In 2015, the Yale University Corporation supported the creation of an online physician assistant program with a blended curriculum and appointed James Van Rhee, MS, PA-C as the first Program Director for the Yale Physician Assistant Online Program. After receiving Provisional Accreditation from ARC-PA, the Yale PA Online Program admitted its first cohort of students in 2017.
The Yale PA Online Program prepares patient-focused clinicians who can choose to learn in their own communities. The program blends online classes and coursework with in-person clinical rotations and three immersions on the Yale campus, so students can earn a degree from Yale School of Medicine without relocating.
The 28-month program begins each January, and includes a 12-month didactic phase, and a 16-month clinical phase. The didactic year curriculum utilizes Problem-Based Learning, allowing students to learn from real patient cases and develop their clinical reasoning skills. During the didactic year, students complete the Clinical Experience in Early Didactic (CEED) gaining 120+ hours of direct patient care experience prior to beginning their clinical year. Additional learning opportunities include Virtual Interprofessional Education, which allows our students to learn from students in other health professions programs from seven different institutions.
Throughout the Yale PA Online Program, students have access to Sharecare YOU, an immersive, photorealistic software. When teaching select organ systems, traditional lecture content is supplemented with faculty conducting interactive demonstrations using Sharecare YOU. Students can continue studying on their own with the software, by manipulating, dissecting, and traveling inside the virtual organs. Organs are viewable in their healthy and diseased states, allowing for direct and detailed comparison.
Students can get involved in the Student Society, and several student-led Student Interest Groups. The Student Interest Groups currently offered include Global Health, Wilderness Medicine, Point of Care Ultrasound, Veterans, and Future Educators. Additionally, our students serve in national and regional leadership positions.
To learn more about the Yale Physician Assistant Online Program, visit our website or our social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube).
