Throughout the year we have Physician Associate (PA) students from Sheffield universities undertaking placements in General Medicine, General Surgery, A&E, Child Health and Women’s Health.  

The students are working towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Physician Associate Studies, which is a two year course. They will complete 1,600 hours of clinical placement during the 2 year course, in hospital, mental health, primary care and general practice.
 
After successfully completing these courses, the students are able to apply for a Physician Associate post, joining a growing body of Physician Associates in rich and varied employment across the UK.

You can read more about the role of a Physician Associate on the Physician Associate Faculty website (from the Royal College of Physicians). 

Please direct any enquiries to:
Sarah Hicks - Medical Undergraduate Co-ordinator: sarah.hicks11@nhs.net
Kay Jaques - Medical Undergraduate Manager: kjaques@nhs.net, or
Dr Thomas-Kattappurathu, lead for PA students at Rotherham, george.thomas-kattappurathu@nhs.net

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The following suggestions have been made by PA students on clinical attachments in Rotherham, which future students might find helpful:

• Come in for an hour before ward round to be prepared.
• AMU: spend time with the F1 on call watching them clerking patients prior to ward round.
• Ask F1 if they can then clerk patients together e.g. students ask the questions while the F1 supervises and writes in notes, F1 can then pitch in if needs to.
• Before students start get advice from the F1’s – what would be useful jobs for the PA’s to do.

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