State-Journal.com - Physician assistant explains confusing title

Photo By Hilly SchifferChrys Means is president-elect of the Kentucky Academy of Physician Assistants.

Do you see the doctor or the physician assistant? Is it a confusing choice when scheduling an appointment?

Patients may be cynical and think physician assistants are doctor wannabes or doctors in training and think it won’t serve their medical needs.

Actually, PAs can do about anything the doctor can except hang out their own shingle.

Chrys Means, president-elect of the Kentucky Academy of Physician Assistants, sets the record straight. PAs actually team with doctors to make patient care more available, Means says.

“Physician assistants are under the direction of, but are not supervised by doctors,” she said, explaining they may have their own patient load.

A doctor is not required to be in the room, unless the PA requests it. This addition to a practice allows doctor’s practices to offer greater accessibility to medical care.

“The PA is currently one of the top 10 career choices,” Means said.

The career actually began as a response to capitalize on the trained medical corps veterans returning from Vietnam.

“These medics returned with broad medical experiences in frontline treatment or battlefield hospitals, such as MASH units,” said Means.

To take advantage of their war experience and to offer them an opportunity to do their all-too-familiar work, the University of Kentucky became the second school in the United States to begin the program in the 1970s. Duke University was first.

“Now, it is a six-year program requiring a bachelor’s degree in the sciences, followed by application to the program and acceptance. A physician assistant will hold a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies,” Means said.

It’s a clinical-based curriculum with emphasis on diseases, pharmacology, anatomy and physiology. Students perform eight-week rotations or residencies to become familiar with the type of practices they may encounter, Means explained.

The PA program, governed by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, is taught by physicians at the university level.

Capital Medical group currently has two UK students in residence. Means estimates there are approximately 15 PAs in Frankfort.

Means will chair the continuing medical education conference for physician assistants in Lexington next week, where more than 200 are expected.

Steve Gaskins, who works as an emergency room PA at Frankfort Regional Medical Center, serves as the state group’s legislative chairman.

Means, who currently works at Capital Medical, has 20 years of experience and has practiced in Frankfort for 16 years.

“Our course of study is not designed to make us specialists, but instead to make us viable partners for many physicians’ offices,” said Means. “We can not operate a stand-alone practice.”

Means is actually a PA-C, because of her National Board Certification that must be taken every six years. Means just completed her most recent certification exam.

Means finds many students seek the PA field as a viable career to pursue their interest in health care.

Some colleges continue to offer the initial bachelor’s in the program, but the master’s is seen as more desirable in today’s job market.

At present, UK is the only college in the state that offers the master’s, but Means said the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg is developing a program, and Morehead State University has an extension of UK’s.

8.	Posted by george_dx_dexter October 14, 2009
	LocalLady, thanks for the clarification between ARNP and PA. Seems that the medical profession ought to do more to clarify and explain the difference. Also, what are osteopaths. I understand they can do medical work similar to what internists practice, but are licensed to treat patients neither under the direction or supervision of doctors. Perhaps once they get these professional categories straightened out in the minds of the consuming health care public, persons in need of medical attention will know which kind of practitioner to go to, and based on that this distinction is well observed, people will be incurring health care costs based on the type of provider they go to, instead of paying a regular doctor for a cold prescription that could just as easily be treated by an ARNP, who probably is not eligible to receive as high reimbursement from the given patient's health insurance provider. I am very pleased that Frankfort has such great doctors and nurses, and I think that we have ARNP's and PA's to augment the local medical establishment, is one of the key reasons Frankfort will always be considered a decent, safe, healthy and wonderful community to live in.

6.	Posted by Gina October 12, 2009
	My family and I love Chris. Last summer my son had what we were told by 2 different physicians bronchitis and a sinus infection. This went on for several weeks. Chris was away at training and we couldn't get in to see her. When she came back, we had an appointment with her. She diagnosed right away that he was in the midst of an ongoing asthma attack. She put on a nebulizer right there in the office, then gave him another. She then wrote a prescription for albuterol and a new mouth piece for my nebulizer for him to use at home every 4 hours. She said that if he didn't improve within 12 hours to take him to the ER. We almost lost him, because he went into respiratory distress. The ER doctor told us that if he had been properly diagnosed the first time by the doctors, he would never have gotten that bad. He also said that Chris probably saved his life with the treatments. A PA not as good as a doctor? No way, Chris 'rocks' as my kids say.