Georgia Association of Physician Assistants

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What’s a PA?

What’s 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, and over 4,000 PAs in Georgia are making health care more accessible every day.

Quality Healthcare

PAs improve the quality of health care because they can spend more time with patients, serving as health educators in addition to treating medical conditions. PAs can help plan prevention strategies with patients, such as nutrition and exercise programs for weight loss, hypertension, and diabetes. They can also help patients quit addictive habits, like smoking.

Accessible Healthcare

PAs make health care more accessible through extended office hours. Some PAs offer extended office hours so that working people and their families can come in at night or on weekends. PAs sometimes run health care clinics or practices in rural areas where physicians are not plentiful. All PAs work as part of a physician-directed medical team and can consult with a physician if necessary.

Patient Satisfaction

PAs boost patient satisfaction levels in practices, clinics, and hospital settings. Studies conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research found patient satisfaction levels with PAs high, ranging in the 90th percentile.

This is because with PAs on staff, patients are in the waiting room for less time, and patients receive more attention, in many cases, for longer periods.

Specializations

Like doctors, PAs can specialize in different areas of medicine such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, and surgery.

Medical Education

PAs are knowledgeable and professional health care providers. They are certified medical professionals, training on the same medical model as physicians. Many PAs have worked in the health care industry for several years before becoming PAs, and have extensive health care experience. PAs are required to participate in continuing education to keep their licenses and are always learning more about conditions, diseases, cures, treatments, pharmaceuticals, and more.