Military emergency medicine physician assistants.

For well over 200 years, non-physician practitioners have been providing quality, supplemental medical care in civilian and military communities worldwide. Physician shortages, increased accessibility, and cost-effectiveness have made supplemental health care especially appealing in the 1990s. Physician assistants are perhaps the most well-known of these physician extenders. Initially incorporated into the primary care system, physician assistants are now encouraged to specialize. One of the newest and most exciting areas of specialization is emergency medicine with residency programs available at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas and Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington.