Technical Standards

The technical standards have been developed in consideration of the demands of didactic and clinical training in graduate health sciences and clinical practice as a clinical clerkship student. Along with other program prerequisites and requirements, all candidates and students must be able to independently, with or without reasonable accommodation, meet our Program specific technical standards. Once matriculated, all students must continue to meet these standards throughout the entirety of their program. Failure to meet all technical standards at any time in the program may preclude participation in the program and program activities, resulting in dismissal or deceleration/delay of graduation from the program.

The technical standards are organized in the following categories:

  • Observation
  • Communication
  • Sensory and Motor
  • Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities
  • Behavioral and Social Attributes

Observation

  • Students must have the appropriate skills of observation along with the use other senses (hearing, smell, touch, spatial relationships) in order to participate in classroom, laboratory, and clinical settings.
  • Students must be able to observe and interpret accurately a patient’s verbal and nonverbal signs.
  • Students must be able to observe the patient up close and at a distance.

Communication

  • Students must possess the ability to effectively communicate in oral and written English. The individual must be able to speak, to hear, and to observe patients in order to elicit information. In addition, students must be able to respond in written and oral exams, interact with peers and instructors during small group discussions, and when needed, write legibly in required documents.
  • Students must be able to converse with patients with a sense of compassion and empathy. They must be able to communicate information about a patient’s condition effectively and succinctly to other members of the health care team.

Sensory and Motor

  • Students must have adequate gross and fine motor function and coordination along with the use of their senses in order to elicit information from their patients. Many sensory skills are used during physical examination maneuvers of inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other special techniques.
  • These motor skills are required to perform an adequate examination and patient evaluation as well as using diagnostic instruments.
  • The performance of venipuncture, intravenous catheter placement, suturing and other diagnostic procedures are other examples needing motor function.
  • Sufficient physical stamina is required such that students can sit for long periods of time during didactic lectures and be able to move through physical environments such as clinics, hospitals, and classroom buildings. Students must have the ability to respond quickly to emergent clinical situations and be able to carry out functions that include bending, lifting, carrying, and running.

Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrated, and Quantitative Abilities

  • Required skills for PA practice include comprehension, measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis, and synthesis. Students need to able to independently interpret medical histories, identify significant finding from the physical examination, and distinguish normal from abnormal laboratory findings.
  • Students must possess these skills in order to successfully meet the demands of didactic and clinical learning.
  • It is essential that students have the ability to integrate new knowledge into formulating diagnoses and plans when working with fellow students, instructors, and preceptors. Assimilation of new knowledge should additionally occur through reading the medical literature. Students must recognize their own limitations in knowledge and be able to communicate this toothers.

Behavioral and Social Attributes

  • Students must possess the intellectual and emotional fortitude to promptly carry out and complete all assignments and to exercise good judgment. Students must work supportively with their peers in order to maintain a professional atmosphere that encourages active, cooperative learning. It is required that students be emotionally stable in order to withstand stress associated with intensive learning settings and uncertainties associated with the didactic and clinical environments.
  • During the admission process and throughout the educational experience, students will be assessed for the qualities of integrity, ethical standards, motivation, and compassion and concern for others.
  • Students are expected to accept constructive criticism from instructors, clinical preceptors, and patients.
  • They must also have the interpersonal skills to interact cooperatively with faculty, staff, students, patients, and members of the health care team.