Program Goals
The Augsburg PA Program aims to accomplish the following goals:
GOAL #1: To increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in medicine (URiM)* into the PA profession.
STATUS (1/2025): Augsburg PA is exceeding this goal! Over the past 5 years, 28.2% of Augsburg PA matriculants self-identify as URiM and 44.26% self-identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).
Benchmarks: ≥25% of matriculated PA students are from URiM groups.
*The AAMC definition of underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.
Metric: Admissions data, PAEA Data
GOAL #2: Augsburg PA graduates will have a PANCE pass rate above national average. Subgoals: The cohort mean scores in all organ systems and task areas will be above the national average.
STATUS (1/2025): Augsburg PA is not meeting this goal. For the most recently published data from 2024, Augsburg PA’s annual first-time PANCE pass rate is 91%, just below the 92% National Average.
We continue to recognize this downward trend both across the country and within our program. We have taken measures to better support our subsequent cohorts and have vastly improved the first-time pass rate with our graduating class of 2024; up 19 percentage points from the prior year. Additionally, we have continued to improve in organ system and task areas where we had not met our benchmark in the previous year and adjustments to curriculum were made and showed a clear improvement.
Our faculty will continue to analyze our didactic, clinical, and PANCE preparation curriculum and make appropriate changes as necessary.
Benchmark: Augsburg Cohort PANCE scores above the national mean, organ system mean, and task area mean.
Metric: NCCPA Program and National Data
GOAL #3: To model PA professional responsibility through civic, leadership, and/or community engagement*.
STATUS (1/2025): Augsburg PA is meeting this goal! 100% of our students in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 graduating cohorts and 100% of our faculty have participated in at least one civic, leadership, or community engagement activity sponsored by the program.
Benchmarks: 100% of matriculated PA students and PA faculty participate in at least one civic, leadership, or community engagement activity while enrolled in the program.
*Examples include Augsburg Health Commons, MN Academy of PAs, Special Olympics Health Screening, Face-2-Face, Feed My Starving Children, Project Access, Anishinabe Wakaigun, and Women of Nations Shelter.
Metric: Participation documentation submitted to program director
Learning Outcomes and Competencies
Competence of the Augsburg PA Learning Outcomes for each student is assessed across program curriculum and confirmed through summative evaluation (End of Curriculum Exam and OSCE) prior to graduation. These are the program required competencies for entry level practice, as defined by the PA profession:
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Medical Knowledge:
Demonstrate core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care. In addition, students are expected to demonstrate an investigative and analytic thinking approach to clinical situations. -
Interpersonal and Communication Skills:
Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange with patients, patients’ families, physicians, professional associates, and other individuals within the healthcare system. -
Clinical and Technical Skills:
Demonstrate patient care and education that is effective, safe, high quality, equitable and focuses on disease prevention. -
Professional Behaviors:
Demonstrate a high level of responsibility, ethical practice, sensitivity to a diverse patient population, and adherence to legal and regulatory requirements. -
Clinical Reasoning and Problem Solving Abilities:
Demonstrate the ability to compile, appraise and integrate evidence based medicine outcomes and apply to diagnostic studies, clinical interventions and therapeutic effectiveness.
PA NATIONAL CERTIFYING EXAMINATION (PANCE)
Augsburg PA has a proven track record of success, and graduates of our PA program consistently pass the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE) at a rate that is at or higher than the national average. Our current 5 year average for first-time takers is 91.4% and 98.8% overall 5 Year Pass Average.
Final PANCE outcomes for the cohort of 2024 are pending and updated regularly.
See Augsburg’s Full PANCE Results (PDF)
ARC-PA Student Attrition and Graduation Rates
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| Maximum entering class size (as approved by ARC-PA) |
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| Entering class size | |||
| Graduates | |||
| *Attrition rate | |||
| **Graduation Rate | |||
*Attrition rate calculation: Number of students who attritted from cohort divided by the entering class size.
**Graduation rate: Number of cohort graduates divided by the entering class size.
(One student decelerated from Class of 2021, graduated with Class of 2023)