The Relationship of Physician Associate Student Satisfaction and Academic Performance

Introduction: Patient and student satisfaction are increasingly important factors in healthcare and higher education, respectively. While satisfaction is important, it may not always correlate directly with outcomes, academic performance, or long-term professional accomplishments. Researchers aim to investigate the relationship between student satisfaction and measures of student success. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data from 215 students over five PA student cohorts for correlations between student satisfaction and academic performance in core clinical medicine courses, program GPA, and PANCE scores. Statistical analysis was performed by data scientists to test for independence and significance. Results: The systems-based clinical medicine course had a statistically significant 4-way correlation between student satisfaction and GPA, individual PANCE score, and course performance. Program satisfaction was inversely correlated with student age, indicating that older students demonstrated less contentment. Conversely, program satisfaction was positively correlated with PANCE performance, suggesting that students who performed well on the PANCE were more satisfied with the program at large. Discussion: The subjectivity of student satisfaction complicates predictions of academic success. Factors such as age, life experience, and program structure can influence student perceptions and expectations. While the systems-based clinical medicine courses favored correlations to PANCE performance, further research is needed to explore the complex relationship between student satisfaction, academic performance, faculty well-being, and the broad applicability of this study’s findings nationally.