New hybrid option in the works at MUSC for people who want to become PAs

At a time when the job outlook for physician assistants is booming, estimated to grow 28% between 2023 and 2033, the Medical University of South Carolina is planning to launch a new hybrid option for PA students.

Helen Martin, who has a Doctor of Health Science degree and is a physician assistant herself, is leading the effort. “I want to create a program that is accessible to people across the country who have the desire and potential to become PAs but face barriers due to location, family responsibilities or underserved community needs,” she said.

 

“Whether someone is raising children, living in a rural area or working in an area in need of providers, this program is designed to give them a pathway.”

The MUSC Hybrid Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program, in the College of Health Professions, has applied for provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant. The program has already been approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. 

Martin hopes to start taking applications next April. “We’re looking for motivated adult learners with strong life experience. The hybrid format is ideal for students who are self-directed, disciplined and ready to take on the rigor of this program.”

The hybrid program will accept about 100 students, doubling the total number of PA student slots at MUSC. That’s important, because like the profession those students hope to enter, the existing in-person PA program is booming at MUSC. It fields about 3,000 applications each year. 

The new hybrid option, as its name suggests, will include flexible online coursework and in-person clinical training. Graduates will enter a field where the median pay is about $133,000 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

 

As for the profession itself, a PA “is a licensed health professional qualified by specialized academic and clinical education to perform medical tasks traditionally undertaken by physicians while practicing under the supervision and responsibility of a licensed physician,” the MUSC College of Health Professions says.

The hybrid PA program will join a relatively small number of hybrid/online options for physician assistant studies across the country. Martin predicts that number will grow. She credited MUSC’s instructional designers, experts in creating such programs, with making the new option possible.

She’ll learn next summer whether the hybrid program will receive accreditation-provisional status. To accomplish that, its plans and resources have to meet the Accreditation Review Commission’s standards.

For now, Martin called the hybrid program exciting. It’s part of a larger effort at MUSC to reach more students and get more health care providers in the pipeline. “This program is about expanding opportunity, reaching more students, building a diverse health care workforce and helping address the needs of rural communities in South Carolina and beyond.”