Should Physician Assistants Be Allowed to Practice Fully Independent of Physicians?

Authors

Anthony Clare, University of LynchburgFollow

Specialty

Primary Care

Advisor

Dr. Laura Witte, PhD

Abstract

Abstract

Physician assistants (PAs) are well-trained licensed medical professionals whose training in PA programs mirrors that of medical school programs. Despite practicing astute medicine autonomously in many settings, a PA is required to list a supervising or collaborating physician, nonetheless. Past research and studies however indicate no distinguishable difference of patient care between PAs and physicians, regardless of level of supervision or collaboration. Patient satisfaction and outcomes have also not been proven to differ. PAs have been utilized to improve access to health care and close gaps in provider shortages with no evidence of inferior quality of care. Using the PubMed search engine from the National Library of Medicine, articles were used to examine the quality of care and competency of PAs. Keywords used in conjunction with ‘physician assistants’ for the searches were ‘quality of care’, ‘primary care’, ‘patient satisfaction’ and ‘independent’. From these searches, 3,678, 1,748, 371, and 295 results were found respectively. Of these, nine articles were identified and reviewed for use in this manuscript.

Recommended Citation

Clare A. Should Physician Assistants Be Allowed to Practice Fully Independent of Physicians?. University of Lynchburg DMSc Doctoral Project Assignment Repository. 2023; 5(1).