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Physician assistant influence on surgery residents
Gregory P Victorino1, Claude H Organ
1Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, East Bay, Oakland 94602, USA.
Hypothesis:
We hypothesized that physician assistants (PAs) will decrease surgery resident work hours and improve resident work outlook.
Design:
Surgical resident survey.
Setting:
A county hospital in a university-based surgical residency program.
Participants:
Surgery residents who switched (or "rotated") to the county hospital were polled monthly for 6 months after using PAs as team members on the surgical services.
Main Outcome Measures:
Resident work hours and work outlook.
Results:
Surgery resident hours were significantly decreased by the fourth, fifth, and sixth months after PAs joined the surgical services. Despite what these data on resident hours suggest, 6 (60%) of 10 residents believed that the PAs had no influence on the amount of time the residents spend in the hospital. Six (60%) of 10 residents thought the PAs decreased stress levels and 6 (60%) of 10 residents thought the PAs helped to improve morale.
Conclusions:
Physician assistants can have a positive influence on graduate surgical education programs. Physician assistants can help decrease surgery resident work hours and improve resident work outlook.
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