Maximizing the Morning Commute: A Randomized Trial Assessing the Effect of Driving on Podcast Knowledge Acquisition and Retention.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Emergency medicine residents use podcasts as part of their learning process, often listening while driving. It is unclear how driving while listening to a podcast affects knowledge acquisition and retention. This study evaluated the knowledge gained from listening to podcasts while driving compared to that gained from undistracted listening. METHODS: This was a multicenter, randomized, crossover trial among postgraduate year (PGY) 1 to 4 emergency medicine residents at 4 institutions. Residents were randomized with stratification by site and PGY level to listen to podcasts while driving first or sitting undistracted in a room first. Within 30 minutes of listening, they completed a 20-question test. They subsequently crossed over to the alternate intervention, serving as their own controls, and listened to a different podcast before completing a second 20-question test. Each of the podcasts was professionally recorded and based on 5 emergency medicine-relevant journal articles that had not been covered in a journal club or curriculum at any of the institutions. One month later, participants completed a delayed recall test composed of 40 new questions based on both podcasts. Questions were derived and validity evidence was collected prior to use. Data were compared using a paired-sample t test and ANOVA. RESULTS: A total of 100 residents completed the initial recall tests, and 96 residents completed the delayed recall test. There was no statistically significant difference between the driving and undistracted cohorts on the initial recall (74.2% versus 73.3%) or delayed recall (52.2% versus 52.0%). CONCLUSION: Driving while listening to a podcast does not meaningfully affect knowledge acquisition or retention when compared with undistracted podcast listening among emergency medicine residents.

Educating medical students about military health: Perspectives from a multidisciplinary lecture initiative.

BACKGROUND: Medical student education on military health topics is critical in ensuring optimal future care for military service members and their families. METHODS: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (Keck SOM) students were invited to participate in an anonymous, voluntary, online survey ("Pre") rating their level of interest, awareness, exposure and comfort with military health issues on a 5-point Likert scale. A student-organized program of four voluntary lectures discussing military health-related topics was then implemented. Students were invited to re-take the survey ("Post") and also indicate which, if any, lectures they had attended. RESULTS: 230 students completed the "Pre" survey. A statistically significant deviation in responses was observed in all four questions, showing high interest (mean: 3.19 ± 1.20, P = 0.002), low awareness (mean: 2.52 ± 1.15, P < 0.001), low comfort (mean: 2.66 ± 1.11, P < 0.001), and low exposure (mean: 1.80 ± 0.95, P < 0.001) to military health issues. 132 students completed the "Post" survey, including 37 lecture attendees and 95 non-attendees. A statistically significant difference in the level of interest (P < 0.05) and exposure (P < 0.05) was observed between these groups. DISCUSSION: Medical schools that lack military health curricula may underprepare students to care for military-affiliated patients. Student-led programs can help introduce this topic before formalized curricula are instituted.

What Are We Made For? Mobilizing Medical Education Research for Impact.

ABSTRACT: During the past several decades, medical education research has advanced in many ways. However, the field has struggled somewhat with translating knowledge into practice. The field has tremendous potential to generate insights that may improve educational outcomes, enhance teaching experiences, reduce costs, promote equity, and inform policy. However, the gap between research and practice requires attention and reflection. In this commentary, the authors reflect on ways that medical education researchers can balance relevance and rigor, while discussing a potential path forward. First, medical education research can learn from implementation science, which focuses on adopting and sustaining best practices in real-world settings. Second, gaining a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic ways that medical education contexts may influence the uptake of research findings into practice would facilitate the translation and mobilization of knowledge into practical settings. Third, moving from unilateral knowledge translation to participatory knowledge mobilization and engaging diverse stakeholders as active participants in the research process can also enhance impact and influence research findings. Overall, for medical education research to effect meaningful change, it must transition from producing generalizable findings to generating context-specific insights and embracing participatory knowledge mobilization. This shift will involve rethinking traditional research approaches and fostering collaboration with knowledge users to cocreate and implement innovative solutions tailored to their unique settings.

A Randomized Trial Assessing the Effect of Exercise on Residents' Podcast Knowledge Acquisition and Retention.

