School of Allied Health Professions

alliedhealth.llu.edu

Physician Assistant

PROGRAM OFFERED

w M.P.A.

Physician Assistants (PAs) are graduates of accredited PA

programs who are licensed to practice medicine in collabora-

tion with a supervising physician. There are more than 123,000

certied PAs nationally, with over 11,000 in California alone.

PAs provide diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive health care

services as a member of a healthcare team.

PAs conduct physical examinations, diagnose and treat ill-

nesses, order and interpret laboratory tests and x-rays, counsel on

health care issues, and assist in surgery. They also treat injuries,

record progress notes, instruct and counsel patients, and order

or carry out therapy. All fty states, the District of Columbia,

Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

have enacted laws that authorize PA prescribing. PA practice is

centered on patient care and may include education, research,

and administrative duties.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Employment opportunities are excellent for PAs, par-

ticularly in underserved areas or settings that have difculty

attracting physicians, such as rural and inner-city clinics. PAs

can work in any medical specialty and can work in a variety of

settings, such as hospitals, academic medical centers, and public

clinics.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) esti-

mates a 37% growth in PA jobs between 2016 & 2026. The PA

profession has been ranked multiple times as one of the top 10

careers in the nation over the last several years. Physicians and

institutions are expected to employ more PAs to provide primary

care and work in many medical and surgical specialties because

PAs are productive and effective members of the health care

team.

EARNINGS

The most recent PA Census reports the mean total income

for PAs is $102,000 nationwide and $118,000 for California.

Median annual compensation for PAs range between $95,000

for primary care and $110,000 for specialty practice

EMPLOYMENT

While PAs practice in over 60 different specialty elds,

27.8% of PAs practice in one of the primary care elds: family/

general medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics,

and obstetrics/gynecology. Other prevalent specialties for PAs

include general surgery/surgical subspecialities, emergency

medicine, the subspecialities of internal medicine, and dermatol-

ogy.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

A baccalaureate degree is required from all candidates who

seek admission to the Master of Physician Assistant program at

LLU. All degrees must be from regionally accredited institu-

tions. We also require recent direct hands-on paid patient care

experience. All requirements are listed on the back of this page.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

 Total number of units: 125

 Program length: 24 months

 Class size: 36

 Start date: September

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

 CASPA opens May 1

 CASPA closes October 1

 Priority deadline - submit CASPA and supplemental

application by August 1 for early consideration.

 Supplemental applications must be completed

within 15 days of the receipt of the CASPA applica-

tion by the University.

 Bachelor’s degree must be completed by

December 31 of the application year.

Program Note:

At its March 2017 meeting, the Accreditation Review Commission on

Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) placed the Loma

Linda University Physician Assistant program sponsored by Loma

Linda University on Accreditation-Probation status until its next

review in March 2019.

Probation is a temporary status of accreditation conferred when a

program does not meet the Standards and when the capability of

the program to provide an acceptable educational experience for its

students is threatened.

Once placed on probation, programs that still fail to comply with

accreditation requirements in a timely manner, as specied by the

ARC-PA, may be scheduled for a focused site visit and/or risk having

their accreditation withdrawn.

Specic questions regarding the Program and its plans should be

directed to the Program Director at [email protected] and/or the ap-

propriate institutional ofcial(s).

LLU at a Glance

Founded in 1905

A Seventh-day Adventist institution integrating health,

science, and Christian faith

Offers over 200 programs in the health sciences

Houses eight schools: Allied Health Professions, Behavioral Health, Dentistry, Medi-

cine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Religion

About 4,000 students

Over

1,300 faculty

2,000 professional researchers

$46 million dollars in private

and public grants generated each year

Many service learning opportunities

Loma Linda University

Loma Linda, California 92350

909.558.7295

Website: www.llu.edu

www.facebook.com/llualliedhealth

The Loma Linda University Department of Physician Assistant Sciences educates

primary care physician assistants who will provide health care as active members

of a professional healthcare team in collaboration with physicians, excellence

and compassion in health care for the whole person, and quality health care for

underserved individuals and communities nationally and globally in accordance

with the mission of Loma Linda University and the School of Allied Health

Professions. The program consists of pre-clinical and clinical phases that run

concurrently for eight quarters over a 24-month period. Graduates from the

program are eligible to take the national certication examination.

Admissions requirements:

1. A baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution by December

31 of the year of application PLUS paid patient care experience. A minimum

of 2000 hours of recent direct hands-on paid patient care experience must

be completed prior to enrollment. Student clinical hours are not acceptable.

