The accelerated physician assistant pathway: a three-year medical school curriculum for physician assistants to obtain DO degrees.

PROBLEM: To address physician shortages, many have called for medical schools to increase their applicant pool size by broadening their selection criteria. Physician assistants (PAs) are one group that has demonstrated competency and medical knowledge. However, financial and time barriers exist to their applying to traditional four-year programs. APPROACH: The authors designed a three-year accelerated curriculum for PAs to obtain DO degrees. Over the summer, after their first year of didactic instruction, students complete two 4-week primary care clinical clerkships. The second year of didactic study is followed by additional clinical clerkships, for a total of 138 weeks of instruction-82 weeks of didactic instruction, which is identical to that of the traditional curriculum, and 56 weeks of clinical clerkships. OUTCOMES: The inaugural class of 7 students matriculated in July 2011. In the first three years, 25 students joined the program. Mean age at matriculation is 31.8 years compared with the national mean of 25 years. Mean length of clinical practice before matriculation is 5.4 years. The inaugural class completed the COMLEX-USA Level 1 exam, achieving a 100% pass rate with a mean score 96 points above the national mean. NEXT STEPS: The authors will assess students' residency placements to gauge the medical community's reaction to the accelerated curriculum. They also recommend that alternatives to the existing admission requirements be considered. This program removes many barriers to PAs returning to medical school and expands the applicant pool by adding candidates with clinical experience, helping to address primary care physician shortages.