The mission of the Springfield College program is to educate students in spirit,
mind, and body for leadership in clinical, community, and academic service to
humanity, building upon the College’s foundations of humanics and academic excellence.
The Springfield College physician assistant program trains primary care physician
assistants eligible for employment in a wide variety of medical settings and specialties.
This is a five-year entry-level program with students earning a bachelor of science
degree and a master of science in physician assistant studies upon successful
completion of the program. A graduate program for students with a bachelor’s degree
is also available. This would allow the student to complete the professional phase
of the program in 27 months and be awarded a Master of Science degree in Physician
Assistant Studies.
The program is divided into two distinct phases: a pre-professional phase in
which students complete All-College Requirements and basic science program requirements;
and the professional phase which includes 16 months of didactic education and
11 months of clinical rotations. The didactic year includes courses in clinical
medicine, pharmacology, applied clinical skills, history taking and physical assessment,
human anatomy, mental health issues, clinical decision making, foundations of
research, advanced statistics, computer concepts in research, and seminar courses.
Clinical education includes inpatient medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics,
obstetrics, and gynecology, surgery and emergency medicine.
Graduates of the program are eligible to sit for the National Commission of Certification
of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) Certification Examination and apply for state
licensure.
For more information about this program, contact Jennifer Hixon, M.S., P.A.-C.,
the Program Director of the Physician Assistant Program at (413) 748-3554 or the
Admissions Office at (800) 343-1257.
1 Accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission of Education for the Physician
Assistant (ARC-PA)