Physician Associate

As well as working in the NHS in primary or acute care services, you could use your qualification as a springboard into other careers.

These include:

• public health
• management
• teaching in further or higher education
• clinical research
• health promotion
• overseas aid and development
• voluntary organisations.

We want you to be a step ahead when you graduate, so we offer:

• courses designed with employers
• tutors with professional industry knowledge
• hands-on learning which may include industry-led projects, placements or Professional Experience modules.

Alongside your course, there are lots of other opportunities to build your skills and experience:

• add value to your CV with an ARU Certificate of Professional Development
• get involved in a thriving volunteering programme
• develop your brilliant business ideas
• work with businesses to make a social impact.

We’re here to help you develop your CV and find that all-important role after graduation. Our Employability Service offers tailored career appointments, advice on writing your CV, help to complete job applications, and much more. You’ll have 24/7 access to an online Careers Centre too, which is packed with useful resources.

The support continues after you graduate, with lifelong access to our Alumni Career Centre.

Find out more about careers support at ARU.

This is a practical course and you’ll spend 50% of your time on placement.

In Year 1 you’ll study in the School of Medicine, on our campus in Chelmsford. You’ll also go on weekly placements in GP surgeries.

In Year 2, you’ll follow a programme of clinical placements (‘rotations’) in general practice, hospital wards and outpatient settings across the East of England. Most of your time is spent on placement, returning to university for two-week blocks of teaching. Clinical specialties include:

• community-based medicine
• general hospital medicine
• front door medicine (A&E)
• mental health
• general surgery
• obstetrics and gynaecology
• paediatrics in an acute setting.

While on clinical rotations, you'll be supervised by a medical practitioner and supported by a multidisciplinary health care team.

Placement areas
In your first year you’ll study at ARU in Chelmsford and undertake weekly GP placements in and around Essex.

In your second year you’ll spend most of the year on clinical rotations. You could be placed in the following hospitals:

• Basildon Hospital, Basildon
• Princess Alexandra, Harlow
• Southend Hospital, Southend
• Colchester Hospital, Colchester
• Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford
• Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridge
• Peterborough City Hospital, Peterborough

It’s worth considering how you might travel to placements and manage the cost involved. You'll be responsible for funding your travel to all of your placements, but may be eligible for a Master’s Loan to support day-to-day expenses. Find out more about postgraduate student funding.

We use a range of assessment methods to check your progress during your studies and to make sure that you meet the required standards to register for practice as a physician associate. They include:

• theoretical essays
• simulated clinically orientated objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)
• multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and single best answer (SBA) exams

Your placement will be assessed by a Practice Assessment Document (PAD).

Although they vary, our assessment strategies are all carefully designed to challenge you. You'll expand your critical and creative thinking as well as your problem-solving and skills for clinical practice.