Technical Standards

The purpose of the technical standards is to define the physical, sensory, motor/tactile, cognitive, behavioral, and social abilities required for successful completion of the Physician Assistant curriculum. These standards represent the essential functions that students must be able to perform in order to meet program requirements, achieve learning outcomes, and provide safe and effective patient care.  

Technical standards are distinct from academic standards and describe the essential abilities required to participate in all aspects of the didactic and clinical curriculum. These standards apply to all courses, laboratories, simulations, examinations, clinical experiences, and other program activities and are aligned with the professional competencies expected of entry-level Physician Assistants.  

Students must be able to meet these standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, in accordance with University policy and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The program will work with the University’s Office of Student Accessibility and Resources to determine appropriate accommodations. Accommodations must not fundamentally alter the nature of the curriculum or compromise patient safety, academic integrity, or professional standards. 

Failure to meet the technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, may result in academic action, including deceleration, withdrawal, or dismissal from the program.

Students are responsible for meeting the Technical Standards of the Physician Assistant Program, with or without reasonable accommodation. The standards below identify the essential abilities necessary to participate in the curriculum and to provide safe and effective patient care in academic and clinical environments.

Professional Attributes

Students must demonstrate sound judgment, emotional stability, maturity, empathy, and physical and mental stamina. Students must be able to function effectively in a wide range of didactic and clinical environments and process, retain, analyze, synthesize, and apply large volumes of complex medical information. This includes material that is scientific, legal, ethical, and professional in nature.  

Students must be able to participate in extended periods of classroom instruction, laboratory training, clinical rotations, and independent study. They must demonstrate the ability to think clearly and act appropriately in stressful situations, maintain professional behavior, and work cooperatively with patients, peers, faculty, and members of the healthcare team.

Observation and Sensory Function

Students must be able to acquire and interpret information in both didactic and clinical settings through a variety of sources, including oral presentations, written materials, visual media, demonstrations, and patient encounter. 

Students must possess sufficient visual, auditory, and tactile abilities to perform physical examinations and clinical procedures. This includes the ability to:  

• Observe patients and recognize nonverbal cues.  

• Detect changes in patient condition.  

• Interpret diagnostic findings.  

• Hear and interpret patient speech and clinical sounds.  

• Respond to auditory alarms, verbal instructions, and emergency signals.  

• Use diagnostic equipment such as stethoscopes.  

Students must have adequate motor coordination, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination to perform both fine and gross motor tasks, including emergency interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). 

Students must be able to stand, walk, and move for prolonged periods as required in clinical environments such as surgical services, inpatient settings, and emergency care areas. Classroom and laboratory activities may also require prolonged sitting. 

Sensory abilities, including hearing and vision, may be achieved through the use of assistive technologies or reasonable accommodations, provided the student can perform essential functions safely and effectively and without compromising patient safety.  

Communication

Students must possess the communication skills necessary to effectively, professionally, and respectfully exchange information in academic and clinical settings. Students must be able to:  

• Speak, hear, read, write, and type effectively using appropriate medical terminology, grammar, and professional language.   

• Receive, interpret, and communicate verbal, written, visual, and electronic information accurately and efficiently.   

• Obtain complete and accurate patient histories and communicate clinical findings through oral presentations, written documentation, and electronic health records.   

• Comprehend complex medical literature and communicate medical information in terms appropriate for patients, families, and other healthcare professionals.   

• Perceive and appropriately interpret verbal and nonverbal communication, including facial expressions, body language, affect, and other interpersonal cues.   

• Communicate effectively and respectfully with patients, families, caregivers, faculty, peers, clinical preceptors, and members of the interprofessional healthcare team across diverse backgrounds and clinical settings.  

Reasonable accommodations may include assistive listening devices, amplified or electronic stethoscopes, hearing aids, or other adaptive technologies, provided such accommodations do not compromise patient safety, educational integrity, or essential program requirements.

Intellectual and Conceptual Abilities

Students must possess the intellectual and cognitive abilities necessary to safely acquire, integrate, and apply medical knowledge. This includes the ability to:  

• Read and comprehend medical literature, patient health records, and diagnostic information.   

• Collect, organize, prioritize, analyze, and synthesize complex clinical information.   

• Apply critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and evidence-based decision-making to patient care.   

• Perform accurate calculations, measurements, and interpret clinical data.   

• Recognize patterns, formulate differential diagnoses, and develop appropriate management plans.   

• Comprehend three-dimensional anatomical relationships and the spatial and functional relationships of body structures.   

• Make sound clinical judgments and solve patient care problems within appropriate time constraints.   

• Integrate knowledge across disciplines to meet the Program Competencies and provide safe, effective patient care.

Motor/Tactile Function

Students must possess sufficient motor and tactile function to safely and effectively participate in classroom, laboratory, simulation, and clinical activities and to provide general and emergency medical care to patients. Students must be able to:  

• Directly perform palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers.  

• Reasonably execute movements required to provide general and emergency medical care. These skills require coordination of fine and gross motor skills, equilibrium, and functional sensation.  

• Adhere to universal precaution measures and meet safety standards applicable to inpatient and outpatient settings, laboratories, simulations, and other clinical activities.  

• Manipulate equipment and instruments for the performance of basic laboratory tests, procedures, and physical examinations.  

• Move themselves from one setting to another and physically negotiate the patient care environment in a timely fashion.  

• Demonstrate sufficient physical stamina to complete the rigorous course of didactic and clinical study, including prolonged sitting, standing, walking, moving, and participation in classroom, laboratory, clinical experiences, and examinations as scheduled.  

• Meet clinical site attendance and scheduling requirements, which may include start and stop times, daily work hours up to 12 hours, weekly hours up to 80 hours, and shift work including day, evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday assignments.  

• Students must be able to perform appropriate physical examinations on patients across the lifespan and across diverse patient populations, with or without reasonable accommodation. This includes the ability to use inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other examination techniques necessary to assess patient health status and support safe clinical decision-making.  

• Type effectively

Behavioral and Social Attributes

Students must possess the emotional and psychological stability necessary to safely and effectively participate in the academic and clinical components of the program. 

Students must be able to:  

• Exercise sound judgment, professionalism, integrity, responsibility, and accountability in all academic and clinical settings.   

• Function effectively under stress while managing the physical, emotional, and intellectual demands of graduate medical education and patient care.   

• Maintain attention, concentration, and complete multiple tasks accurately within appropriate time constraints.   

• Adapt to changing environments, uncertain clinical situations, and evolving patient needs with flexibility and resilience.   

• Work collaboratively and professionally with patients, families, faculty, peers, clinical preceptors, and members of the interprofessional healthcare team.   

• Accept constructive feedback and demonstrate the ability to modify behavior and improve performance.   

• Tolerate exposure to illness, trauma, disability, suffering, and end-of-life care while maintaining professional composure and effective patient care.

Accommodation Statement

Completion of this program requires that each student independently demonstrate these  capabilities continuously throughout enrollment. Surrogates cannot be used to accomplish the essential functions outlined above. Students may not have undue dependence on technology or trained intermediaries to meet these standards.  

These abilities must be demonstrated independently and continuously throughout enrollment in the Program. Surrogates may not be used to perform the essential functions of a physician assistant student, although reasonable accommodations may be provided in accordance with applicable law and University policy, provided they do not fundamentally alter the essential requirements of the Program.  

Students who require accommodations must request them through the UT Tyler Student Accessibility and Resource (SAR) Office with University policy.

Assessing Compliance of Essential Functions and Technical Standards

Applicants are required to attest at the time they apply, accept a matriculation offer, and thereafter throughout the program that they are capable of meeting the program’s technical standards with or without reasonable accommodations.  

