Student Mentorship Pathways Within Physician Assistant/Associate Training Programs: A National Survey.

Introduction: Early training and career mentorship has many notable benefits for health care professionals. Little is known about student mentorship pathways within physician assistant/associate (PA) training programs.

Methods: Using an Internet-based questionnaire, the authors surveyed 332 PA programs from May 7 to June 10, 2024. Survey items addressed informal and formal student mentoring pathways.

Results: The response rate was 96 of 322 (30%). Overall, 40 of 96 (42%) PA programs reported having formal student mentoring pathways. Taking into account for participant drop off, of programs completing the informal mentoring section of the survey, 36 of 74 (49%) had informal student mentoring pathways. A total of 8 programs reported having both student pathways. There were differences in the primary objectives for formal and informal student mentoring pathways. Both student mentoring pathways were designed to support established learning outcomes, followed by supporting formal PA program goals.

Discussion: Less than half of PA programs report having student mentorship pathways. Even fewer PA programs have student mentorship pathways with formal structure, curriculum, or outcome measures.