Physician Assistant Studies

Our mission is to improve universal access to healthcare by graduating highly competent and confident physician assistants prepared to provide exceptional quality, ethical, patient-centered healthcare in a collaborative environment. 

1. Provide students with the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitude to navigate a complex and diverse healthcare environment as evidenced by the ability to: 

• Obtain medical knowledge and perform physical examinations necessary for patient-centered care.
• Apply evidence-based reasoning to the patient’s clinical presentation to create an appropriate, individualized treatment plan.
• Develop inter-professional communication skills to effectively convey concise and accurate information.
• Utilize appropriate medical diagnostics to aid in diagnosis and treatment, while decreasing unnecessary or extraneous testing.
• Master the technical skills of clinical medicine in a safe, supportive, and instructive environment using industry standard and technologically robust experiential models.

2. Prepare our students to meet the needs of all populations within the current healthcare system by:

• Incorporating patient-centered, ethical medical education throughout the curriculum.
• Providing a strong primary-care-based education as well as clinical experiences in underserved communities.
• Highlighting awareness of healthcare economics, potential barriers to accessing care, and solutions to reduce healthcare disparities.
• Supporting diverse perspectives and inter-professional approaches to healthcare that best serve the needs of diverse patient populations.

3. Develop and support the physician assistant students’ connection to the community and the PA profession by fostering their ability to serve, advocate, and lead.

4. Encourage continuous life-long learning in the pursuit of excellence in medical practice. 

See the program’s success meeting its goals.

Program Learning Outcomes for ARC-PA Competency Domains

Medical Knowledge

• Demonstrate an understanding of the medical, behavioral and social knowledge necessary to evaluate and manage patients across all ages and patient populations in both primary care and specialty settings.
• Demonstrate an ability to integrate evidenced-based medicine practices into medical decision making for patient care.

Interpersonal Skills    

• Demonstrate the ability to gather a thorough and accurate patient medical history.
• Demonstrate the ability to deliver accurate patient education that encompasses verbal, nonverbal, and written forms of information to the patient, their family, and their care team that considers disease prevention and health awareness across the lifespan.
• Demonstrate the professional and ethical behaviors necessary to interact effectively with the entire care team including the patient’s family to ensure successful patient-centered care.

Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Solving Abilities    

• Demonstrate the ability to select appropriate diagnostic or lab studies based on the clinical picture.
• Demonstrate the ability to develop an appropriate differential diagnosis based on the clinical picture.
• Demonstrate the ability to use medical history, physical exam findings, and diagnostic testing results to diagnose acute, chronic, and emergent medical and surgical conditions throughout the lifespan.
• Demonstrate the ability to develop appropriate pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment plans for medical, surgical, and behavioral health conditions based on the history and physical examination.

Clinical and Technical Skills    

• Demonstrate the ability to perform a detail oriented physical examination based on the medical history.
• Demonstrate the ability to interpret diagnostic studies in regard to the clinical picture.
• Demonstrate the ability to perform clinical skills common to general medical practice including, but not limited to: clinical encounter documentation, coordination of care, and case management.
• Demonstrate the ability to perform clinical procedures common to general medicine practice including, but not limited to: nasopharyngeal swabs, administration of topical and local anesthesia, injections and aspirations, laceration repair, surgical wound management, peripheral intravenous access, bladder catheterization, Papanicolaou test, and airway management.

Professional Behaviors     

• Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively within a healthcare team.
• Demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to diverse patient populations to ensure successful patient-centered care for all.

