Academic Integrity Across Physician Assistant Programs in the United States.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Academic integrity is crucial for maintaining professional standards in healthcare education.
• Physician Assistant (PA) programs are essential for training future healthcare providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey and describe the current state of academic integrity within United States physician assistant (PA) programs.
• To establish baseline data on how academic integrity is addressed in PA education.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive survey was developed with demographic and academic integrity-focused questions.
• The survey was distributed to program directors of fully and provisionally accredited PA programs nationwide.

Main Results:

• 110 out of 171 surveyed PA programs responded.
• 86.14% of programs have honor codes, with most in place for over 10 years.
• 25.45% of program directors view academic integrity as a problem, though nearly half express little to no concern.

Conclusions:

• This study provides foundational data on academic integrity practices in PA programs.
• Future work will focus on developing evidence-based recommendations for PA programs to enhance academic integrity.