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What is a PA?
A physician assistant (PA) is a licensed health professional educated to practice medicine as delegated by and with the supervision of a physician. A physician assistant provides health care services that were traditionally performed only by a doctor.
Physicians may delegate to PAs those medical duties that are within the physician's scope of practice, within the PA's training and experience, and are allowed by law.
Such duties include performing physical examinations, diagnosing and treating illnesses, ordering and interpreting lab tests, suturing lacerations, assisting in surgery, providing patient education and counseling, and making rounds in nursing homes and hospitals. In all states plus the District of Columbia and Guam, may delegate prescriptive privileges to the PAs they supervise. The scope of the PA's practice corresponds to the supervising physician's practice. For example, the PA working with a surgeon would be skilled in surgical techniques in the operating room, perform pre- and post-operative care, and be able to perform special tests and procedures.
In general, PAs can perform a substantial portion of the functions provided by primary care physicians and are widely accepted by patients.
How did the profession begin?
Dr. Charles Hudson at the Cleveland Clinic recommended the creation of a professional trained and supervised by physicians to assist in the examination, testing, and care of patients. Almost a decade passed before Dr. Eugene Stead, then chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, put together the first class of PAs in 1965. He selected Navy corpsmen who received considerable medical training during their military service and in the war in Vietnam but who had no comparable civilian employment. He based the curriculum of the PA program in part on his knowledge of the fast-track training of doctors during World War II.
What areas of medicine can PAs work in?
Physician assistants can be found in all areas of medicine and surgery. The PA concept was designed to increase patient access to quality medical care and to provide health care to individuals in medically underserved areas, such as rural and inner-city communities.
Today, more than 40 percent of all physician assistants practice what is known as "primary care medicine" -- that is family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. About 25 percent are in surgery or the surgical subspecialties. Where do PAs practice?
The vast majority of all practicing PAs are employed by physicians, group practices, and outpatient clinics. Many hospitals employ PAs to help meet their clinical inpatient and outpatient needs. PAs are working in virtually every type of medical and surgical specialty. |