Postgraduate clinical education of physician assistants

Physician assistant (PA) postgraduate clinical training programs have existed since 1971. There are anecdotal reports of increasing numbers of programs available in the United States, although a reliable means of identifying and tracking such programs has not been available. The purpose of this study was to describe the current state of postgraduate, clinical educational programs for PAs based on defined criteria for study inclusion and to propose the use of these criteria for use by future investigators to determine trends in program development.

All programs potentially meeting the study criteria for postgraduate PA clinical programs, including programs actively enrolling PAs and that provide didactic and clinical instruction of 6 or more months duration, were contacted to participate in an online survey.

A total of 49 programs (42 nonmilitary) programs were included with 22 nonmilitary programs opening for enrollment in or after 2008. Most programs enrolled one or two PAs annually. All respondents of nonmilitary programs indicated that a certificate of completion was provided and no academic credit or degree was offered. A variety of didactic and clinical instructional methods were used. Most sites also provided clinical rotations for PA students, and many required PA residents to participate in student teaching. Although few programs have been accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), most programs are pursuing, or plan to apply for, accreditation.

The results of this survey provide an up-to-date report on the status of PA postgraduate clinical training programs. The investigators recommend future studies use the same criteria for inclusion to establish future trends in program development.