About Us

The Wingate University program is an accredited program. Our faculty strives to meet and surpass these goals:

Provide comprehensive education that ensures graduates possess core knowledge in established and evolving biomedical and clinical sciences and can apply this knowledge to decision-making in clinical practice.
Provide a range of clinical experiences to ensure that graduates have the broad patient exposure necessary to develop essential clinical skills.
Provide graduates with a strong foundation in health information technology, evidence-based medicine, and quality improvement practices aimed at improving the effectiveness and reliability of health processes and outcomes.
Provide instruction and experiences that ensure graduates are prepared to work collaboratively in interprofessional, patient-centered teams

Success in meeting goal:

The PA Program tracks student progress in acquiring seven identified professional competencies to ensure that students are developing the knowledge and skills important to PA practice.
Clinical preceptor evaluations of our students reveal an average percentage of over 90% in each competency.

Wingate University PA Program supports a culture of learning and sharing information gained through practice among clinical year students:

Two elective rotations in the clinical year provide students with unique opportunities for student learning and practical experience in a medical field of interest which build upon the knowledge and skills gained in the didactic year and in completed required clinical rotations. At the end of the Elective I experience, clinical students present interesting cases, in Grand Rounds format, to program faculty and peers that highlight evolving areas and new trends in medicine.
A culminating Capstone Project, requires students to apply knowledge and skills obtained throughout their graduate studies to identify and critically analyze quality improvement initiatives in healthcare aimed at improving the effectiveness and reliability of health processes and outcomes. Students present an oral summation of their Capstone Project to both peers and Wingate PA faculty in their final semester.
Maintain first-time PANCE pass rates at or above the national average.

The details

Our mission

The Wingate University Department of Physician Assistant Studies is dedicated to developing educated, productive and ethical physician assistants to serve the healthcare needs of the community in which they practice.

We also want your experience to be one of active learning. All classes are interactive and students should be prepared to contribute at many levels throughout their time with us. Learning to work in a group dynamic prepares you for organizational and patient situations in your career. We encourage questions and participation now so that you’ll be ready to interact meaningfully in your work.

How we do it

We provide comprehensive didactic instruction that is aligned with NCCPA’s blueprint for each semester. To maintain this, we continually assess and review our curriculum to ensure we meet this goal.
Our training produces clinically competent physician assistants. To ensure this standard, we ask our program preceptors to complete an extensive survey at the end of rotation examinations.
We support a culture of learning and sharing information gained through practice for our clinical year students. We maintain this by assessing the elective rotations, capstone presentations and the interdisciplinary assignments for 8 of 10 required rotations.
We strive to maintain first-time PANCE pass rates at or above the national average for our graduates.
Student Attrition Information

Accreditation

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Wingate University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Wingate University. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be September 2024. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-wingate-university/

SACSCOC Accreditation

Wingate University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters and doctorate degrees. Questions about the accreditation of Wingate University may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website (www.sacscoc.org).

Licensing

Each state has its own individual licensing boards along with their own Physician Assistant licensure requirements. The master’s degree program in Physician Assistant Studies at Wingate University is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), and by virtue of that accreditation, its graduates are eligible to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE). As of August 2020, all 50 states require graduation from an ARC-PA accredited program and certification following the successful completion of the PANCE as conditions for initial PA licensure. We cannot confirm that the program meets any additional requirements for professional licensure in states other than North Carolina and students seeking licensure outside of North Carolina should click here for information regarding state licensure specific to individual states throughout the U.S.

Questions?

If you have general questions about the program, or want to see how ours compares to other physician assistant programs, please reach out to us by emailing pa@wingate.edu or call JoAnn Smith at 704-233-8051.