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Postgraduate Taught Courses |
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Physician Assistant Studies PGDip |
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Duration |
2 years (46 weeks per year) |
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Mode of Study |
Full-Time
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Fees |
2010 Entry Course fees (January start)
UK and EU Students
£3100 per year for 2 years
Non UK and EU students
Please contact us for overseas fees.
Please note that fees are approximate.
Find out more information about getting a Career Development Loan
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Language Requirements |
IELTS - 7.0 with no less than 7.0 in any band. TOEFL - 600 (paper based)/250 (computer based) plus TWE 4.0 or 100 with no less than 23 in any band (internet based). Equivalent qualification can be accepted.
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Start Date |
11th January 2010 |
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Application Deadline |
Application deadline is 30th October 2009, however applications may still be accepted if places are still available after this date.
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Entry Requirements |
- 2:1 in a Life Sciences Degree (e.g. Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Science, Nursing, Physiotherapy) or equivalent qualification
- A Level Chemistry Grade C or equivalent
- GCSE Maths and English Grade B or above
N.B. Extensive experience in the health service may contribute to your application if the above requirements are not fully met.
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Contact and further information details |
Lynne Gossage, Programme Administrator, 0121 414 3270, physicianassistant@contacts.bham.ac.uk |
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How to apply |
Click here to apply on-line or alternatively contact us at the details specified above for an application form. Please ensure you refer to the guidance notes below.
Guidance notes
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Open Evening |
Open Evening
Open evenings at Birmingham have now finished for the January 2010 intake, however, if you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on the details above.
Click here for travel directions to the Universityhttp://www.about.bham.ac.uk/maps/edgbaston.shtml - the Medical School Building is within the blue zone on the university map.
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Further useful information |
Podcast - Interview with David Kuhns, Deputy Programme Lead and practicing US Physician Assistant
Podcast - Interview with Theresa Dowsing, current Physician Assistant student
Frequently asked questions
Department of Health's Competence and Curriculum Framework for Physician Assistants
Article about a real life PA
UK Association of Physician Assistants
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Physician Assistant course at the University of Wolverhampton
Information for students with a disability
Need to print/download a flyer about this course to give to your employer, staff member, colleague or friend? Click here for a flyer about this course. |
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Detailed Description |
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Who is this course for?
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Those holding a life sciences degree and an interest in or experience of working within the health service.
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Aims |
To produce a new cadre of healthcare professionals to meet the needs of the NHS.
Physician Assistants will be an entirely new healthcare role in the UK, working alongside doctors in hospitals and in GP surgeries, although they are a well established profession in the United States. Physician Assistants will support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. They will be trained to perform a number of roles including: taking medical histories, performing examinations, diagnosing illnesses, and analysing test results under the direct supervision of a doctor. The programme is fully compliant with the national Competence and Curriculum Framework published by the Department of Health.
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Benefits of doing this course
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-Be the one of the first people to qualify in the UK in this new and exciting career.
-Earn a starting salary of £29,000 - £38,000 at current levels
-Follow a career path that has already had proven success in the US. There are over 75,000 Physician Assistants practising in the US.
-Pursue a profession that is supported by the NHS and the Department of Health. |
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Course Overview
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The Universities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton are delighted to offer a new opportunity to graduates to make a valuable contribution to the nation's health. The course is devised to train a new healthcare professional in the UK. The development of the profession has been led by the Department of Health and has involved the Royal College of Physicians and General Practitioners. University of Birmingham staff have taken a key role in development at a national as well as a regional level in response to need identified by local healthcare providers. Successful completion of the programme will qualify students to practise in the UK.
The course commenced at the Universities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton in January 2008. This course is two calendar years in duration; the programme compresses three academic years into two, so that three semesters are covered in each 46 week year. The first stage of the programme integrates both theoretical and clinical learning and students experience Medicine and A & E hospital attachments in parallel with the Clinical Sciences module as well as problem-based learning including Community-based Medicine. The rich ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the 5.5 million-strong West Midlands population offers unrivalled opportunities for clinical learning and placements seek to optimise this.
From the first semester, students have contact with patients as they are attached to a General Practice in the West Midlands. The second year continues the problem-based learning approach and integrates mental health in community medicine, and Reproductive and Child Health, as well as A & E and Acute Admissions. Throughout the course, students receive teaching in a variety of forms, lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory work, and bedside demonstrations. To best equip students, the course uses problem-based and case-based learning, clinical skills teaching and supervised clinical experience. The course incorporates clinical skills simulation teaching as core activity to ensure that students are as prepared as possible for the clinical attachments.
Students will sit a national exam at the end of Semester II of the second year, including an Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) paper and an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
Regulation
Some health professions are registered with a dedicated professional body (e.g. GMC and NMC) or with the Health Professions Council. Many others exist for many years before registered status is achieved, being employed by the NHS and others and providing a valuable healthcare service.
This is not yet a registered profession and, whilst national moves towards protected registration are underway, the University cannot guarantee their successful completion. For the time being, the National Physician Assistant Reference Group is acting as the professional body and overseeing a voluntary register.
Reference and Qualification Verification
References and Qualifications will be verified as part of the admissions process. If you are short listed, your references will be contacted to verify that they have supplied a reference. If you are offered a place, this will be subject to checking your original qualification certificate or official transcript.
Disabilities
We welcome applications from people with disabilities. However, the requirements of the Physician Assistant role and of the training mean that candidates must be able to demonstrate certain capacities. It is not possible to omit any part of the curriculum and all students must, therefore, have adequate vision, hearing, mobility, and manual dexterity, and dyslexia must not impair the rapid and accurate reading required in clinical practice. The requirements are explained in more detail in the student Code of Conduct.
Health Requirements
The UK Government Health Authorities require that students working in the clinical area must be screened to ensure that they are not carriers of the Hepatitis B virus.
All applicants who accept an offer will need to:
-Undertake a screening blood test for Hepatitis B
-If negative, start a course of immunisation
-Thereafter provide certified evidence of these.
-Prospective students are strongly advised to take the blood test in good time. Applicants who are Hepatitis B positive or refuse to have a blood test may be refused admission.
Please note: in response to new guidelines published by the Department of Health, students on the University of Birmingham Physician Assistant programme will not be expected to undertake, or be involved in, exposure prone procedures (EPPs).
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Modules |
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Student Profiles |
“The early hospital placements have made me feel right at home, and learning as you work has definitely benefited me. Staff at the hospitals have been extremely helpful and there are always jobs that need doing, new procedures and things to learn.”
Amanda Swann
“One of the good things I like about our program here is that, we get lecturers who are experts in their field of practice. We also get a taste of working in hospital and GP settings very early on in the program. We have dedicated rooms that are equipped for our convenience and assigned mentors from the previous years as support buddies.”
Olubukola Banjoko
“The PA course at Birmingham is one of the most challenging and intense courses I have ever come across. We are well supported on an individual and group basis and continually strive to learn, understand and gain competence in every aspect of the course.”
Dheepika Vadivale
“What attracted me to this course was that it provided opportunities to interact with patients, their families and carers within the first couple of weeks. This early clinical experience, which integrated with the problem based learning sessions within the University setting, made everything seem more real, making learning more relevant and exciting.
I am now on my first hospital placement at Heartlands Hospital in the Medical Assessment Unit. I am thoroughly enjoying the whole experience of being part of the healthcare team and part of a new and developing profession.“
Teresa Dowsing
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