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What is a PA?

• Georgia’s Physician Assistants (PAs) are medically trained and licensed to provide high quality health care, treat illnesses, plan prevention strategies, and write prescriptions.
• PAs practice medicine as part of a physician-directed medical team.
• The duties a PA performs depend on what is in the scope of the PA’s supervising physician’s practice, and how much training and experience the PA has.
• There are over 2,000 PAs in Georgia.
• PA stands for Physician Assistant, not Physician’s Assistant.

PA Education

• Physician assistants are educated and licensed to practice medicine under the supervision of a physician.
• Like physicians, PAs are educated on the medical model.
• One of the main differences between a physician and a PA is the amount of time spent in education - PAs typically earn Bachelor’s degrees and work in the medical field for a few years as paramedics, nurses, or in other medical positions before entering a two-year PA program.
• Typically, PAs spend most of their first year of PA school in classrooms and labs studying physiology, psychology, microbiology, internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology.
• PAs’ second year is spent in the field on clinical rotations.
• To maintain national certification after graduation, PAs are required to log 100 hours of Continuing Medical Education credits every two years, and to take a recertification examination every six years.
• Three PA programs are offered in Georgia at Emory University in Atlanta, the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, and at South University in Savannah.

Accessible Health Care

• Some PAs work during the same hours as the physicians on their teams, enabling patients to get medical attention faster, by getting into the office sooner.
• Other PAs make health care more accessible through extended office hours.
• Some PAs treat patients in satellite offices in rural areas where access to medical care is sparse.
• All PAs work as part of a physician-directed medical team, and are able to consult with a physician at all times if necessary.

Patient Satisfaction

• As part of a physician-directed team, PAs ensure patients receive medical care faster, get all their questions answered, and are better satisfied with their health care team as a whole.
• Studies conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found patient satisfaction levels with PAs high, ranging in the 90th percentile.