Celebrating Physician Assistants Week

  • Published
  • By Gail Murray
  • 66th Medical Group
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  National Physician Assistants Week is Oct. 6 to 12. The 66th Medical Group recognizes the PAs on its own team, Col. Randy Dobