Physician Assistants (PA) are academically prepared and highly skilled health care professionals who provide a broad range of medical services. PAs are physician extenders and not independent practitioners; they work with a degree of autonomy, negotiated and agreed on by the supervising physician and the PA. PAs can work in any clinical setting to extend physician services. PAs complement existing services and aid in improving patient access to health care. A relationship with a supervising physician is essential to the role of the PA.

The PA’s scope of practice is determined on an individual basis and formally outlined in a practice contract or agreement among the supervising physician, the PA and often the facility or service where the PA will work. Activities may include conducting patient interviews, histories and physical examinations; performing selected diagnostic and therapeutic interventions or procedures; and counseling patients on preventive health care.

In Canada, 250 PAs currently work in health care settings, primarily in Manitoba and Ontario. There are approximately 150 students currently enrolled in PA programs in Canada and it is expected that there will be 188 students in January of 2011. PAs are gradually being introduced in other provinces, and evaluation of their impact on access, wait times, quality of care and both patient and provider satisfaction is ongoing.

As the profession’s national organization, CAPA advocates PAs practising in all parts of Canada in both military and civilian sectors. On behalf of the profession, CAPA’s mission is to advocate endorsement of the physician–PA model of care as well as to ensure a national standard of education and certification of PAs that justify the trust of health care colleagues and the patients we serve.