Physician Assistant ( Pa ) Essay

The Physician Assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP) career fields were the medical fields’ response to the physician shortage that began in the 1960s, but the shortage still exists today. As the population continues to grow, the gap continues to grow as well. Medical schools were having a hard time producing as many doctors that were needed to fill in the gaps in a timely manner, leaving the medical field looking for ways they could have health care providers diagnose and treat patients, but educated in half the time of a doctor. The PA program was then born out of the military. Medical doctors watched as military doctors and medics came back, but they had no formal training except for on-the-job training. The NP program was derived from previous midwifery program. Currently, as the physician shortage is still impending more and more PAs and NPs are being hired to fill in the gaps. This is causing many questions to arise: Are they qualified?, What kind of education do they have?, and Should I feel safe?. Patients want to know that they are getting excellent care, and that their medical providers are qualified to diagnose and treat patients accurately.

Physician assistant’s scope of practice is defined by the level of education, experience, state laws, facility policies and the supervising physician’s delegations. PAs work as a team with the supervising physician and they support the physician’s scope of practice. Since the physician assistants are also educated in the medical model, PAs also practice with physicians in every specialty and setting.

The biggest challenge that Physician Assistances face is when a patient questions their competency or their ability to care for them. PA’s are one of the youngest allied health fields and some people are unaware of the role of a physician assistant. The best way to reassure the patient that they are being properly taken care of is to educate the patient on the topic of Physician Assistant. The first Physician Assistant program started in 1960 in the military, to help with the growing need for primary care doctors (Mittman). Physician Assistance must first obtain a four year degree with a competitive GPA of 3.6 or

Medical assistants is a medical support professional that performs a variety of tasks to assist physicians in providing patient care, while ensuring that clinics run smoothly. Medical assistants are responsible for performing both clinical and administrative duties. On the clinical side, medical assistance is needed for patient care, maintaining medical records, taking blood, checking blood pressure, and checking any vital signs from patient when updating medical history. On the administrative side, medical assistants are responsible for answering telephones, scheduling appointments, filing medical records and charts, billing, and medical insurance. There are several other important tasks that a medical assistant must perform such as prepare

A physician assistant provides patient services under the direct supervision and responsibility of physicians and directly assists the doctors as needed (waytogori.org). A typical work day for a PA would include visiting patients on hospital rounds, aiding the physician during surgery or intricate medical procedures, and prescribing therapy or medication with a physician’s consent. They may also perform therapeutic procedures,

Henry K Silver. MD, professor, and vice-chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC), established the first Physician Assistant program curriculum specializing on pediatrics/child specialist when there was an increased demand for pediatric health care providers. It was important to develop a program that will complement the skills and training of their pediatrician colleagues as well as develop a fast-paced program. Thus he developed a 36-month program curriculum focusing on providing high quality, comprehensive primary care to infants, children, and adolescents. In 1969, the legislature passed the Child Health Associate Act, which allowed non-physicians to practice medicine and provide the framework for the certification of an allied health care professional (Glicken et al). This law played an important role in further development of PA profession in the following years.

I understand how essential the patient safety is, pre and post -operative parts and ensuring that patients fully understand what they are going through. Besides, I understand the significance if explaining to the patients what they are going through. Apparently, as a physician assistant I will want to spend times with patients and make them feel comfortable as

Physician assistants work in all areas of

Before applying to a Physician Assistant Program, most future PA’s have experience as a registered nurse or EMT’s/Paramedics. Hundreds of hours of supervised clinical training in family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, and pediatrics is included in the program. “Sometimes students serve in one or more of these areas under the

Physician Assistants are also known as a PA’s; they practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons. They formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injures and illness, and provide treatment. Physician Assistants also evaluate and treat patients under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. A Physician Assistants is a graduate of an accredited Physician Assistant educational program who is nationally certified and state- licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. Core tasks of a Physician Assistant are they take medical histories and examine patients. They Interpret lab test and make diagnoses, Treat minor injuries with stitches, splints, casts, and prescribes certain medications, The

Somewhere during the last two years of my college courses, I was introduced to physician assistants. The thing that appealed to me the most is how much flexibility there can be within the career. There are a lot of options after graduation to work in a hospital, as a first assist, and in various clinics. Also, as a PA, you have the ability to create a plan of action for your patients, but you also have the potential to work as a team to create efficiency. There are also so many opportunities that other healthcare fields do not have. PAs have options to work in different specialties while MDs have to do additional residency work in order to go into a different field. Living in Mississippi for the past five years, I have also seen the demand for PAs grow. A lot of people did not know what a PA was, some even thinking it was a certificate program, but I have steadily seen more people growing accustomed to them and realizing they are a vital part of health care.

I believe that a PA is a very important asset to a physician. PAs offer a way to provide support for physicians that are spread out thin in today’s healthcare system. They are an extremely valuable resource, in that physicians can rely on them and collaborate care plans with them. They also are an important means to allow for task-shifting within healthcare. If a physician’s focus would be better spent on a procedure or task that requires a high level of care, then a PA can be used to offer relief of some of the physician’s lesser tasks. The use of a sous chef in the kitchen is a similar analogy. Head chefs have a large amount of responsibilities when it comes

PA’s will always be in demand for jobs. In fact, it is predicted that the growth of the occupation will increase 30% between 2014-2024. The average growing rate is only 7%. (“Occupational Outlook Handbook: Physician Assistants.”)

For years people relied on doctors and their medical care; and why would they trust their care to a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant. In the current day the nurse practitioners and physicians assistants can perform the same if not better care that a medical doctor. Many doctor offices are employing more nurse practitioners and physicians assistants due to cost and using the medical doctors as the chief for the office. However, nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) are limited in some of their capabilities’ and sadly paid less.

It was not hard to find a job as a PA but it depends on each person’s values and requirements in the job category, it may take longer to find a good suitable place to work. She thinks that it is important to find a good fit with team members, or establishments and clinical setting. The jobs are available and PAs are interviewed for most of them depending on their background and experience or desire to learn new skills. She applied to six jobs across the country and had four interviews out of those. She was a military medics and worked as a PA in an urban setting in CA before her present job. Her application was viewed as no experience in surgery but it was important to know that she could make independently medical decisions and had a good judgment and they were looking for her confident in her medical abilities.