Institutional Accreditation: Perspectives on Transitioning to an Entry-Level Professional Doctoral Degree for...

The PA Education Association (PAEA) formed a Doctoral Education Commission to advance PAEA's strategy on physician assistant/associate (PA) doctoral education. One of the Commission's objectives is to examine the readiness of the profession to transition to an entry-level professional doctorate.

The Commission interviewed 6 institutional accrediting (IA) agencies, administering a set of 15 standardized questions to each. These questions were provided to the IA representatives in advance of their scheduled interviews with the Commission chairs and PAEA staff. Five of the 6 interviews were recorded, with one agency opting to decline recording. The researchers subsequently reviewed, compared, and contrasted the responses, identifying prevailing themes and points of divergence.

Themes included leaving curriculum decisions to the sponsoring institutions, states, credentialing bodies, or specialty accreditors. The organizations gave no minimum requirements for the length of a doctoral program compared with a master's. The groups agreed the experiential phase of PA education should be modeled with professional competencies and aligned with the programs' goals. There were no prescriptive guidelines regarding admissions criteria. Two organizations described the need for transparency with applicants. Scholarship expectations for faculty should align with broader institutional accreditation standards. Institutional accreditors expect terminal degrees for doctoral faculty but allow for institution-level flexibility in justifying qualifications based on expertise and contributions to the field.

Physician assistant/associate program understanding of the organizational accrediting requirements is critical when considering a change from a master's to an entry-level doctoral degree. The importance of transparency in this process with all stakeholders is essential.