PA Technical Standards 

Kettering College physician assistant students must meet the technical standards of Kettering College and the PA program. The standards will be distributed to each applicant selected for an interview; if accepted, the student will be required to sign a statement affirming that they have read, understood, and are able to comply with each of the standards.

Technical standards, as distinguished from academic standards, refer to the physical, cognitive, and behavioral abilities required for satisfactory completion of curriculum. The essential required abilities include motor, sensory, communicative, intellectual, behavioral, and social aspects.

Technical Standards for all Students

Kettering College technical standards for all students include the ability to:

1. Think critically with sound judgment, emotional stability, maturity, empathy, and physical and mental stamina.
2. Learn and function in a variety of didactic and clinical settings.
3. Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, using appropriate grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.
4. Immediately comprehend and respond to auditory instructions or requests.
5. Think clearly and act calmly in stressful situations.
6. Perform a clinical experience up to 12 hours long in a single 24-hour period.
7. Work cooperatively, preserving relationships with other members of the health care team.
8. Perform fine and gross motor skills with both hands.
9. Apply adequate pressure to stop bleeding.
10. Perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Technical Standards for Graduate Students

The mission of the Kettering College PA program is to provide, in a Christian environment, the academic and clinical experience necessary to develop competent, empathetic professional health care providers who are dedicated to lifelong learning. In order to become a competent PA health care provider, the student, in addition to meeting academic and other entry requirements, must be able to demonstrate skills in the areas described below:

1. Observation/sensation: Students must be able to acquire information in all didactic and clinical settings through sources including but not limited to oral presentation, written material, visual media, and live presentations/demonstrations. Students must possess function of visual, tactile, and auditory senses in order to perform necessary skills for physical examination.
2. Communication: Students must be able to effectively communicate, both verbally and in writing, at a level consistent with graduate-level work, using proper English grammar, spelling, and vocabulary, which is needed both for patient evaluation and documentation. Additionally, students must communicate in a professional manner to all patients and their families, peers, and other members of a health care team.
3. Intellectual-conceptual abilities: Students must be able to think critically, with sound judgment, in order to understand, assess, and solve clinical problems. This includes the ability to collect, organize, prioritize, reason, analyze, integrate, learn, and retain information, often in a limited time frame. Students must also be able to comprehend two- and three-dimensional structures and understand spatial relationships of structures.
4. Motor functions: Students must possess the necessary motor skills to perform a physical examination, maneuver instruments or diagnostic tools, and perform medical procedures. Students must have the physical capabilities, strength, and stamina to sit, stand, and move within classroom, laboratory, and clinical areas including but not limited to examination rooms, treatment rooms, and surgical suites for long periods of time.
5. Behavioral/social aspects: Students must demonstrate psychological and emotional stability at a level necessary to deliver sound patient care in all settings and to interact with interdisciplinary health care teams. Students must be able to tolerate physical, emotional, and intellectual stress during the educational period while responding appropriately and professionally and tolerate physically taxing workloads.