Purpose: This study assessed the impact of flipped classrooms on physician assistant (PA) students' performance and opinions.
Methods: Students completed quizzes and an opinion survey in Genetics, Human Pathophysiology (HPP), Clinical Medicine (CM) (n = 105) and Physical Exam (PE) (n = 98) courses.
Results: In Genetics and PE, the quiz scores were significantly higher for flipped classrooms (Genetics 95.00 ± 6.56; PE 83.09 ± 11.47) compared to the traditional lectures (Genetics 90.00 ± 10.53; PE 55.43 ± 16.66). In HPP, students performed better with traditional lectures (86.54 ± 8.82) compared to the flipped classrooms (75.12 ± 8.54). In CM, students' gain score was significantly higher for flipped classrooms (37.85 ± 16.73) than for traditional lectures (20.97 ± 15.55). The opinion surveys showed that the students surveyed preferred traditional lectures over flipped classrooms in Genetics (4.58 ± 0.46 vs. 2.29 ± 0.71) and HPP (4.14 ± 0.35 vs. 2.09 ± 0.53).
Conclusion: Flipped classrooms improved the quality of learning in courses that deliver a hands-on skill or use case-based scenarios. They may not be an ideal choice for courses that require explanation of intricate scientific concepts.