Do Physician Assistant Professional Doctorate Missions and Learning Outcomes Align With the Physician Assistant Professional Competencies?

Abstract

Introduction There are little published data about curricula of physician assistant (PA) postprofessional doctoral programs. This study examined current mission statements and learning outcomes for common and emerging themes aligned with the PA professional competencies. Methods This qualitative study examined postprofessional doctoral programs that matriculated PAs as of December 2023. Program web sites were analyzed for mission or purpose statements and learning outcomes. Open coding of the PA professional competencies generated a final code list. Mission and purpose statements and learning outcomes were uploaded into ATLAS.ti and compared with the code list for common and emerging themes. Investigator triangulation confirmed themes. Results Twenty-two programs had mission statements on their websites. The most identified competency theme was the development of leadership skills (64%). Sixteen programs had learning outcomes for 30 concentrations. The most common competency themes in the concentrations' learning outcomes included knowledge/evidence (50%), leadership (40%), and communication (37%). Emerging themes comprised engaging in scholarly activity (29%) and performing research (37%). Discussion Because leadership was the most common theme in mission or purpose statements and learning outcomes, additional leadership training appears to be an area of focus for postprofessional PA programs. Despite common themes across the programs, there appears to be diversity in the areas of content focused on meeting the program's prospective students' needs more than alignment with the competencies. Including research and scholarly activity within postprofessional doctoral programs raises the question of whether this is an emerging area of focus that should be included in the PA professional competencies.