Physician Assistant Studies, Post-Professional (DMSc)

Plan of Study

Individualized plans of study will be considered for students that require individualized or personalized plans to meet their academic goals. All students must complete the DMSc degree requirements within eight years of starting their program.

The advantage of this design is to allow learners to remain in their clinical practice full-time, while earning their degree part-time, so they can apply their classroom learning to their clinical practice in a meaningful and impactful way.

One Year Plan

Term 1:

• Core Concepts of Scholarly Practice
• Examining Supporting Evidence
• Internship Experience 1

Term 2:

• Personalized Elective (Academic, Administrative, or Digital Health)
• Scholarly Practice Capstone Phase 1
• Internship Experience 2

Term 3:

• Scholarly Practice Capstone Phase 2
• Internship Experience 3

What to Expect

• Courses are available through Canvas
  • This is the online module content is self-paced throughout each week with weekly deadlines.
  • Modules are released on a weekly basis to mimic the progression of coursework you would find in any university.
• Nearly all textbook and course materials are available online or through the Pitt library system
• The capstone project can be done individually or with a larger group. Learn more about the internship and capstone here.

Personalized Electives of the DMSc Program

Students in the Pitt DMSc will have the option to select from three available courses in a particular area of interest. Each area is designed to teach students specific skills to achieve goals in their capstone projects or provide a better understanding of the content in this area.

Assessments

Assessments will be competency-based and build off one another to support completion of the Scholarly Practice Capstone Project. Such assessments will include:

• Reflective writing assignments
• Scholarly writing assignments
• Written evidence of literature review
• Stakeholder assessments
• Oral presentations
• Written defense of the Scholarly Practice Capstone Project