The Future for Physician Assistants

Abstract

Physician assistants were intended to be assistants to primary care physicians. Physicians in private practice have only moderately responded to the availability of these professionals. Cutbacks in the numbers of foreign medical graduates entering American schools for graduate medical education, concern for overcrowding in some specialties, and the economic and clinical capabilities of physician assistants have lead to new uses for these persons. Physician assistants are employed in surgery and surgical subspecialties; in practice settings in institutions such as medical, pediatric, and surgical house staff; and in geriatric facilities, occupational medicine clinics, emergency rooms, and prison health systems. The projected surplus of physicians by 1990 may affect the use of physician assistants by private physicians in primary care.

Extending rural and remote medicine with a new type of health worker: Physician assistants

“…In one geriatric institution, the Beth Abraham Hospital in New York, ‘foreign medical graduate house officers were replaced by 10 physician assistants in 1979. There was a marked decrease in patient mortality on physician assistant‐staffed wards when compared with the results before 1979’ 64 …”

“…US health workforce history documents that physician assistants continue to move to areas of need such as rural and non‐metropolitan areas 55,60,61 . The initial response was to the rural medical workforce shortages, 36,62–71 followed by a response to primary care shortages 64,69,72–74 . By the early 1980s, there had been a significant shift of physician assistants into institutions, particularly public ones, in response to several factors: a reduction in the number of foreign medical graduates available due to more stringent entrance requirements; the ability of physician assistants to adapt to a different clinical setting quickly; and the recognition that physician assistants were more economical than medical staff 64 …”

“…Hospitals found that they could substitute about 50–75% of a doctor's work with one physician assistant, with their broad based training enabling them to quickly function in a number of different clinical settings 64 . Physician assistants work in medical, surgical and paediatric settings, including emergency care 59 .…”

Analysing the prevailing status of nurses at private hospitals in Bangladesh: A study on quality of work life

“…Nurses work in a diverse array of medical environments, from hospitals to private practice to outpatient facilities [2], and several studies have shown that the care they provide is somewhat equal to that provided by physicians [3,4]. Evidence shows that after getting a prescription from a physician or after surgical operation, the assistance from nurses is essential for quick recovery from diseases.…”

“…It appears that lower QWL first manifests the employee by increasing job dissatisfaction, which may lead to an increase in quitting intent (or an increase in absenteeism). Naturally, it can be said that higher QWL leads to job satisfaction, coherent the employees in work for a long time [2,13,14]. Vega et al [17] found in their study that communication, inducement and involvement influence employees' work satisfaction.…”