Could Physician Assistants Help Solve Canada’s Healthcare Staffing Crisis? – National

Kevin Dickson treats dozens of patients a day in the emergency department of Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton.

He does physical exams, takes medical histories, develops treatment plans and discharges patients.

But Dickson is not a doctor, nurse or surgeon. He’s a medical assistant.

Working at a hospital that, like most others in Canada, is struggling to cope with healthcare staff shortages and increased patient demand, Dickson says he’s happy to have the opportunity to help. to close the gaps in the system, namely to see more patients who need medical care.

“We are seeing unprecedented wait times here in the emergency department almost daily,” he said.

“I see 20-30 patients who wouldn’t otherwise be seen, and that in itself is gratifying.”

Physician Assistants, or Physician Assistants, are medical professionals who have been part of Canada’s military medical system since the 1960s, but are relatively new to provincial and territorial health systems.

There are less than 1,000 certified physician assistants in Canada.

But now, with many frontline healthcare workers calling for urgent action to deal with a staffing shortage ‘crisis’ that has caused a slew of emergency room closures across Canada in recent months, physician assistants are uniquely positioned to help, says Patrick Nelson, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants.

However, many are frustrated by a general lack of awareness of their profession and a lack of training opportunities in Canada, he said.

Only three universities in the country offer PA training programs outside of the Canadian Armed Forces which, combined, offer only 69 seats. As a result, the demand for these seats has become very competitive. This year alone, 3,000 candidates were vying for these limited training availabilities, Nelson said.

“These days, when the health care system grapples with our health workforce challenges, it can sometimes be frustrating to know that there are literally thousands and thousands of our young people trying to keep up with a training in Canada and there are only 69 spots in the whole country,” he said.

Physician assistants work within the public health care system of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick, in addition to the military, and practice under the supervision of a licensed physician.

2:11
Physician assistants not yet established in Saskatchewan

Their training allows them to work in a wide range of health care settings and they can perform many tasks normally performed by a full physician for routine or simple cases. This frees up time and availability for physicians and surgeons to handle more complicated cases and creates opportunities for PAs and physicians to spend more time with their patients.

According to the Canadian Medical Association, physicians across Canada in nearly every specialty area are reporting higher levels of burnout than ever before, but physician assistants say they are ready and willing to do more to help. , Nelson said.

“They don’t feel overworked and tired. They feel like they could contribute more and they haven’t been able to contribute more,” he said.

“This presents a pretty significant opportunity.”

Most provincial and territorial governments are open to the idea of ​​expanding legislative regulations to allow physician assistants to work within their health care systems, and regulatory bodies such as colleges of physicians have been equally open and responsive,” Nelson said.

A number of universities with existing medical schools have also expressed interest in starting new training programs for physician assistants, he added.

It’s just a matter of governments making it a priority to increase funding and attention to this progress, Nelson said.

A 2016 analysis by the Conference Board of Canada on the value of PAs in Canada also highlighted compensation mechanisms, including fee-for-service models, as a barrier to introducing PAs into the provincial health systems.

1:51
Call for More Physician Assistants in Health Care

Meanwhile, the financial incentive to get ahead might be worth the time and effort.

Adding PA to the health care system could save up to $1.1 billion, according to a separate 2017 analysis by the Conference Board of Canada.

Dickson says he understands that adding new health care practitioners to Canada’s current system is not an easy or quick proposition. But physician assistants can lighten the load for physicians across Canada who repeat the refrain that their work and the burden of their patients are unsustainable, Nelson said.

“In Ontario and Manitoba, the addition (of a physician assistant) to a family doctor’s practice allows them to take almost 900 additional patients who have not been assigned to physicians,” said he declared.

“When you face those kinds of numbers, then it becomes a little clearer for provinces that haven’t legislated or regulated PAs to better look at the situation, to get involved. »