Your Physician Assistant
Physician Assistants provide quality health care services to people of all ages. They specialize in treating each patient as a whole person, not just a list of symptoms.
What is a Physician Assistant?
Physician Assistants are licensed to practice medicine under a physician's supervision. They are well-recognized and highly sought-after health care professionals who can diagnose and treat patients in virtually all areas of medicine.
What Type of Training to Physician Assistants Receive?
Physician Assistants receive broad medical education. They must graduate from an accredited training program and pass a certification exam. To continue in their practice, Physician Assistants must take a recertification exam every six years after their initial certification and complete 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years.
In What Areas of Medicine Can Physician Assistants Work?
About 50 percent of all Physician Assistants practice what is known as "primary care medicine" - family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. Over 20 percent work in surgical or surgically-related care.
What Can a Physician Assistant Do?
Training, experience and the scope of the supervising physician's practice help determine the role of each Physician Assistant. In general, a Physician Assistant will see many of the same type of patients as the physician with whom he or she works. 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 Physician Assistant's scope of work.
Typically, a Physician Assistant can perform many of the routine functions of a primary care physician, such as:
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Taking medical histories and performing physical exams
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Ordering and interpreting lab and diagnostic tests
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Diagnosing and treating illnesses
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Recommending and prescribing medications and drug therapies
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Stitching wounds and setting fractures
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Counseling patients and their families on preventative health care
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Assisting in surgical operations
Why a Physician Assistant?
Physician Assistants give personal attention to patients and are sensitive to their worries and concerns. They take the time to talk with people regarding their health problems and treatments and show them how to take care of themselves.
People seeking quality, personalized health care are finding what they need in the professional services of today's Physician Assistants at Carilion Clinic.
For more information about Physician Assistants in your area, call Carilion Clinic at 1-800-422-8482 or 540-266-6000.
Information on this web page was provided by the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Duke University Physician Assistant Program.
