A physician assistant (PA) or more broadly known as “physician associate” to better delineate our role in providing timely and knowledgeable access to healthcare – is a licensed and nationally certified mid-level practitioner who is able to take medical histories, perform examinations, order and interpret diagnostic testing, diagnose illnesses/ disease, develop treatment plans and prescribe appropriate medications under the supervision of a physician.
Both of our providers are certified PAs who earned their Masters of Physician Assistant Studies degree at MUSC in Charleston. The PA program is a 27month rigorously intense program of 15 months of didactic education followed by rotational year. During rotational year, students gain extensive direct clinical experience in family medicine, internal medicine, women’s health, pediatrics, surgery, ER medicine, and psychiatric medicine. PA institutions- like MUSC- expect students to maintain an 85% average in all courses as well as a 3.0 overall GPA in order to keep good-standing within the program and progress, which is a counterpoint to many medical schools that require a 70% average to continue in the program. The educational difference between PA and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) is that PAs are trained under the same medical model as a physician whereas NPS are trained under a nursing model and typically have experience as a nurse.