Mercy College to launch Physician Assistant program

By: 
Press Staff Writer

        Mercy College of Ohio's Master of Physician Assistant Studies program has received approval from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) to launch its first class in May 2021.
        Physician Assistant (PA) program admission is highly competitive and Mercy's program will accept 20 students in its first class.
        Susan Wajert, PhD, President of Mercy College, says, “I’m happy to announce that Physician Assistant will be our third graduate program. I am grateful to the Mercy College community who has worked diligently, especially Dawn LaBarbera, PhD, PA-C, the Founding Director, who has led this effort for the last two years.”
        Physician assistants are medical professionals who diagnose illness, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and often serve as a patient’s principal healthcare provider. The new program is 118 credit hours and will be offered at Mercy College in Toledo with preceptored clinical experiences at Mercy Health and other healthcare facilities throughout the United States. The seven-semester program will prepare students to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination.
        “The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the need for expertly trained clinicians that care for our communities,” said Bob Baxter, president, Mercy Health – Toledo. “A new Physician Assistant Program is not only exciting for the Mercy College team and its prospective students but for our entire community,”
        Mercy College’s PA program also provides an undergraduate Pre-PA Direct Entry Admission that provides academically talented freshman the opportunity for direct entry admission into the PA program after successful completion of the Mercy College Pre-PA Biology major.
        Information about Mercy College’s PA program including admission requirements, curriculum, and frequently asked questions, is available at www.mercycollege.edu/mpas.
        The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Mercy College of Ohio Master of Physician Assistant Studies sponsored by Mercy College of Ohio.
        Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students.
        Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class.

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