The Maverick magazine is a great way to stay in touch with current events at your alma mater, old classmates and the bright future of Colorado Mesa University.
Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1133083
Provisional accreditation status for the PA program was approved in September 2018 and the Higher Learning Commission final approval came in December 2018. In January 2019, the MPAS program began with 16 students chosen from more than 800 applicants. To be admitted, applicants needed to show a high undergraduate GPA, previous experience in health care and a commitment to community service. On average, admitted students had a GPA of 3.61, 7,000 hours of health care experience and 600 hours of community service. Bronson further explained that while applications were received from across the U.S., priority was given to students with a connection to western Colorado. “Statistically, those students who have roots here are those who will graduate and serve our community,” said Bronson. In addition to studying to become a PA, Tiffany Petersen is president of the CMU MPAS Student Society. Originally from California, she came to CMU to play volleyball and remained in Grand Junction after graduating in 2015. She worked at STRIVE, a local nonprofit, and as a scribe, medical assistant and physical therapy aide in a large medical group. While she had “always” planned on medical school, she decided to become a physician assistant after shadowing a neurological PA at St. Mary’s Hospital. “I fell in love with what being a PA is all about,” Petersen said. “PAs have a role in patient care, including follow-up and longterm care that doctors don’t often have the time to take on. PAs can play a role in a clinic or in the operating room. They can easily go all over the place and switch specialties. Doctors aren’t always able to do that.” Colorado Mesa University’s MPAS curriculum educates students across the spectrum of health care specialties. A rigorous 27-month program, PA school is full-time and year-round. The first 15 months are spent in the classroom, which is similar to medical school. The final 12 months are devoted to rotations, including family medicine, mental health, internal medicine, women’s health, pediatrics, surgery and emergency medicine. “We are able to learn all aspects of medicine and then decide where we want to go,” said Petersen. In February, CMU received a $50,000 grant from Caring for Colorado Foundation to purchase hands-on training equipment for the PA program. The equipment