Physician Assistant Program Phase II

COURSE DATA PAGE

COURSE:

The Inter-service Physician Assistant Program is 29 months in length. Students attend Phase I of training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and Phase II at San Diego, California.  Phase II of the program consists of 14 clinical rotations at Naval Medical Center, San Diego, and at civilian facilities in the San Diego area.  This portion of the training is responsible for the development and implementation of clinical training for Navy Physician Assistant students.  It is 13 months in length and includes clinical rotations and directed studies course.  Successful completion of Phase II culminates in the award of a Masters of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degree from the affiliated university.  As well as a commission into the Medical Service Corps as a Lieutenant junior grade.

NAVY PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS:

Work in military hospitals and clinics on U.S. soil, overseas, aboard ships and with Special Operations units. PAs work hand in hand with supervising physicians and surgeons, provide a wide spectrum of services, handle primary-care issues or pursue a specific surgical subspecialty, oversee other members of the medical team, train in emerging need areas, such as emergency medicine, rural medicine and family practice. Those are just a few of the things one could do as a Navy Physician Assistant.

Application Requirements

The Physician Assistant Program is offered to active duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel as a part of the Medical Service Corps In-Service Procurement Program (MSCIPP). Application requirements are:

1. Navy or Marine Corps E-5 thru E-9 (E-4 waivers considered on a case-to-case basis)
2. Under 42 by commissioning
3. Complete SAT with a score of 1000 (Math 460)
4. US Citizen or naturalized US Citizen
5. No NJP within in the three years preceding application
6. Meet PFA Standards (outlined in  OPNAV 6110.1J)
7. Pass pre-commissioning physical
8. Meet security clearance requirements
9. 60 semester hours prior to application (30 of those hours must be in residence training (classroom) at the acceptable course level)

All the above information is outlined in detail in  OPNAVINST 1420.1b