Program
Physician Assistant M.S.
Year Approved
2016
First Advisor
Goetz, Cindy
Abstract
Quality medical services and patient oriented satisfaction are important factors in a healthcare setting. Barriers preventing such factors are more prevalent in medically underserved areas (MUAs) ( Brems, Johnson, Warner, & Roberts, 2006 ). The purpose of this study was to identify barriers in the care of patients within Minnesota MUAs. The study was conducted by an online survey emailed to Minnesota Academy of Physician Assistant (MAPA) members, and only members who were currently employed in a Minnesota MUA county had valid data collection. Twelve barriers to healthcare were listed on the survey and required the MAPA members to grade the barrier on a Likert scale. The survey response rate was only 8% of the MAPA population; of the responses, the barriers identified greater than 65% of the time as being prevalent in the workplace, were considered "significant" values (in context of our study). The three most common barriers reported were 1) patient misunderstanding of care and treatment plan, 2) time constraints, and 3)misunderstandings between coworkers. The three most reported areas of improvement for new PA graduates to have more education on were 1) cost effective care 2) time management skills and 3) understanding of insurance policies.
Degree Name
Masters of Science in Physician Assistant
Document Type
Masterʼs thesis
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hoffmann, A. C., & Walters, A. (2016). Minnesota Healthcare Barriers to the Medically Underserved [Masterʼs thesis, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/298