Evaluating the need for physician assistants in sport and exercise medicine
Date
2019
Authors
Peabody, Jeremy
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Injuries in sport, are a common occurrence. When these injuries occur, it can affect the patient outside of sport. Therefore, the 19.8 week wait time to see a specialist in Manitoba can be more devastating than the injury itself.(1) This paper aims to investigate the impact of implementing a physician assistant within existing sport and exercise medicine teams. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent off to six sport and exercise medicine physicians to understand the perceived scope of practice of a physician assistant, barriers to hiring a physician assistant, and preferred supervisory relationships. Using various sources, a comparison of each providers scope of practice was completed. A literature review was performed to evaluate physician assistant cost effectiveness and physician assistant’s effect on wait times. RESULTS: The sport and exercise medicine physicians showed limited understanding of the physician assistant’s full scope of practice. The most commonly expressed barrier to hiring a physician assistant was cost/funding. Only under direct supervision, physician assistants were trusted with the entire scope of practice of the supervising physician. In primary care, surgical and emergency cases, physician assistants have been shown to be cost effective if utilized to their full scope of practice. In the surgical setting, physician assistants showed the most significant reduction in wait times. CONCLUSION: Physician assistants have a broad scope of practice enabling them to extend the care of the attending physician and in some cases act as substitutes in the field of sport and exercise medicine. Since Manitoban sport and exercise medicine physicians do not know the entire scope of practice of physician assistants, this limits their ability to improve cost and wait times of the already existing sport and exercise medicine team.
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Keywords
Sport medicine, Exercise medicine