Physician Assistant Student Well-being: Where Do We Go from Here?

Burnout and mental wellness have become a focus for both practicing providers and individuals in medical training programs. While techniques that assist in burnout and stress mitigation can vary, few techniques have been evaluated in the physician assistant student population. Green spaces have been utilized to reduce stress, improve cognitive function, and improve an individual’s well-being. To evaluate what is currently being utilized to improve physician assistant student well-being this study utilized the PubMed search engine for collection of a scholarly review. A qualitative review of the literature was completed along with a comparison of what green space exposure could offer to the physician assistant student population. The review showed that there is limited literature evaluating wellness initiatives within physician assistant programs. Green spaces have been shown to improve well-being in other populations, but to date, no studies have been completed on the physician assistant student population. Each individual responds differently to different stress mitigation techniques. With the increasing rates of stress, burnout, and worsening mental well-being in physician assistant students, further research into a variety of mitigation and coping techniques such as green space exposure needs to be completed.