PURPOSE: Podcasts are commonly used by residents as part of their learning, with many listening concomitantly with other activities (e.g., driving and exercise). The effects of exercise on learning are controversial, with some suggesting potential benefit and others suggesting impaired learning. This study examined whether exercise influences knowledge acquisition and retention among resident physicians listening to a podcast while exercising versus those with undistracted listening. METHOD: This multicenter, randomized, crossover trial assessed emergency medicine residents across 5 U.S. institutions from September 2022 to January 2023. Residents were randomized to a group that listened to one 30-minute podcast while seated or a group that listened to a 30-minute podcast while engaging in 30 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise, with stratification by site and postgraduate year. Within 30 minutes of completing the podcast, they completed a 20-question multiple-choice test. They subsequently crossed over to the other intervention and listened to a different 30-minute podcast followed by another 20-question test. Each podcast focused on emergency medicine-relevant journal articles that had not been covered in journal club or curriculum at any sites. Residents also completed a 40-question delayed recall test with separate questions on both podcasts at 30 days. RESULTS: Ninety-six residents were recruited for the study, with 95 (99.0%) completing the initial recall portion and 92 (97.0%) completing the delayed recall tests. No statistically significant differences were found between the exercise and seated cohorts on initial recall (74.4% vs 76.3%; d = -0.12; 95% CI, -0.33 to 0.08; P = .12) or delayed recall (52.3% vs 52.5%; d = -0.01; 95% CI, -0.22 to -0.19; P = .46). CONCLUSIONS: Exercising while listening to podcasts did not appear to meaningfully affect knowledge acquisition or retention at 30 days when compared with listening while seated and undistracted.

Educational Podcasts: Effect of Content Delivery Timing on Knowledge Acquisition and Retention.

PURPOSE: This study examined whether the order of podcast content influenced knowledge acquisition and retention among emergency medicine (EM) resident physicians. METHOD: This preplanned secondary analysis of 2 large, multicenter trials included a randomized, crossover trial conducted from November 2019 to June 2020 of 100 residents that compared driving and seated condition for two 30-minute podcasts and a randomized, crossover trial conducted from September 2022 to January 2023 of 95 EM residents that compared exercise with seated condition for the same two 30-minute podcasts. Each podcast contained 6 journal article reviews, with the segments recorded in forward or backward order. After completing each podcast, participants completed an initial 20-question test and a 40-question delayed recall test with separate questions. Segments were divided into 3 subgroups based on the order in which they were played (primacy group, recency group, and reference group) for assessment of recency and primacy effects. The mean scaled scores from the primacy and recency groups were compared with scores from the reference group. RESULTS: The study included 195 residents (390 podcasts), with 100 residents listening in the forward order and 95 residents the reverse order. No statistically significant difference was found in immediate recall scores between the primacy and reference groups (d = 0.094; 95% CI, -0.046 to 0.234) or the recency and reference groups (d = -0.041; 95% CI, -0.181 to 0.099) or in 30-day delayed recall score between the primacy and reference groups (d = -0.088; 95% CI, -0.232 to 0.056) or the recency and reference groups (d = -0.083; 95% CI, -0.227 to 0.060). CONCLUSIONS: The order of podcast information did not significantly affect immediate knowledge acquisition or delayed knowledge retention. This finding can inform podcast creators and listeners regarding the order of content when using podcasts for learning.

Proactive Coaching in General Surgery Internship: Incorporating Well-being Practices into Resident Professional Life.

OBJECTIVE: Coaching can provide learners with space to reflect on their performance while ensuring well-being and encouraging professional achievement and personal satisfaction outside of traditional mentorship and teaching models. We hypothesized that a proactive coaching program for general surgery interns coupled with individualized learning plans would help build foundational skills necessary for residency success and facilitate the incorporation of well-being practices into resident professional life. Here, we present the development, implementation, and outcomes of a novel well-being coaching program for surgical interns. DESIGN AND SETTING: A well-being coaching program was developed and implemented from July 2020 through June 2021 at a single university-based surgical residency program. To assess impact of the coaching program, we designed a mixed-methods study incorporating end-of-program survey results as well as participant narratives from commitment-to-act statements for thematic content. PARTICIPANTS: All 32 general surgery interns participated in aspects of the coaching program. RESULTS: The end-of-program survey was completed by 19/32 (59%) interns and commitment-to-act statements were completed by 22/32 (69%). The majority (89%) of survey respondents "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that the longitudinal intern coaching program helped them reach goals they had set for themselves this academic year; 15/19 (79%) noted that the coaching experience was effective in promoting well-being practices in their life. Well-being and professional goals were identified as major themes in the end-of-the-year commitment-to-act statements. Statements specifically mentioned resources highlighted and skills taught in our coaching program such as mindfulness techniques, gratitude journals, and self-compassion strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Our study illustrates the effectiveness of a coaching pilot program on promoting well-being practices in a university-based general surgery internship and can be a roadmap with proven efficacy and measurable outcomes.

Flipping a Single Lecture in a Survey Course to Active Learning: Do the Benefits Justify the Costs?

Health education has seen a surge of interest in active learning strategies like the flipped classroom. In response to the need for physical distancing in the age of COVID-19, schools are rapidly shifting to web-based and video technology, sometimes without being able to predict the outcomes of this change. The objectives of this pilot experiment were to (1) compare active learning (AL) methods versus traditional lecture for transmitting and retaining knowledge in the introductory pre-clinical medical school curriculum and (2) weigh whether the costs required to flip instruction were justified by learning gains. The authors took a 2 h lecture for first-year medical students and converted half of it into an AL format. In-person lecture and active learning groups were compared in terms of student knowledge at pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 6 months post-intervention. Costs for first-time delivery and anticipated costs for repeat delivery of each format were calculated. Students' gains in knowledge increased in both groups, though more by lecture (control) than via AL. Delivering a single hour of new AL costs 3.4 times that of a new lecture. Repeat offerings of the AL intervention were estimated to cost 5.4 times that of the repeat lecture. The 1 h AL session was less effective than the 1 h lecture for knowledge acquisition and retention at 6-month follow-up. The AL was more expensive to produce and to repeat. Future research needs to evaluate the impact of AL with a larger N, control group, structured faculty/resident procedures, and assessment of gaining and applying attitudes and skills in addition to knowledge.

Can I Ask a Question About URiM Awards That I Don't Know the Answer to? Designing an Award for Underrepresented Medical Education Researchers.

Meaningful Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) efforts may be stymied by concerns about whether proposed initiatives are performative or tokenistic. The purpose of this project was to analyze discussions by the Research in Medical Education (RIME) Program Planning committee about how best to recognize and support underrepresented in medicine (URiM) researchers in medical education to generate lessons learned that might inform local, national, and international actions to implement meaningful EDI initiatives. Ten RIME Program Planning Committee members and administrative staff participated in a focus group held virtually in August 2021. Focus group questions elicited opinions about "if and how" to establish a URiM research award. The focus group was recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Recognition of privilege, including who has it and who doesn't, underpinned the focus group discussion, which revolved around 2 themes: (1) tensions between optics and semantics, and (2) potential unintended consequences of trying to level the medical education playing field. The overarching storyline threaded throughout the focus group discussion was intentionality. Focus group participants sought to avoid performativity by creating an award that would be meaningful to recipients and to career gatekeepers such as department chairs and promotion and tenure committees. Ultimately, participants decided to create an award that focused on exemplary Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) scholarship, which was eventually named the "RIME URiM Research Award." Difficult but productive conversations about EDI initiatives are necessary to advance underrepresented in medicine (URiM) scholarship. This transparent commentary may trigger further critical conversations.

The knowledge, attitudes and usage of complementary and alternative medicine of medical students.

The increasing use of CAM by patients has led to an increase in teaching about CAM in medical school in the US. In preparation for initiation of a new curriculum in Integrative Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA a cross sectional survey was used to assess medical students': (i) familiarity, (ii) opinions, (iii) personal use and (iv) willingness to recommend specific CAM modalities, using a five point Likert scale of an established measure. A total of 263 first, second and third year medical students at UCLA completed surveys. Third year students reported less personal use of CAM and less favorable attitudes towards CAM than first year students. Since this was a cross-sectional rather than longitudinal study this may be a cohort effect. However, it may reflect the increased curricular emphasis on evidenced-based medicine, and subsequent student dependence on randomized clinical trials to influence and guide practice. This will need to be addressed in curricular efforts to incorporate Integrative Medicine.

Disruption and Dissonance: Exploring Constructive Tensions Within Research in Medical Education.

The academic medicine community has experienced an unprecedented level of disruption in recent years. In this context, the authors consider how the disruptions have impacted the state of research in medical education (RIME). The articles in this year's RIME supplement reflect several constructive tensions that provide insight on future for the field. In this commentary, the authors discuss themes and propose a framework for the future. Recommendations include: normalizing help seeking during times of disruption and uncertainty, contextualizing the application of complex approaches to assessment, advancing and problematizing innovation, and recognizing the deeply embedded and systemic nature of inequities.

Assessing patient-centered care: one approach to health disparities education.

BACKGROUND: Patient-centered care has been described as one approach to cultural competency education that could reduce racial and ethnic health disparities by preparing providers to deliver care that is respectful and responsive to the preferences of each patient. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of a curriculum in teaching patient-centered care (PCC) behaviors to medical students, we drew on the work of Kleinman, Eisenberg, and Good to develop a scale that could be embedded across cases in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). OBJECTIVE: To compare the reliability, validity, and feasibility of an embedded patient-centered care scale with the use of a single culturally challenging case in measuring students' use of PCC behaviors as part of a comprehensive OSCE. METHODS: A total of 322 students from two California medical schools participated in the OSCE as beginning seniors. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of each approach. Construct validity was addressed by establishing convergent and divergent validity using the cultural challenge case total score and OSCE component scores. Feasibility assessment considered cost and training needs for the standardized patients (SPs). RESULTS: Medical students demonstrated a moderate level of patient-centered skill (mean = 63%, SD = 11%). The PCC Scale demonstrated an acceptable level of internal consistency (alpha = 0.68) over the single case scale (alpha = 0.60). Both convergent and divergent validities were established through low to moderate correlation coefficients. DISCUSSION: The insertion of PCC items across multiple cases in a comprehensive OSCE can provide a reliable estimate of students' use of PCC behaviors without incurring extra costs associated with implementing a special cross-cultural OSCE. This approach is particularly feasible when an OSCE is already part of the standard assessment of clinical skills. Reliability may be increased with an additional investment in SP training.

A disaster medicine curriculum for medical students.

BACKGROUND: Hospitals are viewed as a haven of safety within a community in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster. Thus, the importance of disaster training for hospital personnel is paramount. Regardless of specialty, all physicians will be called upon to serve. Yet, disaster training is not routinely incorporated into the curriculum of undergraduate medical education. The development and implementation of a disaster management course for medical students should therefore be a priority. DESCRIPTION: The objectives of this study were to develop an introductory disaster curriculum for medical students, to measure its effectiveness by assessing students' mastery of knowledge and their ability to analyze a historic disaster, and to measure student course satisfaction by standard assessment methods. Based on medical students' evaluation of a 2-day disaster training seminar held in the preceding year, as well as an investigation of existing disaster courses, we identified core objectives that medical students should achieve at the end of a 2-week disaster elective. The elective consisted of 16 lectures, as well as field visits and experiential activities, including observation of a statewide disaster drill. Participants were six 4th-year medical students from the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Although didactics were held at UCLA, participants traveled to various locations for the experiential aspects: the Los Angeles County Emergency Operations Center; the Medical Alert Center at the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency; the Disaster Staging Warehouse that stockpiles medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical supplies; a community fire department; the University of Southern California School Institute of Creative Technologies Tour; and the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where students observed the annual statewide disaster drill. Student evaluations were based on daily participation, an oral examination, and a lecture presentation. Upon completion of the elective, students provided summative feedback about the course on a Likert scale. Observations included oral examination scores of student knowledge base, evaluations of students' final presentations, and students' course and lecture evaluations. EVALUATION: All six students proficiently answered oral examination questions and achieved a superior grade for their final lecture presentations. All faculty lecturers, as well as the overall course evaluation, received a maximum score of five on the standard Likert scale. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive 2-week medical student disaster elective, based upon an introductory disaster seminar, was evaluated highly by student participants.

Medical student participation in a disaster seminar and drill: brief description of activity and report of student experiences.

BACKGROUND: Although it is a Joint Commission requirement for hospitals to maintain an up-to-date disaster plan and to implement drills, disaster training is not routinely incorporated into undergraduate medical education. PURPOSES: The objectives are to provide medical students with an introduction to disaster medicine, involving didactics and an experiential component where students participated in a disaster drill, and to evaluate the seminar's effectiveness through scored evaluations and a focus group discussion. METHODS: A descriptive and qualitative analysis of a medical student disaster training course is presented. RESULTS: The mean score for the four statements pertaining to the didactics was 4.3/5. Two themes from the focus group discussions emerged: (a) changes in self-perceived attitude toward disaster medicine and (b) changes in student's ability to apply this knowledge in a simulated setting. CONCLUSIONS: After the seminar, students appreciated the complexity of the field and the importance of incorporating disaster training into the general medical school curriculum.

Trainee's Perceptions and Practices on Social Media at One Internal Medicine Program and Its Potential Uses in Graduate Medical Education.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introduction: Social media is a potential tool in Graduate Medical Education (GME). However, the perceptions that trainees themselves hold about the usefulness of social media in education has not yet been examined. Methods: A 34-item questionnaire was conducted at LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA and distributed to all Internal Medicine (IM) and Medicine-Pediatric residents and IM subspecialty fellows September through December 2017 with a 31% response rate. Most questions utilized 5-point or 6-point Likert-type scales. Results: We found that IM GME trainees were familiar with, and used social media regularly, with Messaging apps and social networks used most frequently. Video content/sharing and podcasts were identified as having the most potential for education. Trainees were in strong agreement about openness to social media use in GME. However, the majority of respondents answered "maybe" when asked whether it would be a positive addition. The majority of trainees did not see social media as unprofessional, and were mixed about whether or not it would be an invasion of privacy. Conclusions: Our analysis of the data reveals that social media may be a potential tool, but ambiguity remains as to whether or not social media tools would be fully embraced by trainees.

In Pursuit of Honors: A Multi-Institutional Study of Students' Perceptions of Clerkship Evaluation and Grading.

PURPOSE: To examine medical students' perceptions of the fairness and accuracy of core clerkship assessment, the clerkship learning environment, and contributors to students' achievement. METHOD: Fourth-year medical students at 6 institutions completed a survey in 2018 assessing perceptions of the fairness and accuracy of clerkship evaluation and grading, the learning environment including clerkship goal structures (mastery- or performance-oriented), racial/ethnic stereotype threat, and student performance (honors earned). Factor analysis of 5-point Likert items (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) provided scale scores of perceptions. Using multivariable regression, investigators examined predictors of honors earned. Qualitative content analysis of responses to an open-ended question yielded students' recommendations to improve clerkship grading. RESULTS: Overall response rate was 71.1% (666/937). Students believed that being liked and particular supervisors most influenced final grades. Only 44.4% agreed that grading was fair. Students felt the clerkship learning environment promoted both mastery and performance avoidance behaviors (88.0% and 85.6%, respectively). Students from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine were more likely to experience stereotype threat vulnerability (55.7% vs 10.9%, P < .0005). Honors earned was positively associated with perceived accuracy of grading and interest in competitive specialties while negatively associated with stereotype threat. Students recommended strategies to improve clerkship grading: eliminating honors, training evaluators, and rewarding improvement on clerkships. CONCLUSIONS: Participants had concerns around the fairness and accuracy of clerkship evaluation and grading and potential bias. Students expressed a need to redefine the culture of assessment on core clerkships to create more favorable learning environments for all students.

The impact of case specificity and generalisable skills on clinical performance: a correlated traits-correlated methods approach.

CONTEXT: The finding of case or content specificity in medical problem solving moved the focus of research away from generalisable skills towards the importance of content knowledge. However, controversy about the content dependency of clinical performance and the generalisability of skills remains. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the relative impact of both perspectives (case specificity and generalisable skills) on different components (history taking, physical examination, communication) of clinical performance within and across cases. METHODS: Data from a clinical performance examination (CPX) taken by 350 Year 3 students were used in a correlated traits-correlated methods (CTCM) approach using confirmatory factor analysis, whereby 'traits' refers to generalisable skills and 'methods' to individual cases. The baseline CTCM model was analysed and compared with four nested models using structural equation modelling techniques. The CPX consisted of three skills components and five cases. RESULTS: Comparison of the four different models with the least-restricted baseline CTCM model revealed that a model with uncorrelated generalisable skills factors and correlated case-specific knowledge factors represented the data best. The generalisable processes found in history taking, physical examination and communication were responsible for half the explained variance, in comparison with the variance related to case specificity. Conclusions Pure knowledge-based and pure skill-based perspectives on clinical performance both seem too one-dimensional and new evidence supports the idea that a substantial amount of variance contributes to both aspects of performance. It could be concluded that generalisable skills and specialised knowledge go hand in hand: both are essential aspects of clinical performance.

Demystifying "learning" in clinical rotations: do immersive patient encounters predict achievement on the clinical performance examination (CPX)?

BACKGROUND: Although the Liaison Committee on Medical Education required U.S. medical schools to quantify students' clinical encounters, optimum patient exposure needed to predict performance has been elusive. This study explored the relationship between comprehensive patient encounters logged on personal digital assistants (PDAs) during three medicine clerkships, to performance on a clinical performance examination (CPX). METHOD: PDA log data for 166 medical students were used to identify educationally "rich" patient encounters, where students were assigned full responsibility for patient care. RESULTS: Univariate regression analyses predicting the effect of immersive patient encounters on CPX case scores did not show statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Amount of patient exposure defined by the richness of student-patient interaction did not reflect on the CPX performance for six selected cases. Further research should examine qualitatively different learning experiences occurring with patient encounters and a higher volume of exposure to predict outcomes.

Does the Flipped Classroom Improve Learning in Graduate Medical Education?

BACKGROUND: The flipped classroom model for didactic education has recently gained popularity in medical education; however, there is a paucity of performance data showing its effectiveness for knowledge gain in graduate medical education. OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether a flipped classroom module improves knowledge gain compared with a standard lecture. METHODS: We conducted a randomized crossover study in 3 emergency medicine residency programs. Participants were randomized to receive a 50-minute lecture from an expert educator on one subject and a flipped classroom module on the other. The flipped classroom included a 20-minute at-home video and 30 minutes of in-class case discussion. The 2 subjects addressed were headache and acute low back pain. A pretest, immediate posttest, and 90-day retention test were given for each subject. RESULTS: Of 82 eligible residents, 73 completed both modules. For the low back pain module, mean test scores were not significantly different between the lecture and flipped classroom formats. For the headache module, there were significant differences in performance for a given test date between the flipped classroom and the lecture format. However, differences between groups were less than 1 of 10 examination items, making it difficult to assign educational importance to the differences. CONCLUSIONS: In this crossover study comparing a single flipped classroom module with a standard lecture, we found mixed statistical results for performance measured by multiple-choice questions. As the differences were small, the flipped classroom and lecture were essentially equivalent.

Interprofessional Education: What Measurable Learning Outcomes Are Realistic for the Physician Assistant Profession?

PURPOSE: To compare physician assistant (PA) students' attitudes regarding interprofessional education by students' seniority, gender, age, and previous experience with interprofessional education. METHODS: The validated 19-item Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale and the 12-item Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale were administered to matriculating and graduating PA students from 2 US institutions (N = 186). Primary outcomes were score differences by subgroup and institution using independent sample t-tests. We also examined scale validity measured by Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) and Pearson correlation coefficients (concurrent validity). RESULTS: Student demographics at both institutions were similar. Initial comparisons did not demonstrate significant institutional differences. Consequently, data were combined for subsequent analyses. Matriculating students had significantly higher mean Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale scores than did graduating students. No significant differences were found by gender, age, or previous interprofessional education exposure for either scale. Both scales demonstrated high internal consistency (Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale α = 0.93; Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale α = 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: Physician assistant student attitudes regarding interprofessional education are very positive at matriculation and are less positive at graduation. Physician assistant student attitudes do not vary by gender, age, or previous interprofessional education exposure. Physician assistant educators should ensure that students' interprofessional education exposure makes full use of the students' initial positive attitudes and focuses on skill development for interprofessional education competencies.