Standarizing a Physician Assistant´s Scope of Practice

542 Words2 Pages

Physician assistant’s scope of practice is defined by the level of education, experience, state laws, facility policies and the supervising physician’s delegations. PAs work as a team with the supervising physician and they support the physician’s scope of practice. Since the physician assistants are also educated in the medical model, PAs also practice with physicians in every specialty and setting. The precise tasks performed by the different PAs are determined by the boundaries of factors like education, experience, state laws, facility policy and the supervising physician’s delegatory decisions. Each factor should be effectively constructed in order to deliver the efficient health care to the patients. State laws and regulations define the physician assistant’s scope of practice as well as serve to establish licensure and competency requirements. Since the inception of the profession, dramatic changes have occurred in the way states deal with PA practice. The first state laws for PAs, passed in the 1970s, allowed broad delegatory authority by the supervising physician. In rece...

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