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What is a PA?
Georgia Association of Physician
Assistants
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What is a PA?
Physician Assistants (PAs) are health professionals trained
in the medical model, as are their physician supervisors, in nationally
accredited educational programs. PAs are not independent clinicians; they
are highly skilled professionals licensed to practice medicine with
physician supervision. The PA's ability for autonomous decision making and
patient management contributes tremendously to the physician/PA team, thus
ensuring the highest quality standards of patient care. PAs deliver a broad
range of medical and surgical services to diverse rural and urban
populations and may perform educational, research, and administrative
activities.
What can a PA do?
Physicians may delegate to PAs those medical duties that are
within the physician's scope of practice. As part of their comprehensive
responsibilities, PAs take medical histories, perform physical examinations,
order and interpret laboratory tests, diagnose and treat illnesses,
prescribe medications, assist in surgery and perform minor procedures,
counsel patients and give medical advice. PAs also make rounds in nursing
homes and hospitals. In most states, PAs can treat patients when the
physician is away from the practice. State laws require that the supervising
physician be immediately available for consultation, usually by telephone,
while the PA is seeing patients. An example would be a PA working in a rural
clinic while the supervising physician may be at the hospital or another
office.
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What qualifies a PA to practice?
PAs are educated in the medical model at nationally
accredited educational programs. Prerequisites are dependent on whether
the program awards a master's or bachelor’s degree upon completion.
Typically, most programs require a bachelor's degree, or at least two
years of prerequisites. The majority of applicants have a bachelor's
degree with an average of four years prior health care experience. After
graduation, PAs must pass a national certification exam developed by the
National Board of Medical Examiners (the same testing organization for
physicians) and administered by the National Commission on Certification
of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Only those PAs with current certification
may use the designation "PA-C" (Physician Assistant - Certified). PAs must
earn 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and take a
recertification exam every six years to maintain certification. The
certification and recertification exams help ensure a core competency of
medical/surgical knowledge that each PA should attain and maintain. In
addition, a PA must meet state licensing requirements from the Composite
State Board of Medical Examiners in order to practice.
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Where do PAs practice?
The education, licensure and certification of PAs allow
them to work in virtually any medical and/or surgical setting, such as:
- Hospitals
- Physician's Offices
- Nursing Homes
- Community Clinics
- Military Installations
- VA Medical Centers
- Urban/Rural Health Centers
- HMOs
- Health Care Education
- Health Care Administration
- Public Health Agencies
- Correctional Institutions
- Independent Contractor
- Private Industry and/or Research
Within any of these settings, PAs may
specialize in a single branch of medicine, including family medicine,
emergency medicine, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and
obstetrics/gynecology.
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