Q. What will a PA Add
to my practice?
A.
Hiring a physician assistant will decrease your
workload. PAs are well trained to manage essentially all of the
routine tasks you do every day - perform examinations and make diagnoses,
process insurance claims, return patient phone calls, etc. Wouldn't you like
to have more time free to work with your patients who have complex
healthcare issues?
Hiring a PA will
increase patient satisfaction. Another
practitioner will ensure that your patient can be seen in a more timely
fashion. Their phone calls are returned more quickly. Patients have
expressed a high degree of satisfaction in the care rendered by PAs - in
most cases, equivalent with that provided by a physician. And if you aren't
rushed all day, won't you have more quality time with the patients that you
see?
Hiring a PA will
increase your revenue. A PA is not just another
salaried employee for your office - the services provided by a PA should be
submitted to your insurance carriers for reimbursement. In general, services
provided by a PA are reimbursed at a slightly lower level that those
provided by a physician, but the revenue more than covers the overhead costs
associated with hiring a PA.
Q. Won't it be a
nuisance to supervise a PA? If I have to see all their patients anyway, it's
faster for me to do everything myself.
A.
Many physicians have a misconception of what "direct supervision" means, as
defined by NJ law. A physician does not have to be
physically present when a PA is providing medical care. In
fact, some PAs work in satellite clinics where the physician is very rarely
present.
"Direct supervision" requires that your PA is able to immediately contact
you if the need arises. Pagers and cell phones make this very convenient.
And if you still want to see all of your patients to at least say hello,
won't it be nice to have the H&P recorded, instructions finished, and the
prescriptions already written?
Q. What kinds of
things can a PA do?
A.
For the most part, that is up to your PA and you to decide. You and your PA
need to have a conversation to decide what you wish to delegate to them. In
general, you can delegate any task to your PA that it
within your scope of practice.
Common tasks PAs perform include:
-
Performing and recording a history and
physical examination
-
Ordering and interpreting diagnostic studies
-
Ordering medications and writing
prescriptions
-
Suturing and other wound management
-
Casting and splinting
-
Other procedures such as lumbar puncture and
thoracentesis
-
Assisting in surgery
PAs provide a wide variety of other services, depending on their specialty -
for example, cardiology PAs assist with stress testing. You ability to
delegate is limited only by your comfort level, and the comfort level of
your PA.
Q. Where do PAs "draw
the line" as far as what they can treat and what a physician can treat?
A. What
a physician assistant does varies with training, experience, and state law.
In addition, the scope of the PA's practice corresponds to the supervising
physician's practice. In general, a physician assistant will see many of the
same types of patients as the physician. The cases handled by physicians are
generally the more complicated medical cases or those cases which require
care that is not a routine part of the PA's scope of work. Referral to the
physician, or close consultation between the patient-PA-physician, is done
for unusual or hard to manage cases. Physician assistants are taught to
"know our limits" and refer to physicians appropriately. It is an important
part of PA training.
Q. Can PAs prescribe
medications?
A.
In New Jersey, PAs may write inpatient medication
orders and outpatient prescriptions. PAs may apply for a DEA number
to prescribe controlled substances (just like physicians do.)
Q. What environments
can a PA work in?
A.
Basically anyplace a physician can work - and maybe places a physician would
not want to work. Imagine having a clinician in your office able to make
house calls...
PAs work in
all medical settings including outpatient offices, inpatient
facilities, critical care units and surgery. PAs provide some of the most
advanced trauma care in the world in our forward military units and work on
staff in the White House.
Q. Who can supervise
a Physician Assistant?
A.
In New Jersey, you must be a plenary licensed
physician - a Medical Doctor (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) - to
supervise a PA. A PA may not be supervised by a chiropractor, a dentist or a
podiatrist.
Q. Isn't PA education
somewhat spotty?
A.
The educational curriculum used by the PA profession should seem familiar to
you - anatomy, pharmacology, physiology, etc.
Our curriculum was designed by a physician and based upon a medical school
curriculum.
Following intensive classroom
training, PA rotate through clinical experiences that should also be
familiar to you - medicine, surgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, etc.
PAs generally rotate alongside medical students and residents. We understand
how to develop a differential diagnosis. We practice medicine.
We are trained to think the way you think.
Q. What is the
downside to having a PA?
A.
We hope that after reading the above you will agree with us - there really
aren't any!
At present, New Jersey statutes
require that a supervising physician countersign PA documentation.
This was a common requirement in many states, but most have come to see it
as a nuisance which hampers patient care. While NJSSPA is working to alter
this requirement, electronic medical record keeping has made
countersignature much less of a burden.
Q. I'm sold. Where do
I find a PA?
A.
There are around 2000 of us in New Jersey, so it shouldn't be too hard. A
great place to start is by advertising with NJSSPA:
CLICK
HERE for the NJSSPA Jobpost
