Minority Physician Assistant Faculty: A Phenomenological Assessment of Factors Leading to Retention in the Faculty Role

Abstract

Improving racial and ethnic diversity in the physician assistant (PA) profession is important to providing better care for underserved communities. The recruitment and retention of minority PA faculty is one aspect of helping to attract and retain a more diverse student body. Previous research has indicated that minority status is associated with the increased attrition of PA faculty but has not provided insight into the specific factors involved in the retention or attrition of minority PA faculty. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to describe the experience of minority PA faculty through a critical race theory lens. We used a phenomenological approach using structured interviews of minority PA faculty. Better understanding of the experience of minority PA faculty might lead to improved efforts at recruiting and supporting a more diverse faculty workforce. We conducted 13 interviews of PA faculty representing a variety of underrepresented minorities, geographic regions, types of schools, and stages of their careers. Major themes that emerged across the participants' experiences included opportunities for success in the form of both internal and external support systems and mentorship. As a corollary, barriers to the retention of minority PA faculty including a lack of institutional support, gaps in mentorship, and lack of a solid support network were cited.

Why We Left: A Qualitative Investigation of Former Physician Assistant Faculty

“…This is the first published research to date to examine PA faculty attrition through the lens of PAs who have left academia. Ineffective leadership and inadequate mentorship as major themes are consistent with prior research, both in PA education [11][12][13][14][15] and in academic medicine. 17,[29][30][31][32][33] The theme of erroneous expectations of academic work is also consistent with a description of expectancy theory in the higher education literature.…”

Casting a Wider Net: Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence in Faculty Searches

“…15 By ensuring all search committee members have received training on implicit bias and then raising bias as a routine discussion topic, we created the capacity and space for deep reflection and the opportunity to "call each other in" when bias arose. In the end, we recognized that, even when our faculty recruitment efforts are successful, dismantling the oppressive systems that marginalized groups encounter, including overt racism, microaggressions, 16 lower perceptions of relationships/ inclusion, and racial and ethnic discrimination, 17 will be critical to retention efforts and growing a diverse faculty workforce. Health professions training programs are gatekeepers to the profession.…”

Advancing Physician Assistant Faculty Development: A New Model

“…The designed fellowship that we describe here has the opportunity to equip faculty with the necessary tools needed to combat many of the barriers to retention in the faculty role, including scholarship, mentorship, and organizational support and can serve as a model for other states striving to build a faculty pipeline. [4][5][6][7] The framework for the fellowship took into consideration the existing PA educator competencies, 8 the 3 pillars of the academic role (scholarship, service, teaching) 9 and the accreditation standards that a PA faculty member would be accountable for, in this case, the 5th edition of the Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education. 10 In addition, the fellowship required deliverables to target development of teaching competency at both the micro-and meso-level.…”