The PA Profession: A Case Study

APRN’s have been practicing formally, providing primary care, since the 1960s. The importance of APRN’s role has increased over the years with the shortage of primary care physicians plus the increase demands of accessible and affordable care. It’s important to differentiate and understand APRN’s roles, and the purpose of this interview. Further, to develop my opinion and formulate a recommendation.

Expansion of Physician Assistant (PA) programs across the United States occurred rapidly during the 1970s following the introduction of the profession in the 1960s. According to Hooker et al. (2010), the first era of the development of PA programs was followed by a decline in the 1980s. This was due in large part to a belief by the Graduate Medical Education Advisory Committee that there would be a surplus of physicians in the 1990s. Contrarily, there was a still a large discrepancy in the number of accessible providers and providers themselves which continues to this day. Many saw the cost effective advantage of training PAs and seized the opportunity

The physician shortage is growing each year and it is not slowing down. PAs have different specialties they can chose from, which is good, since a majority of the physician shortage is in primary care. Although PA’s have restrictions and only provide about 85% of the same duties that a physician provides, PAs are the closest we have to a

They have improved access to health care for populations in rural, inner city and other medically underserviced areas. With their training modified as needed to integrate with local health systems, PAs are considered a viable adjunct to physicians in areas with shortages of

Most people only think of physicians and nurses when thinking of major healthcare providers. However, after this presentation, physician assistants must be added to that list. II. Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Physician Assistant (PA) profession was created as a long-term solution to an increasing national shortage of primary care providers, especially within the United States (Kaggs). III.

3. NP’s are gaining more autonomy, and in some states are able to practice to their full capabilities; without physician’s supervision (Buppert, 2015). 4. NP’s can be at the frontlines of the primary care physician (PCP) shortage that is projected to become worse. In 2020 the U.S. is projected to have a shortage of 20,400 PCP’s

As the physician assistant (PA) profession becomes more proliferative in the United States the role of the PA in various healthcare settings changes. The baby boomer generation is aging which is increasing the demand on practitioners. PAs are becoming vital to closing the patients to provider gap in the United State. There is now an increased need for PAs in all medical specialties. Because PAs are trained as generalists, it poses the need for postgraduate residencies in specialties like orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, and emergency medicine.

The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of the physician shortage in Unite State of America. This is more exactly delineate as a gap between the population’s demand for primary care services and the capacity of primary care, as currently delivered, respond to the demand. According to Nile (2015), physician is person trained and licensed to practice medicine or an individual with a Doctor degree in medicine. Physicians play a central role in health care delivery. Although now, physicians are sharing patient care responsibility with a team of Physician assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP), especially with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implementations. The PA and NP are alternative to medical doctor or physician

Have you ever wanted to be a physician assistant? If you do, it is a challenge to be accepted in PA (physician assistant) school. There are over one hundred and twenty-five PA programs in the United States. A physician's signature is required on some percentage of the charts of patients whom PAs treat in twenty-four states. This job is considered to be the second best job America.

PAs were utilized initially rural areas as primary health care providers and later used in economically depressed urban areas (Oliver). The first education program for physician assistants began in 1965, in response to a perceived shortage of physicians. (Yale Medical Program) Since the world of physician assistants is still fairly new, the ASPAA still exists because it emphasizes support for PA students by providing sources, opportunities and scholarships. They also provide state-of-the-art job listings, and is a partnering organization of the AAPA, which is the American Academy of PAs.

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

According to Health Resources and Services Administration If the system for providing primary care in 2020 were to stay fundamentally the same as today, there will be an estimated shortage of 20,400 primary care physicians ("Projecting the Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners Through 2020," n.d.). In addition this projection doesn’t include the decreasing number of people perusing the medical degree and the baby boomers retiring form this filed of science. In the hand we are experiencing a significant increase in NPs and PAs. Considering this projected shortage, which is actually a very frightening situation the increasing number of NPs and PAs, can effectively be integrated; we could reduce the number of physician shortage by over 69 percent in 2020.

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

“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

Those PCPs are either dissatisfied with their practice or patients are not satisfied with them for multiple, but fixable problems. This is the area that needs a lot of attention and where money spent will be well-spent. The American Healthcare system is in desperate need of not just increasing the number of primary care physicians, but more importantly, providing them with a customized training and a well-equipped work environment so they can serve their roles in the best manner.