Louisville Medicine Volume 64, Issue 9 | Page 24

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