Program Overview

Mission   

Educate the next generation of physician assistants by engaging students who are dedicated to advancing health equity and delivering an innovative educational model that reduces barriers for PA learners. We are committed to preparing students to deliver high quality patient-centered care to the Hawaiian island communities and medically underserved populations across the nation.  

Vision  

To cultivate a student-centered culture of inclusion and excellence that develops graduates who serve their communities and improve healthcare delivery.   

Core Values  

The HPU MMS-PA Program embraces the Hawaiian values of aloha, pono, kuleana, mālama, and lōkahi.  

• Aloha - the essence of being and acting with love, kindness, grace, unity, humility, and a mutual understanding of respect. 
• Pono - behavior and practice of integrity; righteous, honest and moral, and an energy of necessity. 
• Kuleana - responsibility and rights, concern for all interests, property, and people. 
• Mālama - to take care of, tend, attend, care for, preserve, protect. 
• Lōkahi - unity, agreement, harmony, inclusivity, united as one.
  
  

Program Goals 

1. Educate learners with the knowledge, skills, and professional attributes for entry-level practice as physician assistants.    
2. Recruit, matriculate, and graduate a diverse student body committed to increasing the healthcare provider workforce in Hawaiʻi and in underserved areas. 
3. Foster a student-centered learning environment that values innovative educational experiences, learner inclusivity, and lifelong learning. 
4. Prepare graduates to advocate for underserved populations, promote health equity, and to address priority health concerns in their communities. 
5. Core Program faculty demonstrate a commitment to excellence and professionalism through life-long learning, service, and scholarship. 

YEAR ONE

Supervised clinical instruction is vital to the development and mastery of PA graduate competencies. The clinical phase of the program is 11 months long and exposes students to medical care across the lifespan, including infants, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly.  The clinical phase of the HPU MMS-PA Program includes eight clinical rotations or Supervised Clinical Practice Experiences (SCPEs). Supervised clinical care experiences will occur in the outpatient and inpatient settings, the emergency department, and the operating room.  

Students will rotate through eight 5-week SCPEs across seven required disciplines and have the opportunity for one elective rotation. Required core rotations include:  

• Emergency Medicine 
• Surgical Medicine 
• Internal Medicine (inpatient) 
• Behavioral Medicine
• Family Medicine 
• Women’s Health 
• Pediatric Medicine 

Clinical instructional faculty (preceptors) for SCPE rotations are primarily physicians (MD or DO) who are specialty board certified in their area of instruction and hold a valid license to practice at the clinical site; or NCCPA certified physician assistants (PAs) who hold a valid license to practice at the clinical site.  

The HPU PA program has clinical affiliations with a variety of clinical sites in Hawaiʻi, California, and throughout the US. Rotations in the required curriculum may be scheduled at some distance from campus and the students' current residence. This is necessary to provide a range of diverse learning experiences and ensure availability and quality of clinical rotation sites. Students are responsible for providing their own housing and transportation to and from the clinical sites and campus. Housing and travel costs for the clinical year vary widely depending on the site and location. 

Prospective and enrolled students of the HPU PA Program are NOT required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors. Students should not be involved with site or preceptor recruitment activities. If a student has a personal or professional connection to a potential clinical site or a preference for a potential clinical site, they should provide this information to the Director of Clinical Education. The DCE will decide if the potential clinical site/preceptor is appropriate and will contact the clinical site directly for further inquiry.  

Course Number and Title: PA 7100 Emergency Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients who may present with acute, urgent, or emergent complaints in an emergency medicine setting.     

Course Number and Title: PA 7200 Surgical Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative patients in a surgical setting. This experience will foster the student’s ability to differentiate between surgical (including acute versus elective) versus nonsurgical presentations.   

Course Number and Title: PA 7300 Internal Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients in a hospital-based, inpatient setting. Students will hone critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills through evidence-based approaches to the evaluation and management of internal medicine patients who may present with acute, chronic, emergent, and/or life-threatening conditions.  

Course Number and Title: PA 7400 Behavioral Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients in behavioral and mental health settings. In honing knowledge of behavioral and mental health, students will develop clinical reasoning and critical thinking to differentiate behavioral health needs and appropriate levels of care.    

Course Number and Title: PA 7500 Family Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients while emphasizing patient-centered care. This rotation may include exposure to the team practice concept of healthcare via the integration of community services, preventative medicine, patient education, and medical diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic conditions for patients.   

Course Number and Title: PA 7600 Women’s Health Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients in women’s health including common gynecologic conditions, family planning and prenatal care. This may include managing normal pregnancy versus acute, urgent, or emergent pregnancy-related problems as well as post-partum care.    

Course Number and Title: PA 7700 Pediatric Medicine Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: This supervised clinical practice experience (SCPE) provides students with an opportunity to actively engage in applying the knowledge and skills gained during the didactic phase of their education to evaluate and treat patients in pediatric medicine. Pediatric medicine experiences include well visits that allow students to hone interpersonal skills with birth through adolescent-aged patients and their families or caregivers. Pediatric medicine experiences emphasize preventive pediatric health care as well as common childhood illnesses and psychosocial concerns.   

Course Number and Title: PA 7800 Elective Rotation  

Course Credits: 5  

Course Description: Provides PA students in the clinical phase of the PA program experiential learning in one of the core discipline rotations or an elective specialty. This rotation will be coordinated with the program to ensure it meets program goals and continues to cultivate the knowledge and skills to achieve program learning outcomes. Students will work under the supervision of a Program-determined licensed healthcare professional and/or their designee(s). Each PA student must successfully complete one elective clinical rotation prior to graduation.  

* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 

** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard.

 *** University Spring Break. PA Program will NOT break at this time, PA Program break is at the end of the semester, after Week 16.

* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 

** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard.

* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 

** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard.

Clinical Rotation 1: February 9 to March 15 (Week 5 - HPU Spring Break)
Call Back Week (Online): Week 9
Clinical Rotation 2: March 23 to April 26 (Week 10 - Week 14)
Call Back Week (Online): Week 15

* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 

** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard.

Clinical Rotation 3: May 11 to June 14 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Clinical Rotation 4: June 15 to July 19 (Week 6 - Week 10)
Clinical Rotation 5: July 20 to August 23 (Week 11 - Week 15)
Call Back Week (Online): Week 16
* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 
** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard. 

Clinical Rotation 6: August 31 to October 4 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Clinical Rotation 7: October 5 to November 8 (Week 6 - Week 10)
End Of Rotation (EOR) Exam: November 9
Summative Evaluation: November 9 - 13 (Week 11, On campus immersion)
Clinical Rotation 8: November 16 to December 20  (Week 12 - Week 16)
* Denotes official University holiday; students on clinical rotations follow the schedule of their clinical site and NOT University holidays. 
** Immersion weeks assume up to 6 days of activities/week (Monday through Saturday); detailed immersion schedules will be published and available on Blackboard. 

The Hawai'i Pacific University Physician Assistant Program will post its NCCA PANCE Exam Performance Summary Report Last 5 Years annually starting Spring 2027.

The Hawai'i Pacific University Physician Assistant Program will post its most current annual student attrition information as required by ARC-PA no later than April 1st annually.

PAs are a vital part of the healthcare delivery system in the United States. According to the National Commission on Certification for Physician Assistants (NCCPA), there are more than 168,000 board certified PAs in the U.S. who treat 10.4 million patients per week. One PA treats over 70 patients each week, often providing healthcare where a patient would normally not be able to get timely access to care. PAs are found in every medical specialty and practice setting. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of PAs is projected to grow 28% from 2021 to 2031. In the state of Hawaiʻi PA practice has grown by 42.3% between 2018-2022. 

Upon graduating from a nationally accredited PA school (PA programs are accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant), PAs must obtain national board certification and state licensure. While practice laws vary by state, in general, PAs are licensed to perform diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive and health maintenance services in any setting where physicians provide care and can fill gaps in care as part of physician-PA collaborative practice. 

Additional information about PA education and PA practice can be found at: 

The American Academy of PAs (AAPA) What is a PA? 

The Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Advisors and Pre-PA Students page 

The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) PAs Do That 

Hawai'i Pacific University had the honor to talk story with two leaders and experts in PA education about the history of the PA Profession and the vital contributions PAs have made and continue to make in healthcare! Check it out on Spotify and YouTube.