Building a research culture in physician assistant education

The mission of most physician assistant (PA) programs is to train clinically competent health care providers. While essential and compelling, we believe this mission is insufficient for modern PA programs and advocate that programs take steps to institute and expand their research capabilities and activities. This will represent a culture shift for many institutions but is necessary for the long-term growth and survival of PA educational programs within US higher education. We discuss the obstacles that exist to create a flourishing re search culture in PA programs and offer concrete recommendations for programs to attain such an environment.