Gifford Alisa, Hyde Mark, Stoehr James D
Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona, USA.
JAAPA. 2011 Jun;24(6):34, 36-8. doi: 10.1097/01720610-201106000-00007.
This study evaluates emergency physicians' perceptions of the malpractice risk posed by utilization of physician assistants (PAs) in emergency departments (EDs) in 2004 and again in 2009.
A 16-question survey was mailed to a random sample of 1,000 active members of the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2004 and again in 2009.
In both 2004 and 2009, 70% of the emergency physicians did not believe that PAs, when properly supervised, are more likely to commit malpractice than any other clinician. In both surveys, 80% of the respondents did not believe PAs were more likely to be sued for malpractice. A significant negative correlation was found between perceived risk of malpractice by PAs and the number of years physicians had worked with PAs or had worked in emergency medicine. From 2004 to 2009, the number of respondents practicing with PAs increased by 26%, the number directly supervising a PA in the ED increased by 19%, the number who thought PAs decreased patient wait times increased by 13%, and the number who reported that PAs increased patient satisfaction increased by 10%.
As physicians gain clinical experience with PAs, their perceived risk of malpractice tends to decrease. These results may have implications for the utilization of PAs, particularly as EDs become more utilized for noncritical situations.
本研究评估了急诊医师对2004年及2009年急诊科使用医师助理（PA）所带来的医疗事故风险的认知。
2004年和2009年分别向1000名美国急诊医师学会在职会员的随机样本邮寄了一份包含16个问题的调查问卷。
在2004年和2009年，70%的急诊医师认为，在得到适当监督的情况下，医师助理并不比其他任何临床医生更有可能出现医疗事故。在两项调查中，80%的受访者认为医师助理不太可能因医疗事故被起诉。医师助理的医疗事故感知风险与医师与医师助理共事的年数或从事急诊医学工作的年数之间存在显著的负相关。从2004年到2009年，与医师助理一起执业的受访者人数增加了26%，在急诊科直接监督医师助理的人数增加了19%，认为医师助理缩短了患者等待时间的人数增加了13%，报告医师助理提高了患者满意度的人数增加了10%。
随着医师积累了与医师助理共事的临床经验，他们感知到的医疗事故风险往往会降低。这些结果可能对医师助理的使用产生影响，尤其是在急诊科越来越多地用于处理非危急情况时。
