Correlations of pre-admission criteria and post-admission didactic gpa to physician assistant national certifying examination results
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Brittany Imel, Nick Jansen, Alyssa Nelson. (2012). Correlations of Pre-Admission Criteria and Post-Admission Didactic GPA to Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination Results. -- In Proceedings: 8th Annual Symposium: Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects. Wichita, KS: Wichita State University, p.84-85
Abstract
Purpose: To provide research on possible indicators for success using selected pre-admission criteria and post-admission didactic grade point average (GPA) to see if statistically significant correlations could be found between these and Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) performance. Methods: An observational, retrospective cohort study was done utilizing three previous graduating classes of the Wichita State University (WSU) Physician Assistant (PA) program (n=119). Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 (Chicago, Il). Results: Institution type (four-year versus two-year) for core science prerequisites was moderately associated with first-time PANCE pass rate (r=.269). PANCE scores, but not pass rate, were strongly associated with didactic GPA (r=.665) and program pharmacology GPA (r=.678). A moderate association was demonstrated between PANCE scores and program anatomy GPA (r=.414). Conclusion: As only one moderate correlation was found between pre-admission criteria and PANCE performance, advice regarding applicant selection criteria is limited.
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Research completed at the Department of Physician Assistant, College of Health Professions