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What is a PA?
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| Support Staff |
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| What
is a PA (Physician's Assistant)? |
A
physician assistant (PA) is a health professional licensed by the state or
credentialed by a federal employer to practice medicine as delegated by and
with the supervision of a physician. PAs provide a broad range of medical
and surgical services that traditionally have been performed by physicians.
A hallmark of physician assistant practice is that PAs work as a member of a
team, with their supervising physicians as the leaders of the team. As members
of the medical team, PAs diagnose and treat illness. They can meet the needs
of patients in a variety of clinical and hospital settings. PAs have long been
recognized as quality health care providers.
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| What
does a physician assistant do? |
As part of their responsibilities,
physician assistants perform physical exams, diagnose illnesses, develop
and carry out treatment plans, order and interpret lab tests, suture
lacerations, apply casts, assist in surgery, provide patient education
and preventative health care counseling, and in virtually all states
prescribe medications.
To allow the physician-PA team to be more efficient in providing care to
patients, the vast majority of states do not require PAs and their supervising
physicians
to be at the same location. All state laws require the supervising physician
to be available, either in person or by telecommunications, when the PA is seeing
patients. |
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| What
kinds of conditions can the PA treat, and what situations require
physician care? |
The scope of the PA’s
work corresponds to the supervising physician’s practice. In
general, a physician assistant and the supervising physician will see
patients with the same kinds of illnesses. The cases handled by physicians
are generally the more complicated medical cases or those that require
care that is not a routine part of the PA’s scope of work.
Supervising physicians determine which patients and what kinds of illnesses
they want PAs to treat. Close consultation between the patient, PA, and
physician
is done for unusual or hard to manage illnesses. Physician assistants are taught
to know when it is appropriate to have the patient seen by the physician. It
is an important part of PA training. |
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| What’s
the difference between a PA and a physician? |
| Physician assistants
are trained in medicine, just like physicians, and in some programs
PAs attend many of the same classes as medical students. Both professions
are educated to detect diseases and treat them, and to assist patients
in living a healthier lifestyle. A major difference between PA education
and physician education is the amount of time spent in their formal
education. In addition, physicians are required to do an internship
after graduation from medical school, and the majority of physicians
complete a residency in a specialty following their internship. PAs
are not required to undertake an internship or residency. |
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| For
more information: |
| www.aapa.org |
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