Mission Statement, Vision, and Objectives
Mission Statement:
Loma Linda University Department of Physician Assistant (PA) Sciences educates primary care physician assistants who will complement the work of physicians by providing: health care as active members of a professional health care team, excellence and compassion in health care for the whole person, and quality health care for under-served individuals and communities nationally and globally.
Vision:
Loma Linda University Department of PA Sciences will be recognized for professional excellence, empathy, team effort, and advocating lifestyle changes to enhance health and prevent disease.
Objectives:
- To provide a curriculum whose required academic content and clinical experience will equip graduates to provide medical care at levels of competence that will enhance the services of the medical profession.
- To graduate PAs who will improve the quality of medical services and the effectiveness of comprehensive health care.
- To graduate PAs who will enhance the service of their supervising and or employing physicians by enabling them to devote their personal efforts to the more critical and demanding problems that face their patients.
- To graduate PAs who are proficient primary care providers.
- To graduate PAs who will utilize their training in medicine and research to make significant contributions to the health care of the community.
- To enable PA students to achieve educational standards implied by the objectives of Loma Linda University.
Success of the Program in Meeting Goals:
Attrition Rates
For the last four cohorts of students, there has been a 5% attrition rate. Our goal is for every student who is selected for the program to graduate from the program with his or her cohort. In the last four years, 95% of students have been able to accomplish this goal.
Graduate Employment
Primary Care Percentage
• Nearly two-thirds of our 2011 graduates (63%) plan on working in primary care.
• In our most recent alumni survey, 39% of alumni were working in primary care fields.
Employment Rates
• For the Class of 2011, 46% already had a job offer by their final day of clinical rotations. While we do not offer a job placement service, we do provide all graduates and alumni with PA job listings that we receive in our department.
• In our most recent alumni survey, 96% of graduates were still working as PAs, with over half working in outpatient clinic settings.
Commitment to the Underserved
Employment in Underserved Areas
• In our most recent alumni survey, 21% of graduates were working in medically underserved areas.
Graduate/Student Highlights
• One of our graduates is currently working as a PA in Baja, Mexico, serving the rural community and a local orphanage by providing the only medical care in the area.
• Two currently enrolled students were selected to receive full scholarships from the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and will be working in medically underserved areas upon graduation.