Physician Associate Studies

If you have any queries or questions about the Physician Associate Studies programme or require placement related support, please contact a member of the programme support team.

Programme Contacts

Dr. Lara Menon

• Programme lead/Secondary care placements.
• Email: Lara.Menon@uwe.ac.uk

James Willis

• Senior Lecturer/Primary care placements.
• Email: James5.Willis@uwe.ac.uk 

Placement team

Timothy Porter

• Health Placement Team Leader
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 81153
• Email: Timothy.Porter@uwe.ac.uk

Lelia Barascu

• Placement Coordinator
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 81098
• Email: Lelia.Barascu@uwe.ac.uk

Academic year 2022/23

Physician Associate placement dates for all cohorts are below.

Year 1 students (August 2022 intake):

• Primary Care 1: 24 October to 28 October 2022 (1 week total).
• Primary Care 2: 9 January to 3 February 2023 (4 weeks total).
• Secondary Care 1: 24 April to 19 May 2023 (4 weeks total).
• Primary Care 3: 5 May to 23 June 2023 (3 weeks total).
• Primary Care 4: 3 July to 22 July 2023 (3 weeks total).

Year 2 students (August 2021 intake):

• Secondary Care 1: 3 October to 16 December 2022 (11 weeks total).
• Secondary Care 2: 13 February to 31 March 2023 (7 weeks total).
• Primary Care 1: 24 April to 12 May 2023 (3 weeks total).
• Secondary Care 3: 22 May to 28 July 2023 (10 weeks total).

View programme information:

• MSc Physician Associate Studies programme overview

Course dates

Physician Associate course dates (sorted by term) for all cohorts are below.

• Term 1: 22 August to 16 December 2022.
• Term 2: 2 January to 31 March 2023.
• Term 3: 17 April to 28 July 2023.

Other important dates

Please note: on these dates students may be expected to attend events which take place on campus for their learning and development.

• National PA Conference: Date TBC.
• Regional Student Conference, arranged by south west physician associate network (SWPAN): Date TBC.
• Assessment Dates (which potentially could be on days in placement): Assessment Dates 2022/23
• Major incident – Table Top Exercise: Date TBC.
• Major incident – simulation day: Date TBC.
• Public inquiry – court simulation day: Date TBC.

• Student login: UWE ARC POW (Placements on the Web)
• Placement provider login: UWE ARCPEP (Placement Environment Profile and Audit)

Student Learning Objectives

Whilst on placement, students will be expected to develop their knowledge and understanding of the medical and surgical specialties as outlined below. The minimum placement hours required to complete the placement is indicated in parenthesis.

Please follow the hyperlinks to find quick guide summaries of the specific placement requirements for each specialty:

• Primary Care/Community Medicine (510 Hours): Primary Care Learning Objectives
• General Hospital Medicine (350 Hours): General Medicine Learning Objectives
• Front Door Medicine, including Acute and Emergency Medicine and Critical Care (180 Hours): Emergency ('Front Door') Medicine Learning Objectives
• Surgery, including General and Specialties (90 Hours): General Surgery Learning Objectives
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology (90 Hours): Obstetrics and Gynaecology Learning Objectives
• Mental Health (90 Hours): Mental Health Learning Objectives
• Paediatrics (90 Hours): Paediatrics Learning Objectives

Student Appearance

Whilst on placement students will be expected to adhere to the following guidance on appearance:

• UWE student Physician Associate name badge and either UWE-branded or Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA) branded lanyard.
• UWE branded ‘Caribbean blue’ scrubs. If these are unavailable, then students are permitted to wear trust/placement provider-approved scrubs, or smart professional attire (when working in primary care).
• Comfortable, clean, work appropriate footwear.
• Professional standards of personal hygiene are expected at all times.

• This will be updated as the academic year progresses.

Find out more about supporting, supervising and assessing students in practice.