Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which retention strategies are in place at Physician Assistant programs in the United States, to describe the nature of the strategies that are utilized to retain and graduate minority students, and to determine if there was a link between the use of particular strategies and the rate of minority student retention. Methodology. A descriptive research design was used. Telephone interviews were conducted with two populations of the Physician Assistant profession. The first population consisted of seventy-eight Physician Assistant programs and the subset population had forty-two programs. Findings. (1) Ninety-four percent of the Physician Assistant programs in the United States have retention strategies in place; (2) forty-two programs utilize the strategies to retain and graduate minority students; (3) six major strategies were identified as being used to retain and graduate minority students. They were: tutoring; counseling; mentoring; prematriculation; early detection; and special focus programs; (4) the combination use of strategies had the highest success rate (85 percent). (5) A link did not seem apparent between the use of a particular retention strategy and the rate of retention; however, a link between the structure of the strategies and the minority student retention rate did appear to correlate. (6) The strengths and weaknesses of the use of retention strategies were identified by Program Directors and fell into three categories: The people factor, the use of faculty, peers and alumni; the process factor, the use of technology to deliver the strategies; and the organizational factor, the receipt of financial support at the institution, federal and state levels. Conclusions. (1) The use of retention strategies should be on-going because they have been utilized effectively in the majority of the PA programs in the United States to retain and graduate minority students. Also when the strategies are used in combination in an ongoing manner, from prior to entry into the program through out the program success is higher than when the strategies are used individually and started after entry into the program; (2) When the student identification process is passive, the retention rate is lower than when students are identified actively by the program. Recommendations for further study. (1) A case study of selected physician Assistant programs could be conducted to gain an in-depth look at each strategy. (2) A similar study that addresses the recruitment and enrollment of minority students and how those entities relate to the use of retention strategies and the retention rate.