Problem-based Learning in Physician Assistant Education: Establishing a Basis for a Comparative Study

Medical schools throughout the world are increasingly adopting problem-based learning (PBL) pedagogies. PBL is a student-centered model that stimulates clinical reasoning, promotes the application and retention of knowledge, and encourages self-directed, lifelong learning. Few physician assistant (PA) programs have adopted this innovative methodology, perhaps owing to the lack of research on the efficacy of PBL in PA education. HRSA funding was obtained to address this deficit. A research project was designed and implemented, in which a PBL curricular track was established in parallel with a traditional lecture-based learning (LBL) curricular track during the first year of a master's degree program. Evaluation data will be collected over a 5-year period to compare the educational outcomes of the PBL and LBL tracks. The present article describes the rationale behind PBL, its advantages and disadvantages, the PBL model chosen for this comparative study; and the evaluation plan adopted.