A physician assistant‘s safety is very important in today’s medical field when it comes to patient safety. This has especially been true during the COVID-19 pandemic where hospital staffs were getting overwhelmed with patients to where every available person with medical training was needed to handle the constant inflow of patients. Learn how a physician assistant safety is involved with patient safety below.
What is a Physician Assistant?
A physician assistant is a person who is an advanced healthcare provider and is licensed to practice clinical medicine under a physician’s supervision. A physician assistant can work in a number of different settings in order to provide care to a patient. These assistants (also known as “associates) receive training in general medicine and are second only to physicians when it comes to clinical education in the medical field.
These assistants are licensed to practice clinical medicine under a physician’s supervision to help provide primary medical care to patients. Depending upon each individual state, an assistant may or may not have to be in the same building as the physician in order to be able to administer primary medical care.
How They Improve Patient Safety
These associates improve patient safety in a number of different ways. They conduct extensive medical histories to ensure that a patient is viable for a specific medical procedure and can take specific medications without side effects. They perform diagnostic tests on patients and interpret them to evaluate what a patient needs in terms of procedures and treatment. They perform physical exams on patients to see what a patient’s current health is and help determine what procedures can be performed on a that patient.
Physician assistants play a more direct role in a patient’s care as well, often assisting physicians with surgeries, such as making incisions into a patient when needed. Like physicians, assistants need to follow all standards and protocols when it comes to patient safety, such as following the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act.
Sharp Fluidics provides product offerings to help assist physicians and physician assistants in maintaining and ensuring patient safety. Learn more about this and our other product offerings by scheduling a consultation.