The opportunity to lead facilitates PA professional well-being.

Abstract

Physician associates/assistants (PAs) with mature careers represent an important leadership resource for healthcare employers. This study sought to determine whether PA leadership task responsibility interacted with experience level to predict professional well-being. This quantitative study used an archival dataset from a national sample of PAs. The Professional Fulfillment Index was used to measure well-being and career length was used to represent experience level. PA leadership task responsibility was calculated as an aggregate score. Bivariate linear regression with mediation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between variables. An increase in PA experience level predicted higher professional fulfillment and lower burnout, and aggregate leadership task score partially mediated this relationship. Granting leadership task responsibility compatible with experience level may enhance PA professional fulfillment, mitigate burnout, and increase PA usefulness for healthcare employers.