Primary Care Physician Assistant: A Case Study

You’d never think growing up a very sick dad and worried mom would have a made such a positive impact on my life. But in my case, it is the main reason why I have chosen to become a physician’s assistant (PA). In the beginning stages, I was too young to really understand the importance of the doctors and medical staff that worked countless hours to make this medical miracle happen, but as time went on, I began to comprehend the role of the people who were trying to save my dad’s life so he could watch his girls grow up. Seeing a multidisciplinary team of physicians, social workers, and dieticians work so well together to solve a problem made a lasting impression on me. I watched as they spent countless hours analyzing the numbers and evaluating my dad’s physical condition to solve the problem. Working so tirelessly showed how passionate and dedicated the team was. I can 't accredit a single person in that group of medical specialists that inspired me to be to become a physician assistant because each and every one of them played a tremendous role in my journey. I desire to become a PA so that

One of them is the Physician Assistant profession. PAs are filling in the roles once filled by physicians. This is mostly seen in the rural parts of the United States and in rural parts of other countries. According to Hooker, Cawley, and Everett (2011), a component of health-care reform in 2010 identified physician assistants (PAs) were needed to help reduce the expected doctor shortage. The way PAs are slowing down the physician shortage is by the role they play in healthcare.

The Contributions of Physician Assistants in Primary Care Methods Health Profession Assignment To understand the role of health profession, it is essential to acknowledge the importance and value of primary care. The beneficial impact of primary care on population health can further be explained as greater access to health services, better quality of care, additional contributions towards prevention strategies, prior action taken on health issues, and lastly the role of primary care in reducing unreliable and inefficient support towards cure (Dover, Christian 10). Primary care professionals serve as the first contact providers of healthcare (AAPA, 2). They face first contact to the role of healthcare system.

In the Medical field there is always going to be needs for people to fill certain jobs. One job that is interesting is a Physician assistant. A Physician assistant is a person who is qualified to carry out the same routine and procedures as physician under an actual physician's supervision. This job is interesting because it has to take care of everything a physician does except they are in a supervised environment. People would be interested in being a physician assistant because it deals with many different medical situations.

As the physician assistant (PA) profession becomes more proliferative in the United States the role of the PA in various healthcare settings changes. The baby boomer generation is aging which is increasing the demand on practitioners. PAs are becoming vital to closing the patients to provider gap in the United State. There is now an increased need for PAs in all medical specialties. Because PAs are trained as generalists, it poses the need for postgraduate residencies in specialties like orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, and emergency medicine.

The physician assistant (PA) profession has been described as “one of the greatest innovations of the last half of the 20th century.”1(p1) The profession has been established for less than fifty years, but it has managed to develop and expand vastly within those years consisting of more than 105,000 certified physician assistants and more than 170 accredited physician assistant programs. Simply stated, a physician assistant is defined as a certified medical professional responsible for providing medical care and treatment under the supervision of a physician. In order to completely understand the role and importance of physician assistants in the medical field, the history of the profession must be acknowledged.

The role of a physician assistant was created specifically to help adjust for the shortages of physicians. Unfortunately, these shortages are occurring in underserved communities that need readily available healthcare facilities and employees. Physician assistants, are trained to be able to handle a wide variety of health disease, and with a background in public health physician assistants are able to extend the “one provider, one patient” mentality and focus on the community as a whole. PAs not only treat disease, but they also promote health, decreasing healthcare demand through preventive care. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has four foundational health principles that align with the type of care that PAs

In December 1970, the American Medical Association adopted the following definition for Physician Assistants: “The Physician Assistant [(PA)] is a skilled person qualified by academic and practical training to provide patient services under the supervision and direction of a licensed physician who is responsible for the performance of that physician assistant.” (NY Department of Health). Laws and regulations for the PA profession have been developing over time based on the needs of the society; however, the need for a supervising physician found its way in the definition of the PA early on. Since PAs have been playing an important role in patient’s life, it is not surprising that they needed the supervision of a physician. After all it was a new profession, therefore it needed time to show if it is fulfilling the initial goals of the profession or not.

This has allowed me to experience what each person’s role in a hospital setting truly is. Both physician assistants and nurse practitioners share a lot of the same responsibilities as a physician, although nurse practitioners are given the flexibility of choosing which specialty they are interested in pursuing. This autonomy is what drew me into this position, which includes a lot of independence within the practice. Over the years that I have worked in healthcare, I have realized that patients need a health care provider who will be an advocate for them, and they also need someone who will truly listen to them in order to help improve their quality of health. The roles and job responsibilities of a nurse practitioner have caught my attention and therefore have made me want to pursue this career

As most kids grow up, their dream job changes all the time. One week they want to fly to the moon as an astronaut while the next week they want to rule the world as president. However, I’ve always wanted to help people by being a doctor. I would sit in front of the television mesmerized for hours by various trauma shows. I preformed surgery on my stuffed animals and diagnosed my friends and family with different fake illnesses. As I continued to grow up, I realized there is many types of jobs in the medical field that preform a variety of different services. After researching the different options, I fell in love with the idea of being a physician assistant (PA). A PA, supervised by a doctor, has the freedom to interpret tests, record progress, and diagnose patients. In order to become a PA, it takes a lot of schooling, but it is a rewarding job that I would be very good at. Ten years from now, I will be a great physician assistant due to the characteristics I already posses and the education that I will be receiving in the future.

Day by day, the demand of a medical profession is increasing. In every era or any situation, we need someone to help us for our health. As stated in bls.gov, employment of physician assistants is projected to grow 30 percent from 2014 to 2024; it is much faster than the average for all occupations. As demand for healthcare services grows, physician assistants will be needed to provide care to patient.

While the demand of healthcare need increasers the United States facing a physician shortage. In recent years the number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) has significantly increased and they are taking the part in providing healthcare cervices to the majority of patients. I believe nurse practitioners and physician assistants can practice independently from doctors and be free of oversight. Expanding the scope of NPs and PAs is essential to overcome the healthcare crisis we are facing; it will increase patient satisfaction and stabilizing the healthcare economy.

It is a profession that demands not just expertise but judgment, a desire to assume responsibility and above all, a sense of deep compassion for humanity. Graduates from our medical assistant schools have been known to possess all of this and much more. Therefore, their demand in the market is rising with a huge percentage of these students directly finding jobs in premier healthcare institutions, medical research centers and other medical

Physician Assistants are also known as a PA’s; they practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons. They formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injures and illness, and provide treatment. Physician Assistants also evaluate and treat patients under the supervision of doctors and surgeons. A Physician Assistants is a graduate of an accredited Physician Assistant educational program who is nationally certified and state- licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a physician. Core tasks of a Physician Assistant are they take medical histories and examine patients. They Interpret lab test and make diagnoses, Treat minor injuries with stitches, splints, casts, and prescribes certain medications, The

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Physician Assistant Studies