National Physician’s Assistant Week

Today begins a week of appreciating and thanking the Physician’s Assistants in our lives.

You might wonder what a Physician’s Assistant is.  There are times you see them in the doctor’s office and they are very helpful.

Your Physician Assistant (PA) can diagnose illnesses, prescribe medications and even help you manage chronic care management.

There are many aspects that the PA can cover because of their extensive education. They spend thousands of hours training in many different areas.  

A Physician’s Assistant can help care for you without you having to see a doctor.  They work very closely with doctors and other healthcare professionals.  

A doctor can supervise up to four Physician’s assistants.

You may have worked with a Nurse Practitioner before on a doctor’s visit.  Nurse practitioners are known to specialize in one area of medicine.  Physician’s Assistants have more of a background in general medicine.

It was in 1968 that the American Academy of Physician’s Assistant was established.  The name has now changed to the American Academy of Physician’s Associates. Standards are applied in training.

Basically,you may notice a change in the name  from Physician’s Assistant to Physician’s Associate. The skills are the same and you may see them called by both titles today.

Private Home Health Care salutes the PAs this coming week.  We know how helpful they are to physicians and hospitals to meet the needs of their patients.