The student must notify the PA Program Director if there is any change in their ability to meet the technical standards. Inability to meet the technical standards throughout program enrollment may delay or terminate progression and/or enrollment in the program. The program reserves the right to request attestation of a student’s ability to meet technical standards by a health-care provider.   

All students must review and sign the Technical Standards Attestation Form prior to matriculation, indicating their understanding of the standards and their ability to meet them with or without reasonable accommodation. 

Students who require accommodations must request them through the UT Tyler Student Accessibility and Resource (SAR) Office with University policy.

The program will provide reasonable accommodations that do not:

• Fundamentally alter the nature of the curriculum.
• Compromise patient health & safety.
• Compromise academic integrity.
• Interfere with the learning environment of other students
• Lower essential program or professional standards.

Determination of appropriate accommodations will follow the University’s established interactive process.

 

All students must review and sign the Technical Standards Attestation Form prior to matriculation, indicating their understanding of the standards and their ability to meet them with or without reasonable accommodation.

Technical Standards Attestation Form

1. Student-Initiated Accommodation Request
   

   Step	Responsible Party	Action / Outcome
   1. Student initiates request	Student	Contacts the UT Tyler Student Accessibility and Resource (SAR) Office and submits required documentation and accommodation request forms.
   2. University review	Office of Student Accessibility and Resources	Reviews documentation, determines eligibility, engages in the interactive accommodation process, and issues an official accommodation letter if approved.
   3. Program notification	Office of Student Accessibility and Resources / PA Program	Accommodation letter is sent to the Program Director, Academic Director if applicable, and relevant course or clinical faculty. The program does not receive medical details

    

2. Program Review of Accommodation
   

   Step	Responsible Party	Action / Outcome
   4. Essential function review	Program Director and relevant faculty	Review the accommodation request in relation to the Technical Standards, course objectives, clinical requirements, and patient safety considerations.
   5. Determination	Program Director in consultation with University offices as needed	If the accommodation is reasonable and does not alter essential functions, the accommodation is implemented and faculty are notified of required adjustments. If the accommodation may alter essential functions, the Program Director consults with the Office of Student Accessibility, Dean, or institutional counsel as appropriate. Final determination is issued through the University process.

3. Faculty-Identified Technical Standards Concern
   A technical standards concern may arise when a student is struggling functionally rather than academically, or when a concern affects safety, progression, or the ability to complete essential program requirements.

   Step	Responsible Part	Action / Outcome
   6. Concern identified	Faculty, clinical preceptor, or program representative	Concern may arise from faculty observation, clinical preceptor report, safety incident, professionalism or behavioral concern, or inability to perform required technical tasks.
   7. Initial faculty review	Faculty member / Academic Advisor / Program Director	Faculty documents the concern, notifies the Academic Advisor or Program Director, and meets with the student for counseling. Possible outcomes include no action, academic counseling, referral to the UT Tyler Student Accessibility and Resource (SAR) Office, or referral to ASPC.
   8. Referral to Accessibility Office, if appropriate	Program Director / Faculty	If the concern may involve a medical issue, psychological issue, sensory or motor limitation, or learning or cognitive impairment, the student is directed to the UT Tyler Student Accessibility and Resource (SAR) Office.
   9. ASPC review	Academic Student Progress Committee	Reviews student performance, technical standards concerns, accommodation status if any, and safety implications.
   10. Committee recommendation	Academic Student Progress Committee	May recommend continued progression, academic warning, academic probation, learning contract, deceleration, withdrawal, or dismissal.
   11. Final decision	Program Director / Dean as required by institutional policy	Final decision is issued at the program or institutional level as required.

    

4. Student Notification and Appeal
   

   Process Component	Description
   Student notification	The student receives a written decision, rationale, consditions for continuation if applicable, and appeal instructions.
   Appeal process	Appeals follow the applicable UT Tyler institutional apeals process.