Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center - (Page 52)
Q&A
Physician assistants and family nurse practitioners are licensed to perform many medical activities
ASK The ExpErts
When Is a Doctor Not a ‘Doctor’?
Q Q
What is a physician assistant?
A physician assistant, often referred to as a “P.A.,” is a health professional licensed by the state to practice medicine as delegated by and with the supervision of a physician.
Q Q
What’s the difference between a P.A. and a physician?
Mainly, a physician has a license to practice medicine, while a P.A. works closely with the physician and is covered under the acting physician’s license.
What do physician assistants do?
How did the profession begin?
A physician assistant can perform a wide range of medical assistance that previously only physicians could do: seeing and diagnosing patients; performing patient counseling; prescribing medications; ordering labs, tests and X-rays; referring patients to specialists; providing preoperative and postoperative care; and assisting physicians during surgery.
The P.A. program originated in the 1960s after the Vietnam War, when there was a significant shortage of physicians. Medical corpsmen were returning from Vietnam with hands-on medical experience and a desire to continue using it at home. The first P.A. program was implemented at Duke University to allow these men and women to continue to practice medicine while civilians.
meet our physician assistants on the next page
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Vim & Vigor • W I N TER 2 011
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center