Perceived Benefit of Active Over Passive Strategies for Pathophysiology Learning and Retention Among Physician Assistant Students

Abstract

Introduction This study examines physician assistant (PA) student perceived benefit of active vs. passive studying strategies for learning and retaining physiology and pathophysiology content knowledge. Identifying beneficial studying strategies is crucial to building a strong content knowledge foundation to support PA students' clinical rotations. Methods Three cohorts of PA students (n = 64) were anonymously surveyed regarding perceived benefit of studying strategies for learning and retention of physiology and pathophysiology content knowledge. Students also ranked strategies from most to least beneficial. Results Strategies were identified during survey development pilot study as either active or passive. Physician assistant students rated the active strategies perceived benefit mean as significantly greater than the passive strategies mean for both the learning (t(61) = 9.24, P < .001, d = 1.38) and retention (t(58) = 8.19, P < .001, d = 1.21) conditions. Discussion This study provides evidence that PA students perceive active studying strategies to be more beneficial than passive strategies for acquiring physiology and pathophysiology content and retaining it into the clinical year.