Teaching Provider Wellness and Physician Assistant Student Well-Being

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Student Well-being
• Physician Assistant Studies

Background:

• Physician assistant (PA) programs aim to train competent healthcare providers.
• Student well-being is crucial for academic success and future practice.
• The integration of provider wellness education within PA curricula is an emerging area of interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between student well-being and the teaching of provider wellness in PA programs.
• To identify if specific pedagogical approaches to provider wellness correlate with student well-being outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 3 PA Education Association surveys (2019 Matriculating Student, End of Program Surveys, and Didactic Curriculum Survey).
• Comparison of student-reported well-being across six measures between matriculating and graduating students.
• Generalized estimating equation models used to assess the impact of course structure, instructional mode, and contact hours on end-of-program student well-being.

Main Results:

• Graduating PA students reported statistically significantly lower well-being than matriculating students across most measures.
• No significant associations were found between student well-being and whether PA programs explicitly taught provider wellness.
• Certain instructional factors, such as contact hours, showed inconsistent associations with different well-being measures.

Conclusions:

• Current approaches to teaching provider wellness in PA programs do not appear to be consistently associated with student well-being.
• Further investigation is required to determine effective strategies for promoting wellness among PA students.
• The study highlights a need for evidence-based interventions to support student well-being throughout PA education.