Couple of decades ago in the
United States, Physician assistants are called as “Physician associate”.
According to the merriam-webster dictionary associate means “to join as a
partner, friend, or companion”. It is a term which perfectly suits a PA.
Because, PA’s are not only a helper of a Physician, they bring lots of benefits
to them. Associate term dedicated to a person who helps and also brings
benefits to their peers, which a PA do in a day to day basis. There are a
couple of ways PA’s bring benefits towards a Physician. They ease the doctor’s
workload; they increase cost-effectiveness of the health care system and
most-importantly, PA’s increase patient satisfaction.
One of the greatest advantages of involving
PA’s in the practice is that a PA can decrease the physician’s workload to an
extreme satisfactory level. While physicians are busy with the complex cases,
PA can manage all other necessary things like rounds, calls, office visits etc.
They also can manage the walk-ins, routine follow-ups etc. They also can
provide emergency care like splinting, bandages. PA’s are flexible, too. They
acquire, strong clinical education, so they can work in any fields of the
Medicine, which is a unique thing if you compare to the other profession.
According to the American Medical association’s socioeconomic survey, practiced
physicians experienced increased practice, efficiency and patient care when
they hire a physician assistant. Physicians can work one week less on average
but their income increased by 18% in the same time, which is a very encouraging
statistic for a physician.
Physician assistants are
cost-effective, too. Cost-effectiveness is a different thing to measure. But
there are certain passive ways where we can determine the cost-effectiveness.
If physician assistants can decrease the wait-times of a patient, then more
patients can be seen, hence it increases cost-effectiveness. There are a couple
of studies indicates that, physician assistants can decrease the patient’s
waiting period dramatically. The studies also showed that, PAs increased
service quality, helped practices to improve access, provided high quality
care, the addition of PAs to a health care team increases patient flow and
reduces wait times; there are also a lower proportion of patients leaving the
ED without being seen. According to another study done by Hooker in 2002,
Physician assistants do not require additional resources for more return visits
to manage the episode of care. A Canadian study done by Canadian Orthopaedic
Association’s National Standards Committee on the costs and effects of hiring
three orthopedic clinical assistants gave an excellent result. They found that,
hiring of these PA’s decreased wait times by 32%. Physician assistants are
trained in the same model at which physicians are trained. But their salaries
are way lower than the physicians. This is a simple tool to determine the
cost-effectiveness. If you are getting the same results in the primary care by
both of the professions, why you should pay more? A question for the top
authority who create plans for the patients.
Finally Hiring a PA increase
the patient satisfaction, too. Diminished wait-times have a direct link to the
patient satisfaction. If I am being a patient and sit in the waiting room for
hours only for the follow-up, I will have a bad impression about the
health-sector. Another thing is, not every physician can be available to every
patient all the time. So, physician assistant can increase the continuity of
the care. Patient compliance can be enhanced by a service of a PA, too. PA can
be a good patient educator, too. He can be a part of an important role in
nutrition and exercise program, smoking cessation program, etc. Those programs
are time killer to a busy physician, so a PA give time in those programs for a
patient increase patient satisfaction and belief towards a health care system.
All in all, a Physician
assistant has a vast medical education, commitment and flexibility to the
patient care. PA’s can increase revenue, give more job satisfaction to a
physician, while at the same time, they increase patient satisfaction. I am
going to end with a quote made by a family physician in Family practice
management, “the PA makes himself invaluable by smoothing the ebbs and flows of
our daily workload…..we wonder how any practice can thrive without one.”