Shadowing a PA or volunteer service does not count towards patient care hours

but does strengthen an application. Preferred direct patient care experiences

are those accredited, credentialed professions that provide: patient assessment,

treatment, patient care plans, and diagnostic testing. Preferred applicants will

have direct patient care experience working in clinical settings that involve a

range of patient responsibility and a high level of critical thinking. Only paid

hours are accepted.

Examples of accepted Clinical Experiences/Professions

Direct patient care experience including, but not limited to:

 Military Medic or Corpsman

 Paramedic/EMT (waiting/transportation time not included)

 Nurse (LVN or RN)

 Radiology Technologist

 Physical Therapist

 Respiratory Therapist

 Occupational Therapist

 Medical Technologist

 Scribe (with active participation in ongoing care)

 Chiropractor

 Medical Assistant (certied, back ofce hours only)

 Other professions not listed above (e.g. phlebotomy, etc.)

will be considered on a case-by-case basis and are dependent

upon the quality of patient interaction.

Clinical experiences that are not accepted include, but are not limited to:

volunteer service, administrative duties, massage therapy, home care aide,

home health aide, pharmacy technician, personal trainer, certied nurse’s aide

(except with documented high-quality patient interaction), research with no

patient contact, hours received during training programs (e.g. medical school,

internship), and shadowing a physician or PA.

2. College level prerequisite courses:

 Human Anatomy & Physiology with lab (complete sequence) OR sepa-

rate courses in Human Anatomy with lab & Human Physiology with lab.

Must cover all organ systems

 One year of General Chemistry complete sequence with lab or

sequence of inorganic, organic and biochemistry with lab (3 qtrs/2 sem)

 General Microbiology with lab (must cover medically important

bacteria, virus, fungi and protozoa).

 General Psychology or equivalent

 General Sociology or Cultural Anthropology or equivalent

 College Algebra or equivalent

 One year of English (language courses not accepted)

A maximum of 2 total prerequisite courses may be outstanding on the CASPA

application at the time of submission, with only 1 science prerequisite

outstanding. All outstanding prerequisites must be completed by the end of

Spring Quarter of the year of matriculation.

Science courses must be for science majors and include a laboratory compo-

nent. Online courses will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but must have

an on-campus laboratory component in order to be considered. It is strongly

recommended that all prerequisite science courses be taken within the last 10

years.

Applicants, including international, must complete all prerequisite courses

through a college or university that is regionally accredited in the United States.

3. Recommended courses:

 Statistics, Medical Terminology and Conversational Spanish

4. We grant preference to:

 Seventh-day Adventists

 Graduates of Loma Linda University

 Applicants from under-represented populations

 Applicants with a history of meaningful, continuous involvement in

community service consistent with the mission and values of LLU.

 Applicants with current or previous documented military service.

5. An overall GPA of at least 3.0 or higher and a science GPA of 3.0 or

higher on a 4.0 scale is required. Calculations are completed by CASPA

and include all coursework completed to date. We do not recalculate.

6. Three letters of recommendation are required. One must be from a

practicing MD, DO, or PA. MD/DO/PA letter cannot be from a

friend or relative. MD/DO/PA letter must be from a person who has

worked with you in your paid patient care role, not shadowing experience.

Please note: “C minus” grades are not accepted for prerequisite courses.

How to apply

Applications are accepted through Central Application Service for Physician

Assistants (CASPA) between May 1 and October 1 (11:59pm EST ) at www.

caspaonline.org. Veried CASPA applications are sent to the University. Veri-

ed applicants will receive an e-mail with the link to the required supplemental

application, which must be submitted within 15 days of receipt. Veried CASPA

applicants will not be reviewed until the University supplemental is submitted.

All supporting documents must be received no later than December 15 (11:59pm

PST). Interviews are granted to qualied applicants upon invitation by the

admissions committee.

International applicants: TOEFL or IELTS (or equivalent English language

prociency examination) scores for applicants whose native language is not

English or whose secondary education was received outside the United States

(refer to: http://www.llu.edu/allied-health/sahp/internationalstudent.page)

Any student with a score on the TOEFL writing test (TWE) of less than 4 will

be required to do remedial work during the program and retake the TOEFL test.

The TOEFL score is valid for two years from the test date.

Contact Information

PA Ofce (909) 558-7295

Website www.llu.edu/pa updated 06/19/18