What
is a Physician Assistant (PA)?
Physician
assistants are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine
with physician supervision. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities,
PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and
interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery,
and in virtually all states can write prescriptions. Within the physician-PA
relationship, physician assistants exercise autonomy in medical decision
making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services.
A PA's practice may also include education, research, and administrative
services.
Because
of the close working relationship the PAs have with physicians, PAs
are educated in the medical model designed to complement physician
training. Upon graduation, PAs take a national certification examination
developed by the National Commission on Certification of PAs in conjunction
with the National Board of Medical Examiners. To maintain their national
certification, PAs must log 100 hours of continuing medical education
every two years and sit for a recertification every six years. Graduation
from an accredited physician assistant program and passage of the
national certifying exam are required for state licensure.
The
profession began in the mid-1960s, when physicians and educators recognized
there was a shortage and uneven distribution of primary care physicians.
To expand the delivery of quality medical care, Dr. Eugene Stead of
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 during
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.
To
find out more information about the PA
profession, visit the American Academy of Physician Assistants
(AAPA) Web site.
