Increasing student and faculty publication through a successful research and evidence-based practice curricular model in PA education

Abstract

For the physician assistant (PA) profession to continue to grow in autonomy and respect, PAs must be seen not just as medical literature consumers, but as contributors. Currently, PAs lag behind other health professions in publications. The capacity of PAs as researchers can be advanced through modeling the role of PAs in research and improving research and scientific writing skills and confidence. This poster describes a replicable model of the WSU PA Program's successful use of student research teams, faculty-driven research agendas, mentoring and statistical support, innovative and practical research avenues, and interprofessional and community collaboration to reduce workload and improve project quality, thus improving publication potential. The WSU PA Program 5-year average for student professional poster presentations is 21% and co-authored journal articles is 27%, arguably the strongest in the nation. This level of productivity and quality has been cultivated by a clinically trained faculty with limited financial resources.