AAPA News: IMGs as PAs in Canada
International medical graduates are being included in Canada's concept of the PA profession, according to an interesting article in the Dec. 15 issue of AAPA News.
Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-term Care has hired and placed in a pilot project several PAs who previously worked in the Canadian military and is recruiting American civilian PAs. The project, which will evaluate the civilian PA concept in emergency departments, hospitals, and community health centers throughout the province, will include a third category of health care providers: international medical graduates (IMG).
Officials of the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants (CAPA), as well as Canadian PAs and Ontario health ministry officials, offered three main reasons for including IMGs in the project, foremost of which is that the ministry's standard is exceedingly high, with only the best IMGs being considered for the pilot program and then undergoing a rigorous, four-month program to retrain them as PAs.
Ontario selected 85 IMGs for the PA positions from 250 applicants. The first 24 IMG PAs will begin work in January after a four-month program-two months of didactic training and two months of clinical training.
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