Curriculum and Coursework

The CWRU PA Program is designed to train well-rounded generalist PAs built on the cornerstones of clinical mastery, professionalism, leadership and community engagement.  Our goal is to challenge students so that they affect positive change through treating disease, promoting health, and understanding the social and behavioral context of illness.

Students are immersed in a graduate-school atmosphere characterized by independent study and collegial interaction with faculty to educate physician assistants, who are prepared to not only treat disease and disease states, but to also promote health prevention and maintenance and to examine the social and behavioral context of illness. Experiential learning, community service, interprofessional learning and clinical relevance inform learning processes. Pre-clinical clerkships and clinical experiences are integrated across the twenty-seven months of the curriculum. 

The innovative program design utilizes a hybrid blend of learning methodologies and styles.  Organization and sequencing of coursework is both horizontally and vertically integrated facilitating a connected flow of systems and conditions, creating a curricular thread intended to enhance the development of critical thinking and problem-solving. Planned redundancies help build a strong pre-clinical knowledge base. Through demonstrations, case discussions and simulation activities, students learn critical thinking and how to synthesize information to formulate and implement a patient management plan. Simulation activities allow the students to participate in scenarios that closely approximate real-life patient encounters and, through a team-based approach (small group), create their care plans. Hands-on activities enhance the student’s ability to develop their critical thinking and technical skills. Experiential learning through community engagement introduces students to some of the concepts of team-based care and population health.

Didactic Coursework

The first 15 months of the program (divided into four semesters) focus on didactic instruction. 

Clinical Rotations

During the second year students complete twelve, four-week clinical rotations.  These rotations provide students with first-hand experience in a variety of specialties and clinical settings. 

There are ten required core discipline rotations, and two clinical elective rotations during the clinical year.  Core rotations include:  Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Behavioral and Mental Health, and Surgery. 

Please refer to the CWRU General Bulletin for more details on the program schedule and course descriptions.

First Year Didactic Curriculum