Master of Physician Assistant Studies

The Mission

The Master of Physician Assistant Studies is committed to educating outstanding Physician Assistants as generalist medical providers and leaders committed to our communities' service, wellness, and healing. 

Our vision is to teach the knowledge of medicine and the wisdom required for its use. We educate Physician Assistants (PAs) to consider the patient's narrative and personal journey while critically and reflectively thinking about the care provided.

Our Goals 

• To excel in the education and development of our students in the pursuit of their academic goals. 
• To respect and serve our communities' diverse and represented viewpoints. 
• To be identified as the leading source for accurate and comprehensive information on Physician Assistants in Canada. 
• To deliver excellence and outstanding academic support to our communities on Physician Assistant workforce and practice issues.
• To foster the expansion and translation of knowledge related to Physician Assistants into the medical community. 

The Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS)

MPAS is a 25-month Faculty of Graduate Studies professional course-based degree program administered in the Max Rady College of Medicine of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, an academic section in the Department of Family Medicine. The first cohort started in August of 2008 and graduated in September 2010. The Program's Graduates are awarded the Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree at the University's Fall Convocation.

The curriculum emphasizes engagement in our community, appreciating responsibilities for service, and the practice of patient-centred medicine. The approach embraces a spiral curriculum with horizontal integration of topics and revisiting materials at different difficulty and complexity levels. As educators, we have a responsibility to create conditions, provide tools and procedures for helping learners discover their "needs to know." Embracing and accepting the principles of andragogy, MPAS organizes clinical practice applications or Entrustable Professional Activities for the Physician Assistants (EPA-PA) tasks, categories and sequenced according to the learners' readiness to learn.   

The curriculum prepares Physician Assistants, academically and clinically, to function as critical thinkers and medical generalists who practice medicine within a formalized structure with physicians. This structure is influenced by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (CPSM) and the National PA Competency Framework, defining the degree of autonomy required in the collaborative and clinical practice authorization. 

Over 25-months, the curriculum provides intense 86-Credit hours of education. There is a bio-life science concentration in the first semester and a progression to medicine courses in the second and third. Students experience forty-eight weeks of clinical learning opportunities that teach generalist medicine. The Clinical year reinforces core tasks and assesses the progression to Graduate Entry to Practice status using the Entrustable Professional Activities and professional competencies. 

Canadian Physician Assistant education programs produce medical generalists that can adapt to any clinical environment, including primary care, specialty practice, consulting, and hospital-based roles. Following graduation, Physician Assistants (PAs) continue to develop their medical expertise through a commitment to life-long learning and scholarship. In addition to emphasizing the importance of the PA-physician relationship, CanMEDS-PA roles include collaboration, communication, health advocacy, leadership, scholarship, and professionalism.   

PAs are medical care providers with a flexible scope of practice adaptable to any healthcare setting. As medical generalists, PAs deliver clinical services across the healthcare system to different patient populations. The students' clinical rotations occur in diverse clinical environments such as primary care, internal medicine, pediatrics, mental health, surgery, emergency, and other specialty settings. 

MPAS Educational Goals identified in A Competency-Based Approach to Canadian Physician Assistant Education - National Physician Assistant Competency Framework 2021 were approved by the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants in March 2021. 

MPAS Entrustable Professional Activities for Canadian PAs (EPA-PA) 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please direct all inquiry to: MPAS@umanitoba.ca
You will receive a response within 2 business days.

Program Address:

260 Brodie Centre - 727 McDermot Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3E 3P5 

Tel: (204) 272-3094
Fax: (204) 789-3929