Actively and Formatively Teaching Statistics To Physician Assistant Students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Although it is unlikely that it is the opportunity to study statistics that attracts physician assistant (PA) students to study medicine, PAs need to have some understanding of the subject for reading the medical literature as well as practicing evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM needs to be taught in all PA programs regardless of the degree offered1 and statistics is an important component of EBM. A key to teaching statistics to PA students is recognizing that knowledge and a primary application of statistics is required in order to read the medical literature. Physician assistant and biostatistics educators agree that health professions students do not need to become statisticians themselves.1,2 Curricular emphasis therefore needs to be placed on interpretation, rather than on computation. Keahey and Goldgar explain, “Our goal is not to train researchers or academicians; it is to train physician assistants who can practice medicine using the most advanced resources available to uncover the best evidence that will help them care for their patients.”1 Even with statistics as a prerequisite to a master's level program, it may be necessary to reteach it as part of a research or EBM course. Statistics tends to be daunting to students, and many have a negative perception of it.3,4 In fact, a specific form of math anxiety—known as “statistics anxiety”—has been identified.3 Furthermore, instructors in PA classrooms traditionally use lecture-based teaching formats, which may not be optimal for this topic.2,3,4 Lastly, instructors are challenged to find ways to address varying levels of student recall of prior learning as well as methods to stimulate and maintain student interest in the topic. We describe the curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment activities employed at Idaho State University to teach statistics within a research/evidence-based medicine course in the first semester of the program. Our goal is to highlight the active and formative nature of assessment in this course and how it enhances the teaching of statistics. The PA program at Idaho State University is a 24-month graduate program. The research/evidencebased medicine course is offered during the first semester, but its topics are threaded throughout the curriculum, culminating in an evidencebased master’s-level case presentation. The primary objective of the course is to build a foundation in EBM. However, the course lays the groundwork for students’ success in the final project and in the program. The goal of the statistics segment of the course is for students to use their knowledge of statistics to critically evaluate medical research literature; for example, to identify what might produce a Type I error and determine the likelihood of its happening. Furthermore, and arguably of greatest import, the skills introduced in the first semester and reinforced The intent of this feature is to present a forum for PA educators to share their approaches to teaching EBM. Areas of interest might include reviews of EBM resources; mini-tutorials in areas such as statistics, epidemiology, and study design; ethical, historical, or philosophical perspectives of EBM; and discussion of practice or technological tools that enhance application of EBM. Prospective authors are encouraged to contact the feature editors to receive approval of topics in advance. Authors desiring to contribute to EvidenceBased Medicine should forward submissions to: