In response to a severe shortage of physicians in Tennessee, executive director of the Tennessee Academy of Physician Assistants Katherine Pesut Moffat published an article in the Tennessean explaining that the increased use of PAs is one solution to the problem. In detail, Moffat describes the PA education, the full scope of PA practice, the ...

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE.....This is the moment you have all been waiting for! Or at least it's the moment I've been waiting for. As you read today's post, I will be starting the first week of my clinical rotations! The past 19 months have been spent in preparation for today. Class ended last Wednesday, we had our ceremonial send-off ...

ADVANCE for Physician Assistants has arrived at the 2010 AFPPA Spring CME Conference in Walt Disney World. Earlier this evening, I stepped off the Magical Express and into the Coronado Springs Resort, where the palm trees are lush and the water is close and calm. For those family practice PAs who can't make it to this year's conference or who are ...

As I frequently write in my blog entries, it never ceases to amaze me how much I am learning in PA school. When I am able to relate what we are learning now in class to something I have already done or experienced in my clinical time at the hospital, it is a great feeling. When I was a PCT on the floor last year, I would do EKGs on ...

One of my readers had some good questions that I would like to address. Being that I am a student, my answers may need some help from practicing PAs. Here we go: ''I want to be in surgery, but I'm afraid that being a PA won't allow me to be as involved and hands-on as I want to be. What do you think of this?'' Surgery PAs are very involved and ...

The UNTHSC PA class of 2011 is counting down the days until we head out the door for rotations. On March 29th, we will go our separate ways for 3 ½ weeks at a time and come together every 4 weeks for testing, presentations and re-connecting with each other.  Each student has 12 rotations ranging from 1-2 months each. Our core rotations ...

In a letter to the editor of Psychiatric Services, Glenn D. Grace, PhD, MS, and Richard C. Christensen, MD, MA, argue that an increase in psychiatric PAs could provide a safe and cost-effective solution to a severe shortage of mental health practitioners.   The letter was written in response to an article in the October 2009 ...

Once again, physician assistant has been named one of the best careers, this time in a U.S. News & World Report article called ''America's Best Careers: 2010.'' Back in November, CNNMoney.com ranked physician assistant #2 in the 50 best jobs in America. Unfortunately, the U.S. News article makes a few mistakes (what is a ''physical ...

This week marks the beginning of a one month break from class! We are officially halfway through PA school! What better way to spend the break than in the hospital? I have mentioned before that shadowing during a break is a great way to spend your time. This December I am observing a clinician in cardiothoracic surgery at a children's hospital. ...

AAPA president Stephen Hanson has published an opinion piece, '''Make more of them' isn't the only solution to America's physician shortage,'' in The Bakersfield Californian endorsing PAs as an integral part of the solution to a growing physician shortage.  A Bakersfield resident, Hanson explains how PAs are primed to ...