THE FUTURE ROLE
OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS AND THEIR RESPONSIBLE SPONSORING PHYSICIANS IN
KENTUCKY
Kenneth Henderson, MD
The physician assistant program was started at Duke University in 1965 by Eugene A. Stead, Jr., MD. For the first time, college-educated persons who were not initially trained as nurses could become a Physician Assistant( PA). After 50 years, there are approximately 110,000 of these health care professionals, and more than 190 U. S. teaching programs containing over 7,000 more who will earn a Master of Science in Physician Assistance degree. It’ s projected that we need a 30 percent increase in the PA workforce in the next decade. Physician assistants are reported to reduce costs, increase quality, create access to care, improve health outcomes and increase patient satisfaction. The recent national election may serve to slow the velocity of change. However, the delivery of health care will very likely continue to move towards“ population medicine” and value-based reimbursement. If that assumption is correct, then even more mid-level providers may be required to meet the need for caregivers. PAs are well trained and should be useful to their responsible sponsoring physicians in dealing also with many of our well-known health disparities.
Physician assistants are state-licensed but nationally certified health professionals who are academically and clinically prepared to practice medicine as members of a health care team with their responsible sponsoring physician. They complete a 24-month course of one didactic year and one clinical year. The first year lays the foundation for clinical practice with a focus on biomedical, clinical and behavioral sciences. The second-year students complete classic clinical medical, surgical and subspecialty rotations, with both simulated patient encounters and case-based learning. They are required to complete a Master’ s project as well. This medical education model of the physician assistant course of study is well designed to produce science-based critical thinkers and life-long learners.
Any conversation related to PAs usually brings up the discussion of how they compare to Advanced Practice Nurses. In most clinical practice settings these nurse practitioners and physician assistants seem similar; the major and important difference is in their edu-
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE