18-Month Pathway and Concentrations
Health Professions Education
The Health Professions Education (HPE) concentration expands the knowledge and aptitude of established educators and prepares new or aspiring educators with educational skills based on the Physician Assistant Education Association's Physician Assistant Educator Competencies. Through a four-course series in the third and fourth terms of the program, the HPE concentration includes coursework focused on adult learning theory, instructional content delivery methods, curricular design and evaluation, academic leadership strategies, and transformative student engagement. Through the two-course Practicum series, PA educators have the chance to apply evidence-based change tools to real world educational challenges.
Health System Leadership
The Health System Leadership (HSL) concentration is designed to empower PAs to lead in a healthcare setting and meaningfully contribute to the safe, effective, and equitable delivery of healthcare services. Through a four-course series in the third and fourth terms of the program, the HSL concentration enhances PA knowledge of healthcare policies, laws, and regulations and promotes mastery of quality improvement and patient safety capabilities. PAs will also gain the business skills necessary to skillfully lead teams in inpatient or outpatient settings. Through the two-course Practicum series, PAs have the chance to apply evidence-based workplace change tools to real-world professional challenges. The concentration is based on the American Academy of Physician Associates’ Competencies for PAs in Healthcare Administration.
Lifestyle Medicine and Advanced Clinical Practice
The Lifestyle Medicine and Advanced Clinical Practice (LMACP) track is tailored for PAs wanting to enhance their clinical expertise and earn a doctorate degree simultaneously. Built on implementation science, the track allows PAs to explore evidence-based strategies for disease prevention and provider well-being. Students gain advanced skills in research, scholarly writing, and leadership while completing their six core courses. During their LMACP concentration coursework, students explore the influence of lifestyle medicine and provider well-being on patient outcomes and prepare for an external certification in a specialty area aligned with their professional goals. Through the two-course Practicum series, students have the chance to apply evidence-based change tools to real world clinical challenges.
To complete this track, students must identify a clinical certificate that they are qualified to earn and prepared to work towards during their enrollment in the DMSc program. Students will declare the certificate before they begin their concentration courses. To meet the requirements for this track, the PA-qualified external clinical certification must meet the following criteria:
- Certificate eligibility requirements include being a licensed or certified healthcare professional.
- Certificate requires a credentialing exam and/or completion of continuing education (CE)/continuing medical education (CME) hours.
- If a credential only requires completion of CE/CME hours, the requirement is for 30 or more CE/CME hours.
Students do not need to complete the PA-qualified external certification requirements as part of their DMSc graduation requirements, but rather document progress working towards the certification. All expenses incurred as part of the external PA-qualified certificate, including the cost of required CME, and application and exam fees, are paid by the student separate from their DMSc tuition.