Flipped Classrooms in Physician Assistant Education.

Abstract

This study assessed the impact of flipped classrooms on physician assistant (PA) students' performance and opinions. Students completed quizzes and an opinion survey in Genetics, Human Pathophysiology (HPP), Clinical Medicine (CM) (n = 105) and Physical Exam (PE) (n = 98) courses. In Genetics and PE, the quiz scores were significantly higher for flipped classrooms (Genetics 95.00 ± 6.56; PE 83.09 ± 11.47) compared to the traditional lectures (Genetics 90.00 ± 10.53; PE 55.43 ± 16.66). In HPP, students performed better with traditional lectures (86.54 ± 8.82) compared to the flipped classrooms (75.12 ± 8.54). In CM, students' gain score was significantly higher for flipped classrooms (37.85 ± 16.73) than for traditional lectures (20.97 ± 15.55). The opinion surveys showed that the students surveyed preferred traditional lectures over flipped classrooms in Genetics (4.58 ± 0.46 vs. 2.29 ± 0.71) and HPP (4.14 ± 0.35 vs. 2.09 ± 0.53). Flipped classrooms improved the quality of learning in courses that deliver a hands-on skill or use case-based scenarios. They may not be an ideal choice for courses that require explanation of intricate scientific concepts.