The 12 Duties of a Physician Assistant

Physician Assistants perform a valuable task of assisting Physicians in their daily duties and have been part of the United States health care system since the 1960’s. These assistants are also health care professionals that must be licensed by the state to practice under the supervision of other licensed physicians. Basically, they can perform up to 75% of the services a physician provides but the condition is that they must be supervised by a physician.
The actual job scope of a Physician Assistant cannot be considered as universal as it depends on the area of expertise, their training, experience and the state laws. They also have to perform their duties as described and advised by their supervisors. For all physician assistant, there some basic job scope which could be considered a general duty for all of them as follows:
1. They need to take the medical history of a patient
2. Assist and support physicians Lifestyle Tips Daily in surgeries
3. Develop and also carry out treatment plans
4. Conduct physical Public Health Articles New York Times exams on patients
5. Order and interpret lab tests
6. Able to diagnose illnesses
7. Refers patients to respective specialists
8. Provide shots (injections)
9. Treat minor injuries or sickness
10. Provide counseling
11. Able to write prescriptions
12. Perform therapies
These assistants also need to be trained to work in special fields like their supervisors. If the supervisor is a surgeon, then the physician assistant should also be equally skilled in the operating room and should be able to provide the proper pre and post operation care for the patient. Having an assistant that shares the same specialties will lessen the burden on the supervisor, allowing room for the supervisor to perform more tasks that requires their skill and expertise.
Physician assistants too are regarded as part of the health care team, and their supervisors function as the leaders of the groups. The assistants will have to be able to diagnose and treat patients, relying on their supervisors for assistance at times. However, they are not required to work together, allowing the assistant to travel especially to rural areas to provide services that would otherwise be unavailable to rural communities. During this time their supervisor must be reachable by phone to provide the necessary assistance to their subordinates.
Basically, these assistants should be able to perform any tasks assigned to them by their supervisors. But as earlier advised, these tasks will be limited to the expertise that they are practicing.