Technical Standards

The Physician Assistant (PA) program and profession are mentally, physically, and psychologically demanding. During the full curriculum, students will acquire the general knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required for the attainment of a PA license and the practice of medicine. Therefore, it is essential for all physician assistant students to have the ability to function in a variety of didactic and clinical situations and to provide a wide spectrum of patient care. Technical standards reflect those abilities that a physician assistant must possess for competent and effective clinical practice. Prospective and current students must meet the following technical standards with or without reasonable accommodation for admission to, progression in, and graduation from the PA program.

Typical Mental Demands Require:

The ability to process, retain, comprehend, integrate, analyze, synthesize, and apply a large volume of data related to the art and science of medicine, including legal, ethical, and moral concepts.
Long hours in class, laboratory, clinical, and self-directed study situations, and environments.
Appropriate and timely responses to constructive faculty feedback.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.
Participation in educational activities that include, but are not limited to examinations, skills evaluations, simulations, presentations, and written communication.
Effective clinical reasoning skills.

Typical Physical Demands Require:

Full range of body motion, including assisting patient movement, gross and fine manual dexterity, and eye-hand coordination.
Frequent, prolonged patient interactions that include standing and walking for extended periods of time.
Classroom and laboratory experiences may require sitting or standing for prolonged periods.
Corrected to normal visual and hearing acuity.
Working in physically and mentally stressful situations with long and irregular hours.

Typical Working Conditions Include:

Exposure to communicable diseases, body fluids, toxic substances, ionizing radiation, medicinal preparations, hostile individuals, and other conditions commonly found in healthcare environments.
Interaction with diverse patient populations of all ages with a range of acute and chronic medical and surgical conditions.

Student Performance Requirements:

Assignment to medical, surgical, pediatric, obstetric/gynecologic, behavioral health, emergency room, inpatient, and outpatient settings.
Assignment to on-campus and off-campus sites, including out of town locations.
Attendance and participation in inpatient care activities.
Attendance and participation in didactic and clinical education and training.
Patient assessment and evaluation.
Gathering patient data and reporting.
Participation in invasive and non-invasive procedures.
Participation in patient education.
Participation in pre-, intra-, and post-operative activities.
Participation in emergency care.
Development of medical ethics and understanding medical-legal concepts.
Working potentially long and irregular hours.
Development of a service orientation to career.
Participation in professional organizations.
Development and exhibition of professional ethical demeanor.
Completion of demanding didactic and clinical evaluations, examinations, etc.
Performance to the level determined and required by the faculty.
Receiving and providing clear, specific, respectful feedback on didactic and clinical program activities.
Other duties as assigned or required.

Accommodations

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply to the program. However, if you will need to seek support services from the Baylor University Office of Access and Learning Accommodation on the basis of diagnosed disability, you must submit documentation to verify eligibility under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This documentation needs to be recent, preferably within the last three years. For more information about services at Baylor, visit the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation website.