Exploring residents' perceptions of PA and NP roles and barriers to collaboration

Objective: Developing competencies for interprofessional collaboration, including understanding other professionals' roles on teams, is an essential component of medical education. This study explored resident physicians' perceptions the clinical and responsibilities physician assistants (PAs) NPs in learning environment. Methods: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 residents one academic setting. Transcripts analyzed using iterative approach to inductive coding. Results: Participants typically perceived PAs' NPs' as being “like resident,” less commonly independent clinicians, rarely collaborators. Barriers PA NP perceiving them collaborators included lack preparatory instruction about PAs NPs, hierarchical structure education, inadequate role modeling collaboration. Conclusions: suggests that barriers environment education itself may impede residents' how collaborate them.