Clinical Rotations

The clinical phase is 12 months in length. Eight six-week clinical rotations are conducted at a variety of clinical sites. Five weeks of the clinical rotation are spent on site, and one week is spent on campus for exams, lectures, board preparation, and course work. The rotation specialties include Emergency Medicine, Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Behavioral Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and an elective of the student’s choice.

Clinical sites are recruited by the Program’s Clinical Coordinator and personnel from the Area Health Education Center (AHEC).  Sites offer the students the widest possible variety of clinical experiences for that specific clinical rotation (course) and service delivery system. Students are not required to supply their own clinical sites or preceptors for clinical rotations.   Sites for rotations will be determined by the department. Alternate site rotations selected by the student are welcome. In order to qualify for rotations outside of South University sites, or in student selected sites, a student must demonstrate successful academic, clinical, and professional progress.

The South University PA Program immunization policy is aligned with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Personnel Vaccination Recommendations for health professionals. After acceptance into the Program, but before registration can be successfully completed, all students must complete the South University Immunization Verification and the Statement of Health Form. Be aware that additional immunizations may be required by some clinical training sites and are the students’ responsibility. If students choose not to be vaccinated, they will not be allowed to rotate at clinical sites that require immunizations unless expressly permitted in writing to the Program by the physician preceptor at that site. If any of the core (required) rotations cannot be completed because the student voluntarily chose not to be vaccinated as required by the clinical rotation site, the student will not be eligible for graduation from the PA program. In addition, if the number of clinical sites available to students who have not been vaccinated does not meet graduation requirements, those students will not be eligible for graduation from the PA program.

Physicians, physician assistants, and other health care providers serve as preceptors for clinical students in direct patient care, providing the opportunity for the student to perfect technical and procedural skills, and to become competent in communication, physical diagnosis, succinct recording and reporting, problem assessment, and development of a logical approach to further studies and therapy.

Our students rotate in busy clinics, private physician offices, teaching hospitals, large institutions, and military hospitals and clinics. Rotations exist in small Georgia towns and huge metropolitan cities. We send our students out to underserved areas in the heights of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia and in the most rural areas of Southwest Georgia and Middle Georgia, and into our own underserved urban clinics here in Savannah. Our students are offered a wide variety of experiences and locations for their clinical rotations, thus rounding out the application of knowledge and skills to actual patient care.