Less Silence on Physician Assistant Doctorates Already
On the American Academy of Physician Assistants Web site today is a two-page AAPA News article about the U.S. Army's PA clinical doctorate program by Doug Scott.
In October 2007, Major Leonard Gruppo announced to the five PAs attending the U.S. Army Emergency Medicine Residency Program that when they graduated the following December, they would not receive a certificate but a DScPAS — a Doctorate of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Baylor University. It was now official; Captain Yvonne Franco, Captain Sharon Rosser, Captain James Schmid, Captain George Barbee, and Major Dennis Hays would become the first five PAs to hold a PA-specific clinical doctoral degree.
In anticipation of the changeover, the Army reconfigured their existing 12-month emergency medicine program into an 18-month residency, modeled it along the lines of the physician residency program and then added the doctoral degree. But there was no guarantee when the five PAs started this new program that the contract would be awarded and finalized by the Army, and all the paperwork would be completed in time for the PAs to earn a doctoral degree upon graduation.
However, when the word came through, the announcement did not bring the kind of celebration one would expect.
This is definitely an enormous step in the right direction. Kudos to AAPA News for this coverage.
The next step? Honest, open debate of the pros and cons of PA-specific doctorates.
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