Physician assistants important part of health care

By Dana Benson

In December 2008, 34 physician assistant students graduated from Baylor College of Medicine. Their importance to the health care industry cannot be overstated.

For many people, their first experience with a PA (as physician assistants are known) comes when they or their children are sick, and an appointment with a physician assistant is readily available. The patients quickly learn they are dealing with a competent, well-trained professional.

Recently developed profession

The physician assistant profession is relatively new – the first program to train students was developed in the 1960s at Duke University. At BCM, the Physician Assistant Program was launched in 1971.

Today, it is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, physician assistants will be the third fastest-growing professional job in the nation through 2012.

PAs work in all areas of medicine, including:

• Family and community medicine
• Internal medicine
• Obstetrics and gynecology
• Pediatrics, and
• Surgery specialties

They can provide many services, including performing physical exams, diagnosing illnesses, ordering lab tests, suturing wounds and providing preventive health care education. In Texas and most other states, physician assistants can also write prescriptions. They work under the supervision of a physician or group of physicians.

BCM program

The Physician Assistant Program at Baylor College of Medicine is one of the most competitive in the country and one of the best. It consistently places among the top 10 PA programs in the United States.

PA students at BCM complete clinical rotations and also conduct a research project and present the results in a paper and poster. Students focus on community-oriented care, learning how to identify a problem and, perhaps just as important, how to talk with a patient about their diagnosis.

Physician extenders

Physician assistants are especially important because, according to the American Medical Association, there is a shortage of physicians in some regions of the country and in some medical specialties.

Physician assistants are a vital part of the health care industry, and we should all be appreciative of the BCM PA graduates and their counterparts from other programs.