Feedback Professional Information PAs are highly skilled professionals educated to use the same medical procedures as their physician counterparts. For example, PAs take medial histories, perform physical examinations, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret laboratory test, perform minor surgery, and in most states can prescribe medicine.
PAs practice in virtually every medical specialty, ranging from family medicine to surgery.
The first PA program was started by Dr. Eugene Stead at Duke University in 1965. Educational programs for PAs are generally associated with colleges of medicine and vary from 20 to 24 months in length. The PA role is legally associated with a supervising physician, and it allows PAs to perform tasks that were previously only associated with doctors. PAs are trained both academically and clinically to provide health care services under the responsible, direct supervision of a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathy. PAs cannot receive direct reimbursement from third parties like insurance companies, but their services are frequently billed for indirectly through their supervising physician.