PA Clinical Year Curriculum
The goal of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Physician Assistant (PA)Program is to prepare medically knowledgeable, clinically skilled, caring health professionals to competently assist physicians in delivering primary and specialty healthcare. To achieve this goal, PA students must complete fifteen months of clinical clerkships. During these clerkships, the program plans to expose each student to a wide variety of patients and medical conditions. The program expects that these experiences will introduce students to the rewards and satisfaction, as well as the challenges encountered in clinical practice. It is the program's expectation that these experiences will be highly practical, with students gaining primarily hands-on experience in examining, treating, and managing patients within the student-preceptor relationship.
UNMC PA students will rotate through nine months of core rotations during their clinical year. This includes two months in family medicine, one month in primary care, and one month in six additional required curricular areas as listed below:
- Family Medicine A (PHAS 707A)
- Family Medicine B (PHAS 707B)
- Primary Care (PHAS 707C)
- General Surgery (PHAS 706)
- Internal Medicine (PHAS 703)
- Pediatric Medicine (PHAS 704)
- Women’s Health (PHAS 705)
- Emergency Medicine (PHAS 708)
- Psychiatry (PHAS 702)
Several clinical rotations are available across Nebraska; however, some sites might be in nearby states like South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, and other parts of the U.S. Our students also have opportunities to participate in rotations at various international locations, including China, Africa, Central and South America, among others.
End-of-Rotation returns will be conducted by the PA Program during the clinical phase, where students will return to the Omaha Campus. A variety of workshops, OSCEs, lectures, assessments, and other activities will take place during these returns.