In the United States, Physician Assistants (PAs) are non-physician clinicians licensed to practice medicine with a physician’s supervision. This supervision, in most cases, need not be direct or on site and many PAs practice in remote or underserved areas in satellite clinics. PAs can treat patients and, in most states, prescribe medicine, and in some states in the US they carry a DEA number that gives them authority to prescribe controlled medications like narcotics. PAs in surgical practices also serve as first assists in surgery. PAs provide medical services that are reimbursed under Medicare and third party insurances.
Physician Assistants held about 65,000 jobs in 2005. The number of jobs is greater than the number of practicing PAs because some hold two or more jobs. For example, some PAs work with a supervising physician, but also work in another practice, clinic, or hospital. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, there were about 58,665 certified PAs in clinical practice as of January 2006.
Just over 56 percent of PAs worked in the offices and clinics of physicians in 2005, either allopathic or osteopathic. About 36 percent were employed by hospitals. The rest were mostly in public health clinics, nursing homes, schools, prisons, home health care agencies, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, about 17 percent of all PAs provide health care to rural communities and those with fewer than 20,000 residents, in which physicians may be in limited supply.
In 2006, there are more than 130 accredited PA programs in existence in the United States. They are all accredited by one body — the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). A majority of them are master’s degree programs (requiring GRE for entry), but some are available as an undergraduate major. A number of these undergraduate programs are making a transition to graduate level training.
A Physician Assistant may use the post-nominal initials PA, RPA, PA-C or RPA-C, where the R indicates Registered and the C indicates “Certified.” The “R” designation is unique to only a couple of states; most Physician Assistants use the PA-C. The certification is granted by one certifying body, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners both provide similar services in most states, the major distinction being that nurse practitioners are registered nurses by trade. Nurse Practitioners require more training than physicians assistants, such as a Masters Degree in nursing. Both are also known as Advanced Practice Clinicians (APCs) or mid-level practitioners (MLPs).
PAs should not be confused with Medical Assistants, who perform routine clinical and clerical tasks in a physician’s office. A Medical Assistant (MA) is a multi-skilled allied healthcare practitioner who is competent in both a wide variety of clinical and laboratory procedures, as well as many administrative roles. Medical assistants have been described as healthcare’s most versatile, multifaceted professionals. Medical Assisting is an allied health profession whose practitioners function as members of the health care delivery team and perform administrative and clinical procedures.
Formal education of medical assistants usually occurs in vocational or technical institutes, community colleges, proprietary schools, or junior colleges. The course length usually ranges from 1 to 2 year programs, complete with externships. The curriculum presented must always be accredited if its graduates plan to become either certified or registered. In 2002, there were 495 medical assisting programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and about 170 accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education School (ABHES). Accreditation by either CAAHEP or ABHES usually requires that the schools curriculum provide sufficient classroom, lecture, and laboratory time (if applicable) to each of the courses below.
Administrative Courses
Computer Applications
Manual Recording of Patients’ Data
Scheduling Appointments
Maintaining medical Records
Word Processing/Typewriting/Keyboarding
Coding/Insurance
Telephone Triage
Personnel Management
General Courses
Anatomy and Physiology
Behavioral Psychology
Pathophysiology
Medical Terminology
AIDS/HIV
Patient Education
Medical Law and Ethics
Clinical Courses
Phlebotomy
l Medical Asepsis/Infection Control
Pharmacology/Administration of Medications
Assisting Techniques/Physical Examination
Assisting with Minor Surgery
Basic Laboratory Procedures/Routine Blood and Urine Testing
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
X-Ray Theory and Positioning
Electrocardiogram (EKG)
Certification is a voluntary process which is strongly backed by the AAMA and a number of other well respected certification bodies in the USA as a way to guarantee competency of a medical assistant at a job-entry level. However, in order to be eligible for certification one must attend a school which has been accredited by either CAAHEP or ABHES.
Certification is usually achieved by taking a test issued by the National Board of Medical Examiners and AAMA, or AMT, or NHA and is offered twice yearly, simultaneously, at over 200 different test sites across the United States.
