The concept of the Physician Assistant gained its inspiration from 17th century Europe where feldshers were used in the 17th century Russian Army. In the 1960s, China employed over 1.3 million “barefoot doctors” to improve delivery of health care, especially in rural areas. Not until the mid 1960s did the U.S. begin to use Physician Assistants to deliever medical care due to a shortage of primary care doctors.
In the United States, Physician Asssitants (PAs) must be associated with a physician and must practice in an interdependent role. The partner physician, however, does not need to be physically present during a PA examination of a patient. PAs routinely deal with uncomplicated sprains, strains, hypertension, bronchitis, depression, allergies, asthma, gynecological problems, family planning and trauma. Approximately 55% of all physician assistants practice in primary care.
In order to become a Physician Assistant, the average PA spends 25 months studying an intensive core curriculum. In 2001, there were 130 training programs in universities, medical schools, colleges, and the armed forces. PAs learn the broad topics related to primary care and rotate through the major specialties. Nurse practitioners, on the other hand, traditionally are trained in one specialty (pediatrics, women’s health, etc.).
The following are some summary data for Physician Assistant which comes from the American Academy of Physician Assistants 2005 Census.
Number of Physician Assistants by Disorder in 2005
BY PRIMARY EMPLOYER
|Single-specialty physician group||30.6%|
|Solo physician practice||13.5%|
|Multi-specialty physician group||12.3%|
|Community health center||6.1%|
BY GENERAL SPECIALTY PRACTICED
|Internal medicine subspecialties||10.3%|
|General internal medicine||7.6%|
|Obstetrics & gynecology||2.4%|
ANNUAL INCOME (Full-time workers only)
AAPA 2005 Census
Mittman, Cawley, Fenn; (2002) “Physician Assistants in the United States,”British Medical Journal, Vol 325, 31 August 2002.