A Qualitative Evaluation of Medical Students' Perspectives Regarding Collaboration with Physician Assistants

Introduction Physician assistant (PA) is a burgeoning profession in Canada, with several accredited training programs. Because the scope of practice for PAs in Ontario, as delineated by the province, stipulates that all tasks they perform must be delegated by a supervising physician, it is expected that medical students will increasingly encounter and work alongside PAs in clinical environments. There has been a paucity of research to date investigating how medical students experience this professional relationship. This current study aimed to investigate the attitudes and perspectives that medical students have about working with PAs. Methods Medical students from the University of Toronto (n = 11) in various stages of training participated in 3 focus groups. The focus groups used a semi-structured interview guide to explore medical students’ general opinions of the profession, their understanding of the interprofessional relationship, and their experiences working with PAs. Qualitative methods with a phenomenological underpinning were used to analyze the focus groups. Results The findings show that medical students have observed or collaborated with PAs in clinical environments but are generally unaware of the profession’s scope of practice and responsibilities. Medical students also viewed PAs as beneficial to patient care and expressed a desire to discover more about the profession through formal education. Discussion This call for interprofessional education should be heeded by medical faculty to better prepare medical students for future collaboration with PAs.