PAs in the UK
The PA profession has made such a large impact that other countries are beginning to incorporate the profession into their healthcare system. The UK is one of theses countries, the profession however is called a physician associate rather than a physician assistant. Just by that simple name change the UK has already made a large change in the stigma and professionalism of being a PA.
Like I said in other blogs, most people don’t know what a PA is so when they hear Physician Assistant they take the title literally. In fact, the PA is not the doctor’s assistant they themselves have their own patients and practice to take care of. There has been talk of changing the title to better reflect the profession and it likes like the UK did themselves a huge favor. The title Physician Associate is already more respectable in that it equates physicians and pa’s. When hearing this title patients no longer feel that they are being cheated when it comes to their healthcare for being seen by and “assistant” and not the actual doctor.
This profession has been used in other countries to expand a means of healthcare access to all patients, similar to the US. In fact, the roles of a physician associate and assistant are exactly the same in both countries. For a day in the life for a pa in the UK they will take history, complete physical exams, performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, developing care plans, and communicating these plans to the patients and their families. At the George Eliot Hospital located in Nuneaton, UK uses a unique employment and training model in that they have 10 pa’s at the hospital 3of those 10 are have permanent specialties in cardiology, respiratory, and acute medicine and the rest of the pas rotate in the specialties. The UK also struggles with the unfamiliarity of the position. The US has had a 50 year start on the profession but the UK is just beginning to dip its feet, as a result pas there have described it difficult in that patients are getting use to us, other health professionals are getting use to us, and overall new pa school graduates are getting use to the job and the environment all together. Overall it seems like most physicians and nurses are pro-pa at the GEH and is the largest employer of pas in the UK. Pas are known to work well with the nurses and are overall more accessible than the doctors and fill in the gaps were needed. The difference between both countries is that in the US pas are allowed to prescribe but in the UK they aren’t.
Pas are often compared to junior doctors and have been seen as much more reliable to be treated by compared to the junior doctors. With junior doctors or residents they rotate through their programs and due to the rotation they don’t spend much time mastering the specialities. In that case the pa is much more reliable and trusting to be treated by because they have continuously been working at the level and don’t switch so suddenly between the areas of medicine, this means they get to know the practice and the staff they’re working with.
In England there are 5 Pa training programs and the number is increasing in such years, all programs are 2 years similar to the US. Hopefully with more years to come the profession will continue spreading throughout the world to allow more international opportunities for Pre-pa students here in the US.
