Today’s complicated medical world simply cries out for teamwork. According to a recent poll, on average, caring physicians must limit office visits to 15 minutes but can spend only two or three in face-to-face conversations with patients. When illnesses are increasingly complex, and the enormous cost of healthcare hovers ominously everywhere, the value of well-educated, top-tier physician assistants (PAs) is a no-brainer. Our University has known this for 32 years.

Start with the recognition that there is a shortage or uneven distribution of primary care physicians in this country. Add the fact that doctors have limited time. “I practiced as a busy family physician for more than 20 years,” says Joe Schwenkler, PA, MD, medical director of the program (below), who joined SHRP in 2006, who doesn’t recommend working solo, and who also graduated as a PA in ’78 with Ruth Fixelle, EdM, PA-C, associate director, before attending RWJMS. “The ability to be on a team with physician assistants is key to success in medicine now. The idea behind the innovative curriculum is to get students up to speed in an accelerated approach and out working in offices, hospitals, and operating rooms as soon as possible,” says Schwenkler. Though PAs may be functioning under supervision, keep in mind that they take medical histories, examine patients, order and interpret tests, diagnose, educate patients, handle routine cases, prescribe medicine and conduct hospital rounds. What’s also important in this hectic world is that PAs are able to spend more time with patients, according to Fixelle. Sometimes for a sick patient, that’s a perfect antidote. Why is this program number one? Because professors, who are “incredibly dedicated,” according to one Class of ’99 alum, know immediately when a student is getting off track. “This is a big part of our success,” Fixelle explains.