Preceptor requirements by specialty
The information and document links below contain the learning objectives, minimum required experiences for students and preceptor qualifications for each rotation specialty. Evaluation forms for each rotation specialty are also available for download.
This is an 8-week rotation designed to educate students about the diagnosis, management, and treatment of health problems and preventative care across the lifespan in the primary care setting. Students will learn to address acute, chronic, routine, and preventative medical issues in this patient population. This rotation may include inpatient as well as outpatient settings and will expose students to different social and economic factors encountered in a community-based patient population. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures. Each student will complete this rotation course two times during the clinical year, at different clinical locations, to provide students with a range of experiences in the family medicine setting.
Family Medicine Preceptor Requirements & Objectives
This is a 4-week rotation designed to educate students about the diagnosis, management, and treatment of health problems and preventative care of adult and elderly patients. This rotation may include inpatient as well as outpatient settings and will expose students to different social and economic factors encountered in a community-based patient population. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
This is a 4- week rotation designed to give students an introduction to the evaluation and management of surgical patients. Students will spend time in both the inpatient (hospital and operating rooms) and outpatient (clinic) environments and will work with patients seeking pre-, intra-, and post-operative care and counseling. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
This is a 4- week rotation designed to give students an introduction to the evaluation and management of behavioral and mental health conditions. This rotation may include inpatient as well as outpatient settings and will expose students to different social and economic factors encountered in a community-based patient population. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
This is a 4- week rotation designed to educate students about the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of emergency, urgent, and non-urgent medical problems that present to the emergency department. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
This is a 2- week rotation designed to educate students about the preventative care, diagnosis, management, and treatment of health problems in women’s health. Students will learn to address acute, chronic, routine, and preventative medical issues in this patient population. Students will provide prenatal and gynecologic care to patients. This rotation may include inpatient as well as outpatient settings and will expose students to different social and economic factors encountered in a community-based patient population. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
This is a 2- week rotation designed to educate students about the diagnosis, management, and treatment of health problems and preventative care of pediatric patients, including the newborns, infants, children, and adolescents. Students will learn to address acute, chronic, routine, and preventative medical issues in this patient population. This rotation may include inpatient as well as outpatient settings and will expose students to different social and economic factors encountered in a community-based patient population. Students will work with clinical preceptors and the Director of Clinical Education to coordinate adequate student exposure to minimum requirements for diagnoses and procedures.
Students will work with the Director of Clinical Education to select from a variety of specialty and sub-specialty practice sites.
Accreditation
The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Northwestern College Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Northwestern College. 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 2034. 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 https://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-historynorthwestern-college/.