What do physician assistants do?
Published Thursday May 7th, 2009
The physician assistant who could soon be treating you in an emergency room must be supervised by a physician.
But what exactly does supervision mean?
Sarah Clarke, a physician assistant and program director of the physician assistant education program at the University of Manitoba, said physician supervision doesn't mean that the physician has to be looking over the shoulder of a physician assistant.
"That is going to vary jurisdiction to jurisdiction," she said. "It pretty much never means the supervising physician has to be in the same room unless it is for a surgery."
Most jurisdictions state the physician can be available for consultation by phone with the physician assistant or be able to get to the site in a certain amount of time or be within a certain distance, she said.
In Manitoba - where physician assistants are called clinical assistants certified - each has a supervisory contract that defines supervision and usually includes being on site for a certain number of hours per month, said Clarke.
"For example, you can have a PA out practising in a remote clinic and have the supervising physician be located in a nearby city," she said. "Every jurisdiction that introduces the profession is going to have to decide for itself."
Clarke said the benefit of introducing physician assistants to the health-care system is having more people working in the system.
Research shows that up to 85 per cent of what physicians deal with can be handled by someone with less medical training, she said.
"If there is a way to reserve the capacity of the physician for the cases that really require someone with that level of training ... intuitively, it seems to me, that is a benefit to the health-care system," said Clarke.
"It is a relatively quick way to increase your health workforce."
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