Mission, Vision, & Goals

Mission | Vision | Program Goals | Values

Northwest University’s Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MS-PAS) program is a great place for you to achieve your professional goal to practice as a licensed PA and serve others with your unique skill set. You will develop key professional competencies as you work toward achieving the program learning outcomes that will equip you with practice-ready knowledge, skills and behaviors that are patient-centered. The program's goals are inspired by a strong mission and vision to contribute to the advancement of the physician assistant profession through exemplar practice, life-long learning, and service within and across the healthcare system and the community. Student success is measured in many ways, but is also reflected in the program's PANCE results and program attrition rates.

Mission Statement

Northwest University School of PA Medicine is driven by a passion to integrate loving Christ, serving others, and practicing excellent medicine to effectively engage human need.

We empower dedicated faculty and staff, incorporate innovative technology, and prepare students to care for diverse patient populations, lead clinically, and serve the Pacific Northwest while fostering national and global relationships.

Our Vision

To equip service-minded PAs who will impact the world through excellent, compassionate, Christ-centered healthcare.

Program Goals and Outcomes

Benchmark: Until the program has sufficient cohort data to trend and establish internal benchmarks, the program will use the mean comparisons in the PAEA annual report to identify needs of improvement in the recruitment and admission process. The program will focus in the following areas:

Patient care experience hours
Science GPA
Prerequisite GPA
Last 60 hr. GPA
Community Service hours
Gender
Age
Socio-economic status
Religious affiliation
Military affiliation
Northwest University Alumni
Home state / Province / Territory

Outcome: Comparison to PAEA annual report will be = or > mean and will be posted after completion of the first admission process.

Benchmark: Achieve a PANCE first-time test-taker pass rate at or above the national average.

Outcome: Data will be reported after first cohort completes the exam.

Survey to PA graduates – 80% of responding students will agree or strongly agree that the PA program prepared them to use the medical knowledge and technical skills in the systematic process of patient evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for an entry-level practitioner.

Benchmark: Students will participate in community service outreach opportunities/events in the didactic and clinical phases of the program.

Outcome:

Record the number of hours of humanitarian and community service activities to under-served populations in the didactic phase to be > 10 hrs.
During the clinical phase, track the PA student engagement with various cultural encounters to be at least 4 different cultures per student, on average.
Post-graduate survey – 80% of responding graduates will agree or strongly agree that their education improved their ability to recognize healthcare disparities existing in underserved populations and the impact PAs can have on those patients and the community.
Post-graduate survey - 100% of responding graduates will agree that they had participation in community service of underserved populations.

Benchmark: NU School of PA Medicine administration, faculty, and future alumni will mentor and encourage students to:

participate in local and national organizations within the PA community
attend one state or one national PA conference
participate in advocacy day at the state capital

Outcome: The NU School of PA Medicine program will track student participation as follows:

> 10% student participation in local and national organization
100% student participation in one advocacy activity
75% student attendance at one state or national conference

Benchmark: Northwest University will commit to demonstrating continued professional development of all faculty members of the School of PA Medicine by:

support faculty in Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements to maintain NCCPA Board-certification and state licensure.
support faculty and program administration to attend one PA conference or professional development events that will foster professional development.

Outcome: Program administration will track the supported CME activities and conference attendance by all faculty by:

Annual report of > 75% of required CME hours obtained by each faculty member that was supported by NU,
annual report of > 75% faculty participation in attending an annual conference or event.

Values

Academic Excellence

As we seek wisdom, we will:

Develop a lifelong pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and skills
Create opportunities for students to build character and develop resilience
Incorporate innovative teaching strategies that promote the 21st century learning skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity
Develop cultural intelligence

Empowered Engagement

A Christ-centered community will seek to:

Celebrate diversity as an expression of the image of God and recognize the intrinsic worth and dignity of each individual by facilitating relationships and networks that value and reach out to welcome others in love.
Serve and care for each other
Protect the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of others
Cultivate a culture of grace and truth that promotes humility and confidence, holding each other accountable in love

Faith Integration/Spiritual Vitality

As we explore our faith and spirituality, we seek to:

Leverage moments of conflict, disappointment, or discipline to build character and courage to meet the challenges of our world
Foster a heart for service to others
Provide students with opportunities for fellowship, community and belonging
Be conformed to the image of Christ
Cultivate personal, spiritual, and relational growth

Earn Your Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MS-PAS)

Admission Requirements

Applicant Selection Factors