Accreditation team reviews Physician Assistant program
Representatives of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) visited the University of Detroit Mercy in April as part of the re-accreditation process for its Physician Assistant program.
Two Commission members spent two days on campus, reviewing volumes of reports and interviewing administrators, faculty, students and alumni.
“The Commission sets the standards for physician assistant education. Accredited programs meet or exceed those standards,” explains Suzanne Warnimont-York, Physician Assistant program chair. “Site visits are an important tool to make that determination.”
The Commission evaluates all aspects of a program, such as admissions, administration, curriculum and standardized test results. In addition to the site visit, the Commission considers the application and “self-assessment” prepared by the program and its response, if any, to the site visit team’s report.
UDM’s program has been continuously accredited since 1972, the year it was established. The program’s last accreditation visit was seven years ago. Warnimont-York expects a decision in September.
“We’d really like to thank the alumni who made time for interviews,” she adds. They were: Laurie McDougal, PA-C; Jan Thorson, PA-C; Frank Nysowy, PA-C; Dave Martin, PA-C; Shelly Smith, PA-C; Marty Seta, PA-C; Chris Strameck, PA-C; and Sharon Goff, PA-C.