Jason PA-C

What is a Physician Assistant (PA)?

Physician assistants are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision.  As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, PA’s conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery, and in most states can write prescriptions.

PA’s  are trained in intensive education programs accredited by Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA)

Because of the close working relationship the PA’s have with physicians, PA’s are educated in the medical model designed to complement physician training.  Upon graduation, physician assistants take a national certification examination developed by the National Commission on Certification of PA’s in conjunction with the National Board of Medical Examiners.  To maintain their national certification, PA’s must log 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and sit for a recertification every six years.  Graduation from an accredited physician assistant program and passage of the national certifying exam are required for a state licensure.

What does “PA-C” stand for? What does the “C” mean?

Physician assistant– certified. It means that the person who holds the title has the  defined course of study and has undergone testing by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).  The NCCPA is an independent organization, and the commissioners represent a number of different medical professions. It is not a part of the PA professional organization, the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA).

To maintain the “C” after the “PA,” a physician assistant must log 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and take the recertification exam every six years.

What draws the line between what PA’s can treat and what a physician can treat?

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 the limits” and refer to physicians appropriately.  It is an important part of PA training.

Can PA’s prescribe medication?

Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have enacted laws that authorize PA prescribing.  PA’s in Arkansas and Illinois have statutory authority to prescribe and will be able to write prescriptions as soon as rules are adopted. (Arkansas and Illinois are included in the 47 states.) In California, PA prescriptions are referred to as written prescription transmittal orders.