Is Residency Training Really PA Education?

Patrick Knott, PhD, PA-C
Immediate Past President

I have heard a wide variety of opinions about whether the didactic and clinical training that is done at PA residency programs is really legitimate PA education or whether it is just on-the-job training with a fancy name. There are certainly some anecdotal stories about new graduate PAs getting taken advantage of at hospitals with programs called residency training. However, if you talk to the new crop of educators who are running PA residency programs, I think you will be very impressed. I believe that the answer is yes — residency training really is PA education.

So as the ARC-PA prepares to begin offering accreditation to PA residency programs this fall, it is an appropriate time for PAEA to evaluate its relationship with these training programs. There is an overlap of faculty who are teaching at both the entry-level programs and the residency training programs (including me). There are more hospitals that train both PA students and PA residents. And finally, there seem to be more similarities between our programs than there are differences.

The Association of Postgraduate PA Programs (APPAP) is now at the same stage in its development as we were in recent decades. APPAP is experiencing an explosion of new programs, there is a strong interest in developing ways for faculty to get together and learn from one another, and there is a real need for more of an organized administration to bring this together. I think that this represents a great opportunity for PAEA to offer its assistance.

APPAP faculty members have become very interested in the PAEA Annual Education Forum, and the Association’s leadership have decided to provide them with some special workshops and lectures to make the conference more valuable for them. They are also eager to interact with traditional PA faculty and to learn from our members. We have a lot to share with them and a lot to learn from them. This relationship could really strengthen our Association and our forum.

The PAEA board is very interested in hearing about your interaction and experience with the faculty from residency training programs. This will help us plan for the future and for ways that our two organizations can interact.