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Research Assessment #2

Date: ​August 28, 2019

Subject: ​The Role of Physician Assistants in Primary Care

Source:

​Cawley, James F. “Physician Assistants and Their Role in Primary Care.” ​Journal of Ethics |

American Medical Association​, American Medical Association, 1 May 2012,

journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/physician-assistants-and-their-role-primary-care/201

2-05.

Assessment:

The article “Physician Assistants and Their Role in Primary Care,” analyzes the role of

Physician Assistants (PA) in the medical field, specifically focusing on the specialty of primary

care. Although, there is rapid growth in the PA profession there has been a decline in the number

of Physician Assistants specializing in primary care. The article addresses this issue by

discussing the importance of PAs in primary care roles. Physician Assistants can diagnose, treat

illnesses, counsel on preventive health care, and prescribe medication. Therefore, in the primary

care setting, PAs can treat all patients which allow doctors to focus on more emergent patient

cases.

The information outlined in the article will be useful to me because it discusses the

different PA specialties, the education required to become a Physician Assistant, and the vital

need for them in the medical field. As an Independent Study and Mentorship (ISM) student it is

crucial for me to have a great amount of knowledge over my desired topic of study: Physician

Assistant. This knowledge will benefit me when working alongside an accredited Physician
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Assistant because it will teach me how to be professional in a healthcare environment. The

article, also, revealed to me many specialties of Physician Assistant that I was not aware of.

Therefore, when looking for my mentor in the ISM class, I can search for more specific

specialities.

This article helped to expand my previous knowledge of the PA profession and better

equip me for the future. The article discussed some information that I was already familiar with;

for example, the roles of a Physician Assistant and the education process to become a PA. Not

only did the article reiterate my previous insight on Physician Assistant, it also taught me much

more about the PA occupation. For instance, I learned about the decline of Physician Assistants

in the specialty of primary care and just how important they are in the primary care environment.

This article did not change any of my previous knowledge; however, it did make me more aware

of how important the PA role is.

I have already used this information to enhance my understanding of the diverse

occupation of a Physician Assistant. However, I plan to use this information in the future when

looking for a mentor during the interview process and explaining the PA occupation during

various presentations. Based on the article, my interest has sparked in the different Physician

Assistant specialties and why the primary care specialty has seen a decline. I wonder if the

various areas of specialities have different salaries and different roles. I plan to further research

and investigate this throughout my Independent Study and Mentorship journey.

The ideas presented throughout this article were factual and credible because the source it

came from was a reliable and well-known organization. The article used a plethora of different

statistics to enhance its overall credibility. The knowledge I gained from reading and analyzing
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this article will help me reach my goals. Overall, the article contained helpful information that

piqued my interest and got me excited to research further.