Physician Assistants : An Physician Assistant Program

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.

This has allowed me to experience what each person’s role in a hospital setting truly is. Both physician assistants and nurse practitioners share a lot of the same responsibilities as a physician, although nurse practitioners are given the flexibility of choosing which specialty they are interested in pursuing. This autonomy is what drew me into this position, which includes a lot of independence within the practice. Over the years that I have worked in healthcare, I have realized that patients need a health care provider who will be an advocate for them, and they also need someone who will truly listen to them in order to help improve their quality of health. The roles and job responsibilities of a nurse practitioner have caught my attention and therefore have made me want to pursue this career

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.

While the demand of healthcare need increasers the United States facing a physician shortage. In recent years the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) has significantly increased and they are taking the part in providing healthcare cervices to the majority of patients. I believe nurse practitioners and physician assistants can practice independently from doctors and be free of oversight. Expanding the scope of NPs and PAs is essential to overcome the healthcare crisis we are facing; it will increase patient satisfaction and stabilizing the healthcare economy.

Physician assistant (PA) is a career that allows an individual to work independently to treat patients. While the physician is available to reference if any questions or concerns arise about patient care issue. The position of PA is diverse, and the delegated duties may range from surgical assistant to family practice. If a PA chooses to specialize then their knowledge and training is revered to be desired by employers. The career is fast growing and beneficial as a mid-level practitioner for physicians.

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

deficiencies that appears in the United States has placed the spotlight on the advanced practice nurses, involving nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to make up for the insufficiency physicians (Kleinpell, Ward, Kelso, Mollenkopf, & Houghton, 2015). With the NPs and PAs coming into the for forth to provide patients with high-quality healthcare at reduce costs. The PAs and NPs continue to inform patients on new medical advancement and treatment pertaining the patients? health conditions to ensure patients continue up-to-date knowledge and to encourage

After having a horrific knee injury, I became interested in Orthopedics. My whole life I have been interested in achieving a job in the medical field. Going to a hospital for any reason, always was the fascination of my day. I never thought of becoming a physician assistant until I sat down with my mom one night to help me decide my future. My dream job would be to pursue a career as a Physician Assistant and specialize in Orthopedics. A physician assistant, known as a PA, is someone who practices medicine on teams with physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare workers. They also examine, diagnose, and treat patients. The role of a physician assistant is basically just like the physician. They do the same task an attending does, except perform

“A Council on Graduate Medical Education document anticipated that there had, “been 242,500 PCPs within the United States in 2010, and nearly 25% (55,000) of them aged ≥56 years. The common reimbursement for PCPs is approximately only 55% that of other scientific specialties, main to a cumulative lifetime internet income gap of about $ 3.5 million per primary care physician” (Collins, 2012). This makes being a primary care physician less desirable since the incentive is so low. A similar associated issue is the very low percent of medical institution students who are choosing to become primary care physicians. Another issue is that about 59 million Americans live in regions with health professional shortages. Shortages in a number of other primary care healthcare specialists exist, especially with nurses. “In 2014, US schools turned away almost 70,000 qualified nursing applicants because they didn’t have the capacity for them. In fact, almost two-thirds of surveyed nursing schools cited faculty shortages as the reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into nursing baccalaureate programs” (Erickson, 2016). This greatly contributes to the shortage of nurses if they cannot receive proper education and training to join the workforce. Many healthcare service professionals shortages are in regions within

A Physician Assistant (PA) is defined as a mid-level medical practitioner who works under the supervision of a licensed doctor (an MD) or osteopathic physician (MedicineNet). Although a Physician Assistant need not be physically supervised at all times while performing his or her duties, some form of communication and contact between or with a physician or doctor is mandated. If employed by the federal government, one has the necessary credentials needed to practice and perform services, such as ordering/interpreting lab tests, testing physical examinations, prescribing medicines, and counseling patients (ASAPA). Over the years, it has been stereotyped that more women than men are involved in this department, healthcare is too expensive, and

Physician Assistants are clinicians practicing in a physician extender role. They are found in almost every medical and surgical area in the U.S. and are appearing in both primary and specialist care settings in Canada. They perform similar tasks to their physician supervisors, including examination, diagnosis, diagnostic testing, treatment, referrals and prescribing. Research shows PAs to be capable of giving care, comparable to that of physicians for similar services.

Physician assistants review patients’ medical histories, conduct physical exams to check patients’ health, order and interpret diagnostic tests such as x rays or blood tests, make diagnoses concerning a patient’s injury or illness, give treatment such as setting broken bones and immunizing patients, educate and counsel patients and their families, record a patient’s progress, research the latest treatments to ensure the quality of patient care and etc on the daily basis. A physician assistant works under an official physician or a surgeon. They work in a wide range of medicine, This means there isn't a specific type of population that they work with besides doing whatever an official physician or surgeon ask them to do. You must obtain a master degree in an accredited program as well as pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam to become a PA. I chose to research about physician assistants because I never knew anything about PA’s or what it would take to be

The role of a physician assistant was created specifically to help adjust for the shortages of physicians. Unfortunately, these shortages are occurring in underserved communities that need readily available healthcare facilities and employees. Physician assistants, are trained to be able to handle a wide variety of health disease, and with a background in public health physician assistants are able to extend the “one provider, one patient” mentality and focus on the community as a whole. PAs not only treat disease, but they also promote health, decreasing healthcare demand through preventive care. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has four foundational health principles that align with the type of care that PAs

NPs are not only moving into increased roles within the acute care hospital setting, but also into roles in the community as Primary Care Providers (PCPs). The anticipated shortage of physicians to handle an increased number of aging patients already affects my position as a staff nurse at a hospital. A career in nursing offers countless paths to further your education, whether it is to become a specialist in a field of practice, foray into research or to pursue a position as a nurse practitioner. I was interested to learn more information about how expanding the role of Advanced Care Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) may relieve shortages of physicians and lessen the burden on our current healthcare system. Increasing the roles of ACNP would only be feasible if patients are still receiving quality care while decreasing the cost of healthcare. As a nurse returning to school to further my education, I would like to know if pursuing a career as an ACNP would be a viable option for me to continue to interact with patients in an acute care setting in a more specialized role.

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