Description
The first 12 months of the program focus on online classes and coursework in which students explore the various organ systems, such as cardiology, hematology, and gastroenterology. Pediatric, emergency, and geriatric medicine are integrated throughout the curriculum as students work to refine their clinical skills and consider how learned material is applicable in real-life situations.
Yale PA Online Program students meet in live classes each week to engage with faculty members and fellow students. Coursework is delivered through a multimedia format, and the curriculum takes an organ-systems approach to medicine.
Yale PA Online also has a dedicated clinical placement team that works in partnership with program faculty to locate qualified clinical rotation sites in or near students’ communities. Students spend 15 months in these rotations and also attend three week-long on-campus immersions. Additionally, the Clinical Experience in Early Didactic (CEED) provides first-year students in the Yale PA Online Program with 120+ hours of direct patient care experience in the didactic year.
Program Accreditation
At its June 2022 meeting, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) placed the Yale Physician Assistant Online Program sponsored by Yale University School of Medicine on Accreditation-Probation status until its next review in June 2024.
Probation accreditation is a temporary accreditation status initially of not less than two years. However, that period may be extended by the ARC-PA for up to an additional two years if the ARC-PA finds that the program is making substantial progress toward meeting all applicable standards but requires additional time to come into full compliance. Probation accreditation status is granted, at the sole discretion of the ARC-PA, when a program holding an accreditation status of Accreditation -Provisional or Accreditation -Continued does not, in the judgment of the ARC-PA, meet the Standards or when the capability of the program to provide an acceptable educational experience for its students is threatened. Once placed on probation, a program that fails to comply with accreditation requirements in a timely manner, as specified by the ARC-PA, may be scheduled for a focused site visit and is subject to having its accreditation withdrawn.
Specific questions regarding the Program and its plans should be directed to the Program Director and/or the appropriate institutional official(s).
The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-yale-online/ .
Program Takeaways
- The Yale PA Online curriculum is designed to educate students to become patient-centered medical professionals.
- The curriculum develops the student’s ability to diagnose and treat disease and illness through listening and communicating with patients, collaborating with other health care professionals, and understanding the most current research and methodologies.
- YSM faculty members are scholars and practitioners who foster ethical and collaborative learning.
