Everyone seeks a way to maintain quality delivery of care in a setting of cost containment. Mid-level practitioners, such as physician assistants, offer a viable solution to this social dilemma. Thus, I see the role of physician assistants in primary care as a role that will become more prominent, demanded and required not only in today's but in tomorrow's health care delivery system. Barry University's Physician Assistant Program prepares its students to develop critical decision-making skills. There are many critical decisions that must be made in medicine.
Patients are often ill prepared to decide without the counsel of a caring practitioner.
Barry students are nurtured to consider all aspects of a patient's care and to recognize that different solutions may be called for in different patients. Also, as more PAs are being trained and are entering the workplace, the public is developing more confidence in them and the experience that society has in being cared for by PAs will pave the way for an even larger role. The team that takes care of any patient involves a physician, a nurse, a physician assistant, sometimes a nurse practitioner, technicians, aides, secretaries and ancillary providers such as x-ray technicians, phlebotomists among others. Every excellent practitioner acknowledges this team commitment to patient care and it enhances the total care that a patient receives. There is usually a strong camaraderie between all members of the health care team.