Program Goals
The Augsburg PA Program aims to accomplish the following goals:
GOAL #1: The Augsburg University Physician Associate Program prepares graduates to demonstrate entry-level clinical competence as demonstrated by performance on the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE).
Benchmark:
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- First-time PANCE pass rate at or above the national average over a rolling three-year period
- Augsburg cohort mean scores at or above the national mean in the majority of NCCPA organ systems and task areas
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Metrics:
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- NCCPA Program Data Reports
- NCCPA National Summary Reports
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STATUS (01/2026): The program is meeting this goal. Multi-year NCCPA data demonstrate continued improvement in first-time PANCE pass rates, with the Class of 2025 achieving a 100% first-time pass rate, exceeding the national average. Improvements followed identification of a cohort-specific decline in earlier years and implementation of targeted curricular revisions, enhanced academic monitoring, and structured PANCE preparation strategies. The program will continue to monitor rolling multi-year trends to ensure sustained effectiveness.
GOAL #2: Augsburg University Physician Associate students and faculty will model professional responsibility through sustained participation in civic, leadership, and community engagement activities.
Benchmarks:
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- 100% of matriculated Physician Associate students participate in at least one civic, leadership, or community engagement activity during enrollment
- 100% of program faculty participate annually in at least one civic, leadership, or community engagement activity
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Metrics:
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- Program-sponsored participation documentation
- Faculty and student activity logs maintained by the program
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STATUS (01/2026): The program is meeting this goal. All recent cohorts demonstrate full student participation in community engagement activities, and all faculty participate annually in service, leadership, or civic initiatives aligned with the program mission.
GOAL #3:The Augsburg University Physician Associate Program will support timely student progression and retention through effective academic monitoring, remediation, and student support processes.
Benchmarks:
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- Program attrition rate at or below the national average
- At least 95% of students requiring remediation progress successfully within expected program timelines
- At least 95% of students graduate within the expected program length
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Metrics:
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- Annual attrition reports with documented reasons
- Remediation tracking data
- Time-to-graduation data
- Student progression records
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STATUS (01/2026): The program is meeting this goal. Attrition remains low, graduation rates remain high, and remediation and deceleration are used appropriately as supportive strategies to promote student success. Ongoing review of progression data allows the program to assess the effectiveness of student support processes and make refinements as needed.
Learning Outcomes and Competencies
Competence of the Augsburg PA Learning Outcomes for each student is assessed across program curriculum and confirmed through summative evaluation (End of Curriculum Exam and OSCE) prior to graduation. These are the program required competencies for entry level practice, as defined by the PA profession:
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Medical Knowledge:
Demonstrate core knowledge about established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care. In addition, students are expected to demonstrate an investigative and analytic thinking approach to clinical situations. -
Interpersonal and Communication Skills:
Demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange with patients, patients’ families, physicians, professional associates, and other individuals within the healthcare system. -
Clinical and Technical Skills:
Demonstrate patient care and education that is effective, safe, high quality, equitable and focuses on disease prevention. -
Professional Behaviors:
Demonstrate a high level of responsibility, ethical practice, sensitivity to a diverse patient population, and adherence to legal and regulatory requirements. -
Clinical Reasoning and Problem Solving Abilities:
Demonstrate the ability to compile, appraise and integrate evidence based medicine outcomes and apply to diagnostic studies, clinical interventions and therapeutic effectiveness.
PA NATIONAL CERTIFYING EXAMINATION (PANCE)
Augsburg PA has a proven track record of success, and graduates of our PA program consistently pass the PA National Certifying Exam (PANCE) at a rate that is at or higher than the national average. Our current 5 year average for first-time takers is 91.4% and 98.8% overall 5 Year Pass Average.
Final PANCE outcomes for the cohort of 2025 are pending and updated regularly.
See Augsburg’s Full PANCE Results (PDF)
ARC-PA Student Attrition and Graduation Rates
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| Maximum entering class size (as approved by ARC-PA) |
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| Entering class size | |||
| Graduates | |||
| *Attrition rate | |||
| **Graduation Rate | |||
*Attrition rate calculation: Number of students who attritted from cohort divided by the entering class size.
**Graduation rate: Number of cohort graduates divided by the entering class size.
(One student decelerated from Class of 2021, graduated with Class of 2023)