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 the delivery of primary and specialty health care. In order to accomplish this goal, PA students are required to complete fifteen months of clinical clerkships. During these clerkships, it is the Program’s plan to expose each student to a wide variety of patients and medical conditions. The Program anticipates that these experiences will acquaint the student with the rewards and
satisfaction as well as the frustrations and problems encountered in clinical practice. It is the Program’s expectations that these experiences will be intensely practical in that the students have primarily hands-on experiences with 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 rural, underserved family medicine, one month in primary care (rural or urban) and one month in six additional required curricular areas as listed below:
- Family Medicine (PHAS 707AB)
- 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)
Clinical rotations are located primarily throughout the state of Nebraska; however, some sites may be in South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and many other states in the U.S. Our students also have the opportunity to attend rotations at several international sites, including China, Africa, Central and South America, among others. See the Office of Global Engagement for more details.
At the end of the first month of rotations, and then following every two months throughout the clinical year, students are required to return to the Omaha campus and successfully complete one to two days of end of rotation (EOR) activities. These activities include examinations, clinical skill evaluations and workshops, evidence-based medicine journal club groups, and professional development presentations.