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Physician Assistants: Is There a Return to Training?
Author(s) -
SCHEFFLER RICHARD M.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.1975.tb00073.x
Subject(s) - earnings , rate of return , training (meteorology) , test (biology) , specialty , government (linguistics) , psychology , investment (military) , regression analysis , actuarial science , medical education , demographic economics , medicine , family medicine , statistics , economics , finance , mathematics , political science , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , politics , meteorology , law , biology
Summary The major finding of this study is that the private rate of return to training physician assistants, employing the most conservative projections, is approximately 20 per cent, a rate comparable to that found for physicians. This result would seem to suggest that PA training is a good investment for the individual and that future demand for training will be high. The validity of this result, however, depends on the accuracy of the earnings projections that were utilized. Although they appear reasonable, only future observations can confirm their accuracy. The multiple regression model used to test the significance of various independent variables indicated that for the ten‐year period analyzed race, sex, and years of education prior to training did not explain differences in net present values of PA training, whereas age, years of health‐related experience before training, training in a specialty, and the type of medical practice employing the PA were found to be important. Although this study's findings should be considered tentative, the major policy implication evident from this research is that increases in government support to physician assistant trainees does not appear warranted at this point.