History Of Physician Assistant

The concept of PAs arose in the 1960s however throughout the early twentieth century doctors commonly had assistants. For centuries, people without medical school training and who were not fully trained doctors, were essential to the provision of healthcare. During the 1930s a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, by the name of George Crile, had one of the earliest examples of a Physician Assistant. This associate, an informally trained surgical and urology specialist, came to be nicknamed the “world’s first PA”(hooker 18). Furthermore, this assistant became the prototype for today’s urology PA. Another model for the Physician Assistant today went by the name of Vivian Thomas. For years Vivian worked at the right hand of Hopkins surgeon, Alfred

The word physician takes on various meanings in different nations and therefore makes the title somewhat confusing. (Hooker 8) Originally the name was coined to simply describe the job of a PA; an assistant who could handle various aspects of a physician’s work. The term was never copyrighted and is not legally recognized nationally or internationally. (Hooker 8) With this said, National Physician Assistant Day is widely observed on October 6 each year. At the end of the day it is left up to the state to set standards and regulations that ultimately define the term “physician assistant.” In the United States individuals who have graduated from an accredited program and/or who have passed the ACCPA examination meet the regulations and can be considered a physician assistant. (Hooker 9) Some arguments regarding the term PA come from the use of the word assistant. This phrase implies that these individuals have only entry-level training and knowledge when in fact they go above and beyond simply assisting physicians. Although some think of the name as patronizing it is not guaranteed that changing the name would fix that. With time comes understanding and understanding comes from education. It should not matter what PAs are called just that they do their job with respect and