page_title: Physician assistant
section_title: Federal government, uniformed services, and US armed forces
hierarchical_section_title: Physician assistant / United States / Federal government, uniformed services, and US armed forces
caption_attribution_description: English: Capt. Brian McKeon examines insect bites on a Soldier's arm during sick call at the Golby Troop Medical Clinic on Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo by Maj. Bobby Hart, TF3 MEDCOM Public Affairs)
context_page_description: A physician assistant in the United States, Canada and other select countries or physician associate in the United Kingdom is an Advanced Practice Provider who is educated in general medicine and trained to practice medicine. PAs may practice autonomously and independent of physicians or collaboratively with physicians depending on the legislation in the state or province in which the PA practices. In cases where PA collaboration is required, physicians do not need to be on-site with PAs and collaboration or supervision often occurs via electronic means when consults are necessary. The scope of practice of PA's varies by jurisdiction and healthcare setting. Although the title of Physician Assistant in the United States and Canada consists of the word assistant, the role rarely consists of assisting physicians. The profession is currently exploring a title change to better describe the modern role of PAs. The title Physician Associate or Associate Physician has been favoured by many in the profession, similar to the recent title change in the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: PAs are employed by the United States Department of State as foreign service health practitioners. PAs working in this capacity may be deployed anywhere in the world where there is a State Department facility. They provide primary care to US government employees and their families in American embassies and consulates around the world. An important part of their jobs is to get to know what resources are available locally that they can count on in an emergency. They have some other important roles, such as advising their ambassadors on the health situation in the country and provide health education to the diplomatic community. In order to be considered for the position these PAs must be licensed and have at least two years of recent experience in primary care.
  Military PAs serve in the White House Medical Unit, where they provide care to the president and vice president and their families as well as White House staff.
  They are employed by several organizations with the intelligence community, specifically the Central Intelligence Agency. While much of the job description is classified, they work under the Directorate of Support and are deployed to "austere environments" where they provide medical care, including trauma stabilization, and teach in the fields of survival, field medicine, and tactical combat casualty care.
  United States Army PAs serve as Medical Specialist Corps officers, typically within Army combat or combat support battalions located in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas. These include infantry, armor, cavalry, airborne, artillery, and (if the PA qualifies) special forces units. They serve as the "front line" of Army medicine and along with combat medics are responsible for the total health care of soldiers assigned to their unit, as well as of their family members.
  PAs also serve in the Air Force and Navy as clinical practitioners and aviation medicine specialists, as well as in the Coast Guard and Public Health Service. The skills required for these PAs are similar to that of their civilian colleagues, but additional training is provided in advanced casualty care, medical management of chemical injuries, aviation medicine, and military medicine. In addition, military PAs are also required to meet the officer commissioning requirements, and maintain the professional and physical readiness standards of their respective services.
  The marine physician assistant is a US Merchant Marine staff officer. A certificate of registry is granted through The United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center located in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Formal training programs for marine physician assistants began in September, 1966 at the Public Service Health Hospital located in Staten Island, N.Y.
caption: Physician Assistant in US armed forces
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