physician assistant
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physician assistant
a health care professional who is able to perform certain of a physician's duties, serving in either of two roles: assistant to the primary care physician (PA) or surgeon assistant (SA). The PA possesses the knowledge and skill to perform history taking, physical examination, drawing of blood samples, urinalysis, electrocardiographic examination, and routine therapeutic procedures, such as injections, immunizations, and suturing of wounds, all under the supervision of a physician. Graduates of accredited physician assistant programs who successfully complete the National Certifying Examination for Primary Care Physician Assistants are designated PA-C, Physician Assistant–Certified. The address of the American Academy of Physician Assistants is 950 N. Washington Ave., Alexandria, VA 22314.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
phy·si·cian as·sis·tant (P.A., PA),
(fi-zish'ŭn a-sis'tănt),A person who is trained, certified, and licensed to perform history taking, physical examination, diagnosis, and treatment of commonly encountered medical problems, and certain technical skills, under the supervision of a licensed physician, and who thereby extends the physician's capacity to provide medical care. Many subspecialties exist (for example, orthopedist's assistant, sports injury assistant, pediatrician's assistant).
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
physician assistant
n. Abbr. PA
A person trained to provide a variety of medical services, usually under the supervision of a physician.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
physician assistant
PA Medtalk A person qualified to perform various physician-supervised medical tasks–eg, taking Pt Hx, performing physical exams and autopsies Education 2 yrs beyond college or university. See Pathologists' assistant, Physician extender.McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
phy·si·cian as·sis·tant
(fi-zish'ŭn ă-sis'tănt)Someone certified to provide basic medical services under the supervision of a licensed medical physician.
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012
phy·si·cian as·sis·tant
(PA) (fi-zish'ŭn ă-sis'tănt)One trained, certified, and licensed to perform history taking, physical examination, diagnosis, and treatment of commonly encountered medical problems, and some technical skills, under the supervision of a licensed physician, and who thereby extends the physician's capacity to provide medical care.
Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012
Patient discussion about physician assistant
Q. What is a physician assistant? What are the differences betwwen it and MD? My son want to be a doctor (MD). I think it might be to hard for him. I know that there is something called physician assistant can someone elaborate more about this profession?
A. physician assistant are just like full doctors except they need a MD to sign some of the forms they have.
You can see more about the academic program here
http://paprogram.mc.duke.edu/
More discussions about physician assistantYou can see more about the academic program here
http://paprogram.mc.duke.edu/
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