title: Physician assistant students' perceptions of an entry-level doctorate degree.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In recent years, a growing trend toward clinical doctorate degrees has emerged in several allied health professions. However, few studies have been conducted within the physician assistant (PA) profession related to changing the entry-level degree for PAs to a clinical doctorate.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive, quantitative study assessing PA students' perceptions of changing the entry-level credential for PAs to a clinical doctorate was conducted. Thirty randomly selected programs with 1,966 students were invited to participate in the survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the programs invited, 25 (83%) participated, with 486 (25%) full-time students completing the survey. Of the respondents, 56.1% (272) were first-year students and 43.9% (213) were second-year students. Both groups had a negative perception of changing the entry-level degree for PAs to a clinical doctorate, indicating the doctorate will raise the cost of PA education and discourage some people from entering the profession (82.1%, n = 398); a doctorate for PAs will cause confusion for patients (71.3%, n = 346); and that there is no need for the profession-specific doctorate since the master's degree sufficiently prepares PAs to practice in today's health care setting (70.9%, n = 344).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings lend additional support to previous studies, endorsing the master's degree as the entry-level and terminal degrees.
authors.affiliation: Physician Assistant Program, Marywood University, 2300 Adams Avenue Scranton, Pennsylvania 18509, Telephone: (570) 961-4711 Email: swanchak@marywood.edu. USA. swanchak@marywood.edu
authors.forename: Lori E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Swanchak
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Arscott
authors.forename: Mary Alice
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Golden
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003406:Credentialing / Q000592:standards; D004500:Education, Graduate / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States