As nonphysician practitioners, PA's are trained to understand their limitations, so they don't work on cases that are beyond their education, experience, skill level, or what the state law allows them to do, he added. PA Background PA's began treating patients nearly 30 years ago. They work in every type of medical and surgical specialty, clinics, operating rooms, the military, physicians' offices and HMO's. PA's can provide a broad range of medical services, as long as they do so under a physician's supervision. Depending on state requirements and the arrangement between the physician and the PA, they perform physical exams, diagnose, treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, assist in surgical treatment of a variety of clinical pathology, and sometimes write prescriptions.
Many states allow the physician assistant to practice in a satellite clinic.
Several dermatologists who use a PA said they often see a patient with the PA, help the PA decide the course of treatment and review and sign all medical charts. More than 25,000 PA's now practice in the United States, nearly one-quarter of them in large cities. Many assist in medically-underserved communities, prisons, rural clinics and in HIV medicine. About half practice primary care medicine. In some rural areas, a PA is the only health care provider and confers with the supervising physician at a distance.