Welcome to the Physician Assistantship Medical programme. The programme is a 4-year programme leading to the award of BSc. Physician Assistantship Studies – Medical. The programme is designed to train a critical group of professionals who are often the first-line of management of patients and ideally work under the supervision of a qualified physician. The PA works in primary care and specialty care roles in both rural and urban settings. They also have a role to play in preventive Medicine, as well as in educational, research, and administrative activities. Graduates from the PA programme are certified by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council to exercise a level of autonomy in the performance of clinical responsibilities within Ghana’s health care delivery system.
The first two years of the programme are dedicated to preparing the student to cover foundational sciences and introduction to the profession. The third and fourth years focus on professional training. Students will be trained to take medical histories, perform physical examinations, order and interpret diagnostic tests, formulate a working diagnosis and implement a treatment/management plan. In the third year, the student will learn about Preventive Medicine, Evidence-Based Medicine, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Diagnostic Methods, Health Administration as well as the foundation of Clinical Medicine. The final year will be predominantly cover clinical clerkships. Students will do clerkships in the major medical disciplines, including Internal Medicine, Surgery and its allied fields, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine and Primary Care. These clerkships will be done in primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities, under the supervision of specialists in the health institutions. The acquisition of surgical skills in both Surgery and Obstetrics will be particularly emphasized, in addition to the Primary Care and Family Medicine elements of the course. There are vocational training periods during the long vacations, during which the student will learn and develop practical skills. Each student will undertake a research project in an area of Clinical. The PA programme is suited for the student who has an interest in Medicine and a desire to care for the sick.
At the end of the programme, the PA degree holder should be able to:
1. Manage sub-district health activities and resources such as personnel, drugs and equipment
2. Assess the health status of community members, diagnose the sick and appropriately manage them using available resources and to give relevant operational support at the district level.
3. Identify cases of emergencies and cases beyond his scope of knowledge and skills and make referrals to the district level.
4. Educate the patient and the community on disease prevention, family planning, child health care and nutrition.
5. Identify community health problems and conduct research and communicate findings to community members as part of problem-solving activities.
6. Prepare and communicate regular reports on the primary health care (PHC) activities to the district health authority.
7. Assist the medical doctor to improve the care of patients at all levels.