and family needs within an ever changing healthcare delivery system.

Our vision is that our graduates will be leaders in the healthcare community, continuously striving for excellence in their professional endeavors.

The program has six primary goals that are designed to achieve our mission and vision for educating the next generation of highly qualified physician assistants.

This information will be available following the graduating class of 2029.

The South College Master of Health Science Physician Assistant Studies Program is committed to excellence in education. As in any learning process, the content and methodology in our program reflect a mixture of objectivity, intuition, and good faith. Our faculty and staff want to provide a creative environment for individual learning and growth, within a curriculum that by necessity is highly structured and intense. Viewing learning as a reciprocal, collaborative interaction between faculty and students, we endeavor to be responsive to perceived needs for change and welcome comments and suggestions from all who participate in the program for its ongoing evaluation and continued growth. Our program continues to strive for educational excellence, focusing on preparing our graduates to become lifelong learners.

Each student is expected to achieve and demonstrate mastery of the following entry-level core competencies of the physician assistant upon graduation.

Prior to progressing to the clinical learning year of the program, students will develop and demonstrate proficiency in several psychomotor skill sets involved in procedural medicine, such as suturing, casting and splinting, nasogastric and endotracheal intubation, and sterile technique. The clinical phase of the program is designed to reinforce knowledge and skills developed during the didactic phase. Eight clinical learning rotations, each six weeks in length, are conducted at a variety of outpatient and inpatient clinical sites. Students are expected to develop competency in those areas listed above. During this period, students will be exposed to a wide variety of live patient encounters to assist them in the building of understanding in the diagnoses, pathophysiology, risk factors, laboratory interpretation, and therapeutic strategies involved in patient evaluation and treatment.