Comparative analysis of Physician Assistant/Associate National Certifying Examination (PANCE) performance trends: pre and during COVID-19 era
Background
COVID-19 significantly impacted physician assistant/associate (PA) education programs. Most programs transitioned didactic and clinical education from in-person to remote, and clinical training opportunities diminished. Graduates of accredited PA programs take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE), a five-hour exam with 300 multiple-choice questions, and must attain or exceed the scaled passing score of 350 (range: 200–800). We examined first-time examinees’ trends in PANCE scores and passing rates three years prior to the pandemic and three years during.
Methods
We analyzed data (N = 59,459) from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. The two primary outcomes were PANCE scores and pass rates. The main exposure was the timeframe: three years pre-pandemic (2017–2019) and three years during the pandemic (2020–2022). The 2017–2018 scores were equated to the new passing standard implemented in 2019. Covariates included age, gender, years the PA program has been accredited, program region, and rural-urban setting. Analyses consisted of descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistics.