The Perceptions of Physician Assistant (PA) Students about the PA-Patient Relationship

This study investigates the perceptions of Physician Assistant students about the relationships between the PA and the patient. Respondents included 120 students (response rate 74%). 58.8% were 1st year 25 students and 41.2% - 2nd year students or recent graduates. 81% were females, 74.8% were Caucasian, and 87.4% were 20-29 years old. Seventy percent worked previously in health-related professions, and were clustered in 4 groups: Medical Assistants, Medical Technicians, Medical Professionals, and Other. A survey was administered to assess the participants’ views on knowing about a patient’s personal life, their attitudes toward empathy and caring characteristics of practitioners, their interest in participating in professional group discussions on several topics including improving the medical provider-patient relationship, and the length of the consultation time with patients. Cronbach’s alpha score for the total instrument was 0.80, indicating good internal reliability. Females differed significantly from males in many items. Non-significant differences were found between 1st year and more advanced students in the subscale scores. Compared with Medical Assistants, Technicians showed more empathy. They were less willing to ignore patients’ personal issues (Means = 2.88 and 3.61, p < .05), and more willing to know about families’ financial concerns (Means = 3.15 and 2.53, p < .05) and patients’ ability to adjust to adversities (Means = 2.96 and 2.41, p < .05). No significant differences were found between these groups and the Medical Professionals on those items. However, Medical Professionals were significantly less willing than Medical Assistants and Technicians to participate in professional group discussions (difficult medical cases, new developments/ research, and legal issues), (p < .05).