Physician Associates (PAs)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to outline the background of the Physician Associate (known in the USA as physician assistant1) role in the USA and follow its recent journey to the UK where it is becoming a rapidly developing new healthcare role. Through the use of two case studies from UK Hospital Trusts who are currently utilising Physician Associates (PAs) in their workforce we describe the implementation and development opportunities for the role, with particular reference to their role in Acute Medicine teams of the future.