Physician Assistants:

Partners in Medicine

By Patrick Killeen, PA

Physician Assistants (PAs) practice medicine with the supervision of licensed physicians, providing patients with services ranging from primary medicine to very specialized surgical care. At Danbury Hospital, PAs practice medicine in pediatrics, primary care, psychiatry, emergency medicine, orthopedics, ENT (ear, nose, throat), and surgery.

Educated in a medical program, PAs are qualified to perform approximately 80 percent of the duties most commonly done by primary care physicians. PAs perform physical examinations, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret lab tests, counsel on preventative health, suture wounds and assist in surgical operations. All states except Mississippi have established licensure system for PAs. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia and Guam authorize PAs to write prescriptions. In some rural areas, PAs serve as the only providers of health care, conferring with their supervising physicians and other medical professionals as needed or required by law.

There are 116 specially designed physician assistant programs located at medical colleges and universities, teaching hospitals and through the Armed Forces. The typical PA student has a bachelor’s degree and approximately 4 years of health care experience prior to admission to PA program. PA programs require applicants to have at least two years of college education and previous experience in health care. PA instruction is usually 111 weeks, compared to 155 weeks for a typical medical school. PAs may take some of the same classes with medical students. Physician assistants also serve as teachers to others. At Danbury Hospital, PAs are American Heart Association-certified instructors in Pediatric Advanced Life Support and teach physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedical personnel and other PAs. Hospitals such as Danbury also serve as clinical rotation sites for many PA programs.

All states require PAs to pass a national certifying examination as a requirement for state licensure. To maintain certification, PAs must complete 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and take a recertification examination every six years.

A study by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment concluded, “Within the limits of their expertise, PAs provide care that is equivalent in quality to the care provided by physicians.” The Rand Corporation found PAs save as much as 20 percent of the personnel costs of medical care. Case laws reveal that PAs have been involved in very few malpractice cases.

Physician assistants have become a crucial link in health care delivery in the United States. According to the Department of Labor, physician assistants hold one of the top 10 jobs in the United States today. The future of the PA profession is a bright one. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of PA jobs will increase by 47 percent between 1996 and 2006. During the same period, the total employment in the country will grow by 14 percent. In short, becoming a PA will be a rewarding career as an important member of the health care team.

“Conceived during the new health practitioner movement of the 1960s, Physician assistants have demonstrated their clinical effectiveness both in terms of quality of care and patient acceptance.”

(From the eighth report to the President and Congress on the Status of Health Personnel in the United States, 6/99.)

For further information on the PA profession contact the American Academy of Physician Assistants, 950 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1552, 703/836-2272 or www.aapa.org.

Patrick Killeen is a physician assistant at Danbury Hospital.