The Impact of the Physician Assistant in Modent Health Care Research Paper

The Impact of the Physician Assistant in Modent Health Care - Research Paper Example Nevertheless, physician assistants provide affordable healthcare to the public. Physician assistants, or PAs, should primarily act as assistants to a doctor. Nevertheless, some states in the country overlook this factor and allow PAs to operate alone insofar as they fulfilled the other basic requirements of certification. While the first program for PAs started in1965, the government’s role in the programs was only in the 1970s when it instituted legislation meant to regulate the operations of PAs. Thus, the pioneers were medics from the military although most PAs are currently women. Nevertheless, the program has developed overtime with PAs said to offer 80% quality healthcare in comparison to medical doctors. With the development of this concept of PAs, there are some notable positive impacts to the modern medicine. One such impact is the availability of healthcare to a larger population, which would be impossible in an environment where there were no PAs. In this case, most PAs operate in areas where the doctors cannot reach. Thus, a larger population of the country has access to healthcare brought to their neighborhoods by the PAs. Secondly, PAs offer cost effective treatment and quality care. In this case, the cost of healthcare is cheaper due to the services provided by the PAs who ensure a healthy nation. Finally, PAs ensure that doctors concentrated on cases that required extra attention due to their complexity in nature. The impact of the Physician Assistant in Modern Health Care In life, not every professional can handle all of his or her workload. In effect, it is important to have assistants in various professions who can help and relief some of the workload. The medical profession is not an exception. In this regard, the doctors cannot perform all the roles of treatment and continue to provide care to their patients. Most fundamentally, doctors require nurses, who provide a supportive role during treatment and the process of care. Furthermor e, doctors also need other various personnel in their profession in order for them to perform their duties effectively. One such example of these personnel is physician assistants, commonly known as PAs. By their very own definition, the physician assistant is a title given to personnel in the medical profession who perform a portion of the roles performed by the traditional physician. In this regard, a PA’s role is under the supervision of a physician, and they cannot take the complicated cases, which is the responsibility of the traditional physician. Despite the role of the PA being a relatively young role in the medical profession, this role has grown overtime and has become an essential component in modern healthcare system. While physician assistants training programs traces their origin to the 1960s, the government started developing an interest in the program in the 1970s and developed standards for training and certification (Vorvick, 2011). In this regard, President Nixon noted the need for assistants in the medical profession while addressing the congress and observed that: One of the most promising ways to expand the supply of medical care and to reduce its costs is through a greater use of allied health personnel, especially those who work as physician’s and dentist’s assistants, nurse pediatric practitioners, and nurse midwives. Such persons are trained to perform tasks which must otherwise be performed by doctors themselves, even though they do not