Federal policies and state legislation in the United States encourage the use of physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) in primary care, although the nature of their work has not been fully analyzed. This article analyzes primary care physician office-encounter data from the 1995-1999 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys. About one-quarter of primary care office-based phys...

A decade ago, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 24% of the global disease burden but was served by only 4% of the global health workforce. The chronic shortage of medical doctors has led other health professionals especially nurses to perform the role of healthcare providers. These health workers have been variously named clinical officers, health officers, physician assistants, nurse practition...

Call them handhelds, palm-tops, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket-sized computers are becoming a common feature on the medical landscape. As the technology improves, more programs become available, and the demands of medical practice heighten, physicians are recognizing the benefits of having information available at the point of care. This article reviews the use of handheld comput...

Physician assistants (PAs) have been used for decades in the Canadian military. Now, PAs are being introduced in various clinical settings to provide patient care for the general population. This article reviews major developments in the PA profession across Canada over the last decade. Nearly 541 PAs are employed in Canada or work for a Canadian agency. Growing evidence demonstrates the positi...

Diabetes mellitus in association with pregnancy is an infrequent finding. The present paper gives the results of a series of 94 cases delivered in the Leeds Maternity Hospital during the period January 1, 1947, to August 31, 1958, inclusive. These results are the collective responsibility of a team consisting of an obstetrician, a physician experienced in diabetes mellitus, a paediatrician and ...

assistant—they can make the arrangements. " Our business cards used to list only our phone numbers. When fax machines became popular, we added our fax numbers. Now, our business cards also carry our e-mail addresses and our home page URLs. What's next? It could be the network addresses of our personal assistants. These assistants will take care of our schedule and may even represent us in many ...

The concept of using nonphysician health professionals to perform basic medical services traditionally provided by physicians emerged in the mid-1960’s amidst widespread concern over a perceived physician shortage. Variously referred to as new health practitioners, mid-level practitioners, or physician extenders, they were seen as a way to increase the availability of health care services, part...

“While it is reassuring that Physician Assistants (PAs) in oncology report high levels of satisfaction in their profession, they also experience high-rates of burnout in a manner similar to oncologists. This study can provide important guidance for the field as the number of PAs in oncology increases with the growing prominence of team-based care. The collaboration of an entire team—from the fr...

The findings by Peterson et al. show that over half of all family physicians work with nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives. While tensions surrounding leadership of teams remain an issue, there are many systems problems that all primary care providers need to face together. This commentary presents the challenges we need to address in order to keep the focus ...