What is a PA?
Note to self: (this is a project in progress, after all!)
Figure out how to treat cites for blockquotes. On this page in particular, maybe make them look similar to section headers?
Bureau of Labor Statistics PA descriptionPhysician assistants (PAs) practice medicine under the supervision of physicians and surgeons. They should not be confused with medical assistants, who perform routine clinical and clerical tasks. ... PAs are formally trained to provide diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive healthcare services, as delegated by a physician. Working as members of a healthcare team, they take medical histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret laboratory tests and x rays, and make diagnoses. They also treat minor injuries by suturing, splinting, and casting. PAs record progress notes, instruct and counsel patients, and order or carry out therapy. Physician assistants also may prescribe certain medications. In some establishments, a PA is responsible for managerial duties, such as ordering medical supplies or equipment and supervising medical technicians and assistants.
Physician assistants work under the supervision of a physician. However, PAs may be the principal care providers in rural or inner-city clinics where a physician is present for only 1 or 2 days each week. In such cases, the PA confers with the supervising physician and other medical professionals as needed and as required by law. PAs also may make house calls or go to hospitals and nursing care facilities to check on patients, after which they report back to the physician.
wikipediaDepending upon the specific laws of any given state board of medicine, the PA must have a formal relationship on file with a collaborative physician supervisor. The physician collaborator must also be licensed in the state in which the PA is working, although he or she may physically be located elsewhere. Physician supervision can be in person, by telecommunication systems or by other reliable means (for example, availability for consultation). The physician supervision, in most cases, need not be direct or on-site, and many PAs practice alone in remote or under-served areas in satellite clinics.
a report from the U. S. Congress Office of Technology AssessmentWithin the limits of their expertise, PAs provide care that is equivalent in quality to the care provided by physicians.
According to Randy D. Danielsen, PhD, PA-C:
A big difference between the education of NPs and PAs and that of physicians is not so much the curricula’s core content but the amount of time spent in school. While curricula vary somewhat between educational institutions, PA and NP programs run between 80 and 110 weeks, compared to the typical 155 weeks of a medical school program. At the end of the didactic component, most NP and PA programs will have covered 70% of what a medical school program would have covered.
Source: http://www.clinicianreviews.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=j/c6t6aJpcg=&Full...
What is the difference between a PA and an MD?
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What is the difference between a PA and a BSN?
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What is the difference between a PA and an NP?
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are both masters degree practitioners that function very similarly on a daily basis. PAs are trained in the medical model, much like physicians are trained, where nurse practitioners are typically registered nurses who later gain a Master’s degree. NP's are thus trained in the nursing model.
NPs are independent providers, meaning they can practice without the supervision of a physician, where PAs practice medicine under physician supervision. NPs are trained in a specialty where they will practice unless they choose to obtain further education to change specialties. PAs are generally trained as primary care providers and gather “on the job training” in a particular specialty. Salaries for both professions are similar.