Successful completion of the rather intense exam earns the taker the proper credentials to become a Certified Medical Assistant, or CMA. National certification is legally required in order for any medical assistant to adhere to CMA status. The title CMA then follows postnominally.
Recertification must occur every 5 years in order for one to maintain their credentials. There are two ways to do this; one may either continually earn continuing education hours by attending CMA meetings, conventions and seminars, or by completely retaking the initial exam to prove they still possess a certain level of knowledge.
A medical assistant may choose another possible credential over CMA, and become a Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) instead. Again, credentialing is completely voluntary. The American Technologists (AMT) agency is responsible for certifying MAs who choose this course.
AMT first began offering this certification in 1972 on the months of June and November, through a computerized exam, much like the one offered by the AAMA. AMT therefore has its own conventions and committees, bylaws, state chapters, officers, registrations and revalidation examinations.
To become eligible to hold the title of RMA a student must be at least 18-years-old, pass a medical assisting curriculum at a school accredited by either ABHES or CAAHEP and possess a minimum of 5 years experience. The initials RMA then follow the individual’s name.
RMAs have historically been very active in legislation, seeking protection for medical assistants, as well as continuously encouraging improved educational curriculums.
August 21st, 2010Medical AssistantRead More >No Comments
You will find that the Rocky Mountain National Park is located on land that is beautiful and yet not too welcoming to long term visitors. You will find that many people who have come to the park have left their impression of the park firmly embedded. As with many different parks you will find that Rocky Mountain National Park has a host of activities to enjoy.
You will find what these are when you look at the brochures for the park. You will also be able to find the various sights in the park when you use the park map. The history of this park is a testament to the vision that some people had to ensure that our children have a place where they can visit in peace.
To help you have a great time at this national park you will find many different types of lodgings where you can stay during your visit. Each of these will have amenities which will fit well in your budget. Some of the Rocky Mountain National Park lodgings will have executive style rooms, wet bars, solariums and other facilities.
There are some lodgings which resemble scaled down hotels or luxurious cabins. All in all you will discover that you have a wide choice of different places where you can stay in. The many different lodgings in this national park will provide you with all of the needs that many people look for when they are going on holiday.
Of all of these holiday facilities you will find that the some lodgings are more requested and highly popular than others. You will need to see if these Rocky Mountain National Park lodgings are ones that you will be able to afford. This is vital as you will need to stay in these places while you are in the park. Once you have found the lodging which is most appropriate you will need to check out other facts.
Among the other information you should look up is what sort of amenities you will find. These should include the medical facilities; food, gas for your car and also where you can find help if your car should develop some problems.
You will find that while you can visit this park for an extended sty it is best if you are prepared for staying here. So the next tine that you are looking for a challenge you might want to pay a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park.
August 21st, 2010Medical ParkRead More >No Comments
Radiology makes use of medical imaging technologies in the diagnoses and treatment of diseases. Radiological imaging involves the use of high frequency sound waves, magnetic fields, and radioactivity. It is used to produce images of the human body for clinical purposes and medical photography. Medical imaging is used in various cases of invasive angiography and in the detection of brain damages among others. Most of the super speciality hospitals and trauma care centres deal with an array of radiology products. There is a huge demand for trained manpower to handle radiology software.
At present there is a considerable shortage of qualified radiologists and this has resulted in the outsourcing of radiology jobs to different parts of the world. There are many Radiology Communities, which offer a common platform for all radiology professionals to exchange information and ideas on the advanced techniques. The online radiology communities also play an important role in the propagation of this technology in medical world. It offers a common meeting point for technologists to forge business relationships and to outsource radiology reading The state of the art radiology products help to perform a wide range of examinations without the need for using any additional CR units. It ensures precise results and improves productivity of the technologists.
Medical imaging also helps in creating customized settings for image presentation according to exam type or body part, without making frequent adjustments. The technologists can update their knowledge at the many radiology conferences that highlight the path breaking inventions in this field.Radiology has indeed evolved to be a new generation science with the latest equipments and software being added on to it regularly. Imaging human body has become as easy as never before, thanks to these high precision imaging techniques
August 21st, 2010Medical GroupRead More >No Comments