Physician Associate Studies MSc

About This Course

A Physician Associate (PA) is defined as someone who is a new healthcare professional who, while not a doctor, works to the medical model, with the attitudes, skills and knowledge base to deliver holistic care and treatment within the general medical and/or general practice team under defined levels of supervision.

While Physician Associates are not meant to replace doctors, they are urgently needed to meet the increasing demand of a growing and ageing population combined with reductions in the medical workforce especially in the more rural areas of Wales. Working within teams, they would enhance patient care both in the community and hospital setting in a more efficient and relatively cost-effective manner. Graduates from this course will have a broad and relevant set of transferable skills with a focus on medical history taking, clinical examination, analysis of test results, clinical reasoning and diagnosis, and the development of evidence based patient management plans.

In order to be eligible to sit the national Physician Associate examination, successful completion of the PGDip or MSc in Physician Associate Studies is required.

Course Content

What will you study on this course?

This program uses a multi-disciplinary, research-informed approach to teach clinical and basic science related to the human systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, female reproductive, renal and genitourinary, the eyes, and skin) and diagnostics & therapeutics.

The scientific background is taught in the context of clinical placements in Community Medicine, General Hospital Medicine, Front Door Medicine, Mental Health, General Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

Successful completion of the programme enables graduates to take the national certification exam, which is mandatory to register and work as a Physician Associate. The modules for this course are integrated; your learning throughout one module will significantly inform and influence your learning in another module. The course consists of 7 modules totaling 180 credits at level seven.

Students benefit from a strong exposure to clinicians and scientists with active research in medically related subjects.

Candidates should be of the required academic standard and be able to satisfy one of the following conditions: have been awarded an initial degree (2.1 or higher) by a recognised Higher Education Institution in medically-related life science subjects (see widening access section if you are interested but do not have a degree in these areas). Examples include: Medical Sciences; Biomedical Sciences; have a 2:2 in a life science degree with a higher degree in a relevant subject e.g. MSc Medical Sciences.