Stewart Antony, Catanzaro Rachel
Public Health, North Birmingham Primary Care Trust, Birmingham.
Clin Med (Lond). 2005 Jul-Aug;5(4):344-8. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.5-4-344.
The National Health Sevice (NHS) faces a serious shortage of medical staff. One solution is to introduce US-style physician assistants (PAs) who train for around two years following previous clinical work or a first degree, and perform duties similar to junior doctors. This paper reviews the history and role of PAs, the quality of their work and their likely impact in the UK. A variety of sources were searched to identify suitable studies. The use of PAs in the UK appears to be an acceptable model that could eventually reduce the current skill shortage and provide high quality patient care. Twelve US-sourced PAs currently work in Sandwell, West Midlands. A recent report suggests they have made a substantial contribution to primary care and have improved patient access. For PAs to be successful in the UK, they must be highly regarded practitioners. High quality educational courses must be established to ensure their credibility.
国民医疗服务体系（NHS）面临着严重的医务人员短缺问题。一种解决办法是引入美国式的医师助理（PAs），他们在之前有临床工作经验或获得本科学位后接受大约两年的培训，并履行与初级医生类似的职责。本文回顾了医师助理的历史和作用、他们的工作质量以及他们在英国可能产生的影响。我们检索了各种来源以确定合适的研究。在英国使用医师助理似乎是一个可接受的模式，最终可能会减少当前的技能短缺并提供高质量的患者护理。目前有12名来自美国的医师助理在西米德兰兹郡的桑德韦尔工作。最近的一份报告表明，他们为初级医疗做出了重大贡献，并改善了患者就医机会。为使医师助理在英国取得成功，则他们必须是备受推崇的从业者。必须开设高质量的教育课程以确保其可信度。
