Physician assistant students' attitudes towards a clinical doctoral degree

The introduction of clinical doctorate degrees in several health professions has fueled the debate about an entry-level clinical doctorate in the physician assistant profession. However, there is limited knowledge of the attitudes of physician assistant students toward obtaining a clinical doctorate.

All 147 accredited physician assistant programs in the United States were invited to participate in a Web-based survey conducted in January 2010; physician assistant students in any program year were eligible to participate. The survey examined physician assistant students' attitudes towards (a) enrolling in a clinical doctorate program, (b) additional schooling time, (c) monetary costs, and (d) perceived benefits of a clinical doctorate. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine differences in survey item responses and composite variables.

From 37 states and 53 physician assistant programs, 1815 physician assistant students completed the survey and 1658 were included in this analysis. Nearly half (49.8%) of the responding physician assistant students overall had a positive attitude toward a clinical doctorate degree. More respondents favored than opposed enrolling in a clinical doctorate program if schooling time were an additional 12 months or less (55.5% vs 29.9%, P < .0001) and additional costs were between 20% and 29% of current expenditure (44.8% vs 36.4%, P < .0001). More than half (56.2%) of the physician assistant students considered perceived benefits (composite variable) as a reason to obtain a clinical doctorate.

This large study comprising more than one-third of physician assistant programs and representing 80% of the US states with physician assistant programs finds that physician assistant students' interest in enrolling in a clinical doctorate program may be dependent on additional school time and monetary costs.