Technical Standards

Successful completion of the Physician Assistant Program requires students to have the ability to perform certain mental and physical tasks, with or without reasonable accommodations. Hofstra University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local requirements regarding applicants and students with disabilities. Hofstra University maintains two programs to coordinate the provision of services to applicants and students with disabilities. The Program for the Higher Education of the Disabled (PHED) provides services to students with physical and psychological disabilities. Among the services provided to eligible students are: counseling (both personal and academic), priority registration, test administration services, reader/writer/attendant referral, interpreters, and liaison with sponsoring agencies. In addition, the Hofstra University Program for Academic Learning Skills (PALS) offers comprehensive support services to students with learning disabilities and ADHD.

Physician assistants deliver health care in a variety of settings to diverse patient populations. The role of the Physician assistant demands intelligence, sound judgment, appropriate interpersonal skills and the capacity to react to emergencies in a calm and reasoned manner. Physician assistants and physician assistant students must be able to collect and analyze data, perform diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers and solve problems all in the course of providing patient care.

Required mental and physical abilities fall into five major categories: observation, communication, motor, intellectual and behavioral/social.

OBSERVATION
PA students must be able to observe in lecture-learner, laboratory and patient care settings. Sensory skills required to perform complete physical examinations utilizing inspection, percussion, palpation and auscultation include adequate vision, hearing and tactile sensation.

COMMUNICATION
PA students must be able to record and communicate patient information in a timely and effective manner to other members of the health care team.

MOTOR
PA students must be able to perform therapeutic and diagnostic procedures in addition to negotiating various health care environments, such as outpatient facilities, laboratories and hospitals. The didactic phase of the program requires extended sitting, in contrast to the clinical phase which requires extended standing and moving about various clinical facilities.

INTELLECTUAL
PA students must be able to sustain attention, calculate, reason, analyze, assimilate and recall information. Correlating information to arrive at a reasonable clinical conclusion in a timely fashion is a basic tenet of clinical practice. With rapidly expanding avenues of clinical information, the ability to extract valid, useful and relevant information from the medical literature is also required.

BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL ATTRIBUTES
PA students must be able to relate and perform professionally in a work environment with other members of the health care team. In addition, recognizing limitations, demonstrating concern for patients and exercising good judgment are also required attributes.

For general information about support services for students with disabilities, contact:

Karin J. Spencer, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Advisement
Coordinator of PHED
202 Davison Hall
110 Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York 11549-1100
Voice: (516) 463-6972
TTY: (516) 463-5108

For information about support services for students with learning disabilities, contact:

Linda DeMotta
Director of PALS
202 Roosevelt Hall
130 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1300
Voice: (516) 463-5840