White Ryan D, Coplan Bettie, Quincy Brenda, Banning Adrian, Gillette Chris, Wright Matthew, Toussaint Michele, Multak Nina, Warner Mary
Ryan D. White, PhD, PA-C, is an Assistant Professor and Director, Clinical Site Development and Practice at the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Practice, Rutgers School of Health Professions and is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior, Society, and Policy at the Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey.
Bettie Coplan, PhD, PA-C, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, College of Health and Human Services, at Northern Arizona University, Phoenix, Arizona.
J Physician Assist Educ. 2025 Apr 11;36(3):e253-e261. doi: 10.1097/JPA.0000000000000673.
Diversity within the health professions workforce can improve patient satisfaction and enhance team productivity. As the physician assistant (PA) profession grows, PA educational programs have struggled to achieve greater diversity. Recent literature identified top performing PA programs in achieving diverse student cohorts. This study examined the associations between PA program characteristics and successful recruitment and graduation of students from underrepresented minority (URM) groups.
Program characteristics from the 2019 PA Education Association Program Survey and Faculty Survey were obtained (n = 141 programs). Programs were categorized as exemplary or nonexemplary in recruiting and graduating diverse student cohorts according to prior literature. Univariate and multivariate logit regression specifications identified program characteristics associated with exemplary status.
Programs of longer duration and those with a greater percentage of URM faculty were more likely to be exemplary (2.2 and 2.5 percentage point increase in likelihood, respectively). Positive but not statistically significant associations were also observed between exemplary status and programs that did not require an admissions test and those with greater percentages of the faculty who identified as Asian, Hispanic, or underrepresented in medicine.
Having faculty from URM backgrounds may influence PA programs' success in improving student cohort diversity. Other program characteristics, including absence of admissions testing requirements, may also shape student diversity. These findings can inform PA and other health professions programs as they develop approaches to increase racial and ethnic diversity among their students.
医疗行业劳动力的多样性可以提高患者满意度并提升团队生产力。随着医师助理（PA）职业的发展，PA教育项目一直在努力实现更高的多样性。最近的文献确定了在招收多样化学生群体方面表现出色的PA项目。本研究考察了PA项目特征与来自少数族裔（URM）群体的学生成功招生和毕业之间的关联。
获取了2019年PA教育协会项目调查和教师调查中的项目特征（n = 141个项目）。根据先前的文献，项目在招收和培养多样化学生群体方面被分类为模范或非模范。单变量和多变量逻辑回归规范确定了与模范地位相关的项目特征。
学制较长的项目以及URM教师比例较高的项目更有可能成为模范项目（可能性分别增加2.2和2.5个百分点）。在模范地位与不要求入学考试的项目以及亚洲、西班牙裔或医学领域代表性不足的教师比例较高的项目之间，也观察到了积极但无统计学意义的关联。
拥有URM背景的教师可能会影响PA项目在提高学生群体多样性方面的成功。其他项目特征，包括没有入学考试要求，也可能影响学生的多样性。这些发现可以为PA和其他医疗行业项目在制定增加学生种族和族裔多样性的方法时提供参考。
