Physician Assistant Training, Collaboration, and Practice Act Legislation: Perspectives From Practicing Physician...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare professions
• Physician assistant studies
• Medical education

Background:

• Examines training, experience, and collaborative practices of physician assistants (PAs).
• Investigates PA perspectives on practice act legislation.
• Focuses on PAs with prior employment experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the training and collaboration patterns of physician assistants (PAs).
• To understand PAs' views on current and proposed practice act legislation.
• To assess the impact of supervision requirements on PA and nurse practitioner (NP) hiring.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative data.
• Surveyed 180 participants on their clinical training and collaboration experiences.
• Collected data on physician involvement, team-based collaboration, and opinions on supervision.

Main Results:

• Over 56% of PAs reported training from NPs, PAs, or other physicians, not solely supervising physicians.
• 87.2% reported onsite collaboration with physicians, with significant collaboration also occurring with NPs and PAs.
• A majority (64.44%) opposed mandatory physician supervision, and 76.12% believed care quality would not suffer without it.

Conclusions:

• Current PA practice involves significant team-based training and collaboration with diverse healthcare professionals.
• Findings support establishing practice-level oversight rather than strict physician supervision.
• Further research is needed on practice act legislation's impact on PA employment, training, and hiring compared to NPs.