Document Detail


Pediatric physician assistants: distribution and scope of practice.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20956413     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Physician assistants (PAs) are licensed to practice with physician supervision. PAs do not specialize or subspecialize as part of their formal standard training; consequently, their license is not limited to a specific specialty. As such, PAs can, and do, change their practice settings at will. Some researchers have projected plans for the future use of the pediatric PA workforce. However, the information on which those projections have been based is limited.
OBJECTIVE: To provide information regarding the current status of pediatric PAs and to inform future workforce deliberations, we studied their current distribution and scope of practice.
METHODS: Data from the American Association of Physician Assistants and the US Census Bureau were used to map the per-capita national distribution of pediatric PAs. We conducted a mail survey of a random sample of 350 PAs working in general pediatrics and 300 working in pediatric subspecialties.
RESULTS: Most states have <50 pediatric PAs, and there is significant variation in their distribution across the nation. The overall survey response rate was 83.5%; 82% (n = 359) were female. More than half of the respondents (57% [n = 247]) reported that they currently are working in pediatric primary care, mostly in private-practice settings.
CONCLUSIONS: PAs can, and do, play an important role in the care of children in the United States. However, the impact of that role is limited by the relative scarcity of PAs currently engaged in pediatric practice.
Authors:
Gary L Freed; Kelly M Dunham; Marc J Moote; Kara E Lamarand;
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2010-10-18
Journal Detail:
Title:  Pediatrics     Volume:  126     ISSN:  1098-4275     ISO Abbreviation:  Pediatrics     Publication Date:  2010 Nov 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-02     Completed Date:  2010-11-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0376422     Medline TA:  Pediatrics     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  851-5     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit, 300 North Ingalls Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0456, USA. gfreed@med.umich.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Career Choice
Child
Data Collection
Female
Forecasting
Health Services Needs and Demand / trends
Humans
Licensure, Medical / trends
Male
Nurse's Practice Patterns / trends
Pediatrics / trends*
Physician Assistants / supply & distribution,  trends*
Primary Health Care / trends
Private Practice / trends
Specialization / trends
United States

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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