Trine, Lutheran Hospital partner to develop physician assistant program

ANGOLA, Ind. – Trine University is partnering with Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne to

develop a physician assistant program. The master-level program will be offered by
Trine's School of Health Sciences, which was started last year.

"Trine's School of Health Sciences is proud to partner with Lutheran Hospital to
cultivate a physician assistant program that will help meet the growing need for these
healthcare professionals," Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., Trine president, said. "We're
confident we can extend our tradition of generating work-ready graduates to a new
program for physician assistants."

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (arc-pa.
org) plans an accreditation review of Trine's evolving program. Plans are for the new
physician assistant (PA) program to offer specialties in orthopedics, cardiology, trauma
and emergency.

Physician assistants, PAs, often treat minor injuries, instruct and counsel patients and
order or carry out therapy. The practitioners typically need a master's degree from an
accredited education program and earning the degree usually takes at least two years
of full-time postgraduate study, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

In Indiana, ARC-PA has accredited three entry-level PA programs and given provisional
accreditation to a fourth program. Indiana has no accredited clinical postgraduate PA
programs. The accrediting agency "protects the interests of the public and physician
assistant profession by defining the standards for physician assistant education and
evaluating physician assistant educational programs within the territorial United States
to ensure their compliance with those standards," according to the agency's website.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 38 percent job growth for PAs through 2022.
That's compared to a projected 20 percent growth for all health diagnosing and
treating practitioners and a projected 11 percent growth for all occupations during the
same time.

In November 2013, Trine and Parkview Health announced its partnership to offer the
Doctor of Physical Therapy program, which is scheduled to begin this fall. The program
is also offered by the School of Health Sciences and Trine is accepting applications for
admission. 

---

Graduation from a physical therapist education program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 1111 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; phone, 703-706-3245; accreditation@apta.org is necessary for eligibility to sit for the licensure examination, which is required in all states.

Trine University is seeking accreditation of a new physical therapist education program from CAPTE. The program will submit an Application for Candidacy, which is the formal application required in the preaccreditation stage. Submission of this document does not assure that the program will be granted Candidate for Accreditation status. Achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status is required prior to implementation of the professional phase of the program; therefore, no students may be enrolled in professional courses until Candidate for Accreditation status has been achieved. Further, though achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status signifies satisfactory progress toward accreditation, it does not assure that the program will be granted accreditation.