Director of Physician Assistant Program
Ashley A. Iacone, DMSc, MSPAS, PA-C
Associate Clinical Professor

Associate Program Director
Matthew Lavoie, MPAS, PA-C, CAQ
Assistant Clinical Professor

Medical Director
Earl Jackman, DO
Assistant Clinical Professor

Director of Clinical Education
Danielle Cormier, PA-C, BA, MPAS
Assistant Clinical Professor

Associate Director of Clinical Education
Jodi Cusack, MHS, PA-C
Assistant Clinical Professor

Director of Didactic Education
Stephanie Potts, PA-C, MS, AT
Assistant Clinical Professor

Director of Medical Simulation
Stephen Sherman, PA-C, MSPAS
Assistant Clinical Professor

Director of Admissions and Academic Success
Shaina Boyle, MBA

Program Coordinator
Brenda Tougas

Office Coordinator
Terry Garvin

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

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 2028. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website.

The Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies is a broad degree attesting to general knowledge in all fields of medicine and the basic skills required for PA practice. Essential characteristics and abilities required for completion of the MSPAS degree consist of certain minimum physical and cognitive abilities and sufficient mental stability to provide reasonable assurance that candidates can complete the entire course of study and participate fully in all aspects of medical training. Bryant University expects its graduates to become fully competent physician assistants and will provide reasonable accommodation to prepare its students to reach this goal.

The program has an ethical responsibility for the safety of patients with whom the candidates will encounter both before and after completion of the MSPAS degree. Patient safety is a major factor in establishing program core technical standards required for admission to the program, promotion within the program and graduation.

All Bryant PA students must possess those intellectual, ethical, physical, and emotional capabilities necessary to undertake and achieve levels of competence in the full curriculum required by the faculty. All students must meet technical standards to graduate from the program and ultimately enter into clinical practice. Inability to meet these technical standards is grounds for dismissal.

The technical standards are housed within broader categories as listed below. Detailed descriptions of the technical standards follow.

1. Observation
2. Participation
3. Communication
4. Motor Skills
5. Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities
6. Behavioral and Social Attributes

1. Observation
The student must be able to observe demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences, including but not limited to physiologic and pharmacologic demonstrations, microscopic studies of microorganisms, and tissues in normal and pathologic states. Students must be able to observe all classroom demonstrations of clinical skills. Students must also be able to inspect or observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand. Students should have the ability to visualize written documents, images, telemetry monitors, EKGs, and interpret diagnostic studies. Students should be sufficiently capable of using observations to draw appropriate conclusions about patient care. Observation necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision. It is enhanced by the functional use of the sense of smell.

2. Participation
The student must participate in all components of the program to include, but not limited to, classroom activities, lab sessions, peer-to-peer clinical skills practice, and clinical rotations.

3. Communication
Students should be able to speak to, listen to, and observe non-verbal communication in patients to elicit accurate information. Communication includes speech, reading, and writing. The student must be able to communicate respectfully, professionally, sensitively, and efficiently in oral and written form with the patient, the patient’s family, and all members of the healthcare team.

Students must be able to communicate respectfully and professionally with peers, instructors, and mentors in both oral and written formats at all times.

4. Motor Skills
Students should have sufficient motor function, skill, and dexterity to carry out basic laboratory experiments and anatomical dissections. Students must be able to use clinical examination skills to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other diagnostic maneuvers. Students should have the motor skills to accurately perform all elements of the physical examination and use instruments and tools appropriately to gather clinical information. Motor skills include the ability to obtain laboratory, radiologic, and other diagnostic testing, as well as perform diagnostic procedures. Students should possess sufficient motor skills to be able to provide general and emergency care to patients as well as surgical care. Motor skills must be accurate and able to be performed safely. Such actions require coordination of both gross and fine muscle movements, equilibrium, and functional use of the senses of touch and vision.

5. Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities
Physician assistant students must possess intellectual ability that includes visual-spatial understanding, measuring, calculating, reasoning, analysis, and synthesis. Each of these skills is required for critical thinking and problem solving. Students must combine these skills with evidence-based medicine and sound judgment to patient care to formulate a reasonable diagnosis and treatment plan.

6. Behavioral and Social Attributes
Students should have the physical and emotional well-being required for full application of their intellectual abilities, exercise of sound judgment, prompt completion of all responsibilities relative to patient care, and fostering of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients and all members of the healthcare team. Students must display compassion, integrity, and altruism in the face of patient care. Students should be flexible, adaptable, and able to learn in a multitude of environments.

Professionalism and respect are inherent to core qualities of a physician assistant. All students must treat faculty, staff, peers, preceptors, colleagues, and patients and their families with utmost respect and professionalism.

You must have a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution completed by October 1, 2024. (There is no preferred major.)

You will need an overall CASPA-verified undergraduate GPA and an overall CASPA-verified Biology, Chemistry and Physics (BCP) GPA of at least 3.00. You will also need to have completed the following prerequisite courses by October 1, 2024, with a minimum GPA of 3.00 overall for these prerequisite courses and a “C” or better in each class:

• Biology for science majors with lab: 8SH
• Chemistry for science majors with lab: 8SH
• Human Anatomy and Physiology with lab: 8SH
• Microbiology: 3SH
• Organic Chemistry with lab (4 SH) or Biochemistry (3 SH)
• Psychology: 3SH
• Statistics: 3SH

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score but it is not required for admission. 

• No minimum is required on the GRE, but performance will be used to determine eligibility and competitiveness
• Testing must have been from within the last 5 years
• Submit score to CASPA using Bryant’s PA Program Code: 8825

We do not accept Advanced Placement/CLEP coursework to fulfill prerequisite requirements. The Bryant Physician Assistant Program does not accept transfer credits to be applied to required program coursework and does not award Advanced Placement based on prior coursework.

Your application process begins when you submit an online CASPA application as early as April 25, 2024. You then must complete a supplemental Bryant University Physician Assistant Program Application available via CASPA. The Supplemental Application Fee is $75; the link for payment is in our Supplemental Application in CASPA. Your entire completed application must be “verified” by CASPA by October 1, 2024, for your application to be considered. Be advised that the university PA program operates on a rolling admission basis, however, early application is encouraged.

You also will need: 

• Three professional letters of reference.
• Documentation of at least 2,000 hours of direct patient care which must be obtained by April 1, 2024.*
• The ability to meet the program technical standards with or without reasonable accommodations. 

Selected candidates will attend an on-site interview, and if admitted, undergo background and drug screening. All matriculating students are required to obtain a Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification from American Heart Association only, prior to entering the program and are responsible for maintaining this BLS certification through graduation

*Examples of direct patient care experience include but are not necessarily limited to: emergency medical technicians and paramedics, nurses, military medics, corpsmen, health service technicians, emergency department technicians, medical scribes, physical and occupational therapy aides, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, certified nursing assistants.

International Applicants: You must complete the TOEFL within two years of application with a score greater than 100 unless you have completed a baccalaureate degree in the U.S. A certified degree and course-by-course evaluation of foreign transcripts are required to ascertain equivalences to U.S. educational standards.

The Bryant University Physician Assistant Program’s Mission Statement is to improve universal access to healthcare by graduating highly competent and confident physician assistants prepared to provide quality, ethical, patient-centered healthcare in a collaborative environment. Our strategy to accomplish this goal is to support the admission and enrollment of future clinicians who have demonstrated a similar commitment to these philosophies. While the program does not extend preference to any individual or group, application materials are scored during the file review and interview process using a scoring system that awards points to any applicant demonstrating evidence of a commitment to the philosophies embodied by the program’s mission and goals.

Class of 2027: 

• April 25, 2024: CASPA application cycle opens for the Class of 2027.
• October 1, 2024: Application cycle closes; verified application must be submitted by midnight.
• January 7, 2025: Class of 2027 matriculates.

Be advised that the Bryant University PA program operates on a rolling admission basis.

*Attrition rate calculation: Number of students who attritted from cohort divided by the entering class size.

**Graduation rate: Number of cohort graduates divided by the entering class size. 

• NCCPA Five Year Exam Summary Performance
   
• NCCPA Five Year First Time Taker Summary Report

• Program Demonstration of Success in Meeting Goals