Accreditation

Goal: Prepare graduates who are proficient in medical knowledge for entry into the PA profession. 

Rationale: Because all 50 states, the military and federal health services mandate that PAs pass the PANCE in order to obtain licensure and/or full practice authority, the Wake Forest PA Program prioritizes the importance of demonstrating PA graduates’ ability to actually enter the profession.  

Benchmark: The program expectation for first-time test takers pass performance on PANCE is 90% or higher. This expectation exceeds the ARC-PA’s <85% alert value, which requires mandatory program action. The program also uses the national mean for first time test takers as a surrogate marker of our competitiveness. Thus, our cohorts’ surpassing the national mean each year serves as an additional measure of success. 

Outcomes measures: Since 2015, the percent pass rate for Wake Forest PA Program first-time takers of the PANCE has been at or above the national first-time pass rate every year. The compiled five-year average for the first-time pass rate for WFSM PA Program is 98%, and the national average is 95%. (See table)  


Table: PANCE Pass Rates – First Time Examinee

Goal: Support enrolled students through graduation from the program with a Master of Medical Science degree.

Rationale: To meet the aim of successful graduation for each enrollee, the faculty and staff within the Wake Forest PA Program facilitate the education of students in program competencies and learning outcomes and provides the necessary support to complete all requirements for graduation.

Benchmark: On-time graduation rates will meet or exceed 94% and total cohort graduation rates will meet or exceed 97%. (Total cohort graduation = graduating eventually, but not with initial entering cohort -- usually consisting of our decelerated students who are delayed by one year.) In addition, graduation rates for Wake Forest PA will exceed the national average for all PA programs.

Outcomes measures: The program measures student success by evaluating graduation rates for two time-lines. The table reflects graduation rates by cohort, based upon the numbers of students who graduated on time or on a later timeline. The PA Program’s on-time graduation rates have ranged from 94 to 99% over the past five years, with total cohort graduation rates ranging from 98-100%. 

The on-time and total cohort graduation benchmarks for each cohort are established by comparing that cohort to the five prior cohorts. The threshold for a cohort is to fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean of the combined on-time graduation rates of the prior five cohorts. For every group, the threshold was met. 

In addition, the PA Program is able to utilize an additional benchmark of the mean on-time graduation rate for all PA programs, as posted in the most recent PA Education Association (PAEA) Program Survey. In the 2019 report, the total program on-time graduation average was 93.5%. In comparison, every on-time graduating cohort listed in the table below exceeded this percentage.

Goal: Support students’ professional identity growth through leadership trait development within their PA education.  

Rationale: In addition to producing highly capable, compassionate PAs who deliver patient-centered care, our mission also strives to inspire graduates to make significant health care contributions in our communities, and continually advance the PA profession through leadership and advocacy. 

Benchmark: Student survey feedback measures will meet or exceed 90% agreement in each of five elements the program’s leadership aims: 1) communicating values of the PA profession, 2) supporting a culture of teamwork and change, 3) acknowledging the value and contribution of others, 4) leading with courage, integrity, selflessness, empathy, collaboration, and reflection, and 5) seeking opportunities for leadership development.  

Outcomes Measures: In exit surveys of our most recent graduating cohorts, >90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the program provided the five elements of leadership development (see table).  

Goal: Provide experiential opportunities for students to engage with underserved populations in the community. 

Rationale:  The Wake Forest PA program strives to build trust with medically underserved communities which experience disproportionately higher mortality rates and worse disease outcomes. By locating students in underserved clinical sites, the program also aims to improve the awareness of the PA profession and the positive impact of PAs in team-based care in communities where health disparities are common.  

Benchmark:  All students will successfully complete at least one supervised clinical practice experience (rotation) in an underserved area in North Carolina.  

Outcomes Measures: 100% of students in the past six cohorts successfully completed at least one supervised clinical practice experience in an underserved area (see table). 

Goal: Enroll students from diverse backgrounds

Rationale: The Wake Forest University School of Medicine PA Program is dedicated to enrolling underrepresented minorities (URM) in medicine to improve racial diversity in our students and the PA profession.

Benchmarks:

1. Meet or exceed the National PA student URM matriculate percentage (based on the PAEA survey data and *HRSA definition for URM in effect for cohort)
2. Mirror the national census data for URM based on *HRSA definition
3. Match or increase the percentage of URM students in each cohort as compared to the prior cohort

Outcomes measures:

* HRSA definition applicable for these cohorts. For future cohorts, beginning with the class of 2024, an updated HRSA definition and the 2020 national census data will be applied.

Benchmark #1: the program has exceeded the national PA URM matriculate data for every year.

Benchmark #2: while we have not met this benchmark yet, the current Class of 2023 URM matriculates are 5% higher than the prior cohort, demonstrating the program’s continued focused efforts to recruit and matriculate a diverse group of students.

Benchmark #3: the program has met the goal for each cohort, showing a consistent trend of increasing or matching the prior cohort’s percentage of URM students. There is one exception in this trend, due a one-time increase in URM percentage (25%) for the Class of 2020 during the time span including the Classes of 2018 - 2022.