Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38324669›Full record

ArticleMedical education online2024

Non-native English-speaking applicants and the likelihood of physician assistant program matriculation.

Shahpar Najmabadi, Virginia Valentin, Joanne Rolls, Mary Showstark, Leigh Elrod, Carey Barry, Adam Broughton, Michael Bessette, Trenton Honda

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical education online, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Shahpar NajmabadiDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1247-8848
Virginia ValentinDepartment of PA Studies, College of Health Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9126-6650
Joanne RollsDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4793-2310
Mary ShowstarkAffiliate Faculty Yale Institute of Global Health, School of Medicine, Physician Assistant Online Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1768-9580
Leigh ElrodDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8343-2199
Carey BarryDepartment of Medical Sciences, Physician Assistant Program, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6133-0087
Adam BroughtonDepartment of Medical Sciences, Physician Assistant Program, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6176-4771
Michael BessetteDepartment of Medical Sciences, Physician Assistant Program, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0009-0006-1610-7410
Trenton HondaSchool of Clinical and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4620-5717
Northeastern University · USUniversity of Utah · USUniversity of Kentucky · USYale University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeEffective communication is critical in patient care. Multilingual medical providers, including Physician Assistants (PAs) can contribute to improved health care among patients with limited English proficiency; however, this is contingent upon matriculating multilingual providers. In this study, the association between prospective applicants' self-reported English as second language (ESL) status and their likelihood of matriculation into a PA program was investigated.

methodsParticipants included applicants to five admission cycles of the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistant from 2012 to 2020. Logistic regression was utilized to investigate association between applicant ESL status and odds of program matriculation in both bivariate and multivariable regression models. Models were adjusted for citizenship status, undergraduate grade point average, gender, age, race/ethnicity, number of programs applied to, and patient care hours.

resultsIn unadjusted and adjusted models, ESL status was associated with a significantly lower odds of matriculation to a PA program across all study years. In adjusted multivariable models, associations were strongest for 2014-2015 where ESL status was associated with a 35% lower odds of matriculation (odds ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.56, 0.76) when controlling for demographics, citizenship status, patient care experience, and academic achievement. In sensitivity analyses restricting to (a) those with TOEFL scores ≥ 100, and (b) restricting to those ESL applicants without TOEFL scores, we did not observe important changes in our results.

conclusionsResults indicated that non-native English-speaking applicants have lower odds of PA program matriculation. Decrements in matriculation odds were large magnitude, minimally impacted by adjustment for confounders and persistent across the years. These findings suggest that PA program admission processes may disadvantage non-native English-speaking applicants. While there are potential explanations for the observed findings, they are cause for concern. Matriculating and training PAs who have language concordance with underserved populations are important means of improving patient outcomes.

Indexed as

Academic SuccessPhysician AssistantsEducational StatusHumansMedically Underserved AreaStudentsESLlanguage concordancematriculationmiscommunicationmultilingualNon-native english-speakingphysician assistant

Identifiers

PMID38324669
PMCPMC10851801
OpenAlexW4391593840

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.