¹Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane, Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften Brandenburg, Institut für Gesundheitswissenschaftliche Ausbildungsforschung, Neuruppin, Germany
²University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, LOOOP coordinator for South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
³Yale University, Physician Assistant Program, New Haven (CO), United States
⁴Seton Hall University, Department of Physician Assistant, South Orange Village (NJ), United States
⁵Fliedner Fachhochschule, Studiengangsleitung Physician Assistance, Düsseldorf, Germany
⁶Deutscher Hochschulverband Physician Assistant e.V, Köln, Germany
⁷Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institut für Medizinische Informatik, LOOOP Projekt, Berlin, Germany
⁸Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Intensivmedizin, Berlin, Germany

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Introduction: German and Swiss physician assistants (PA) will play an increasing role in future healthcare. Found in nine European countries, this evolving health profession has a global footprint including 68 countries with PA education programs with 35 different country practice titles including physician associate, clinical associate and clinical officer. However, the PA and PA-comparable education and profession lacks international curriculum frameworks for learning objectives, assessments or competency outcomes. The presentation will describe the process and development of an international PA curricula mapping design to propose comparable international standards.

Methods: International PA curricula were mapped to standard accepted education variables for comparison and development of minimum international PA competences and accreditation standards. We used the web-based “LOOOP” platform to map and evaluate course content, teaching strategies, assessment formats, and learning outcomes. Starting in 2020 with pilot entry of four curricula, feedback from international PA educators led to modification with the International Academy of Physician Associate Educators managing the project. We compared education outcomes to the WHO Global Competency and Outcomes Framework for Universal Health Coverage, MeSH terms, and a LOOOP-specific combination of modified Bloom’s Taxonomy and Miller’s clinical skills concepts (“LOOOP”s taxonomy’).

Results: To date curricula from 46 countries have been collected by more than 30 colleagues and ten of these curricula have been mapped (eg, Botswana, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe). Early analysis demonstrates ability to compare across national curricula with similarity and divergence at multiple levels. Evidence shows broad curriculum coverage of WHO Global Competency Framework.

Conclusions: This research describes the development and findings of an international curriculum mapping initiative for PA and PA-comparable professions. Despite challenges, including reluctance from countries to share their curricula, the LOOOP platform proves effective in integrating global curricula components. The data provides insights for support for curricula adjustments to measure against minimum comparable competencies. In addition, the research emphasizes the potential for international PA collaboration, accreditation, and recommended minimum competency standards gained from the mapping process.

Take home message: Analysis of international for PA and PA-comparable programs will help to develop/adapt PA-programs in Germany and Switzerland. Resulting experiences may help to initiate international comparison of other health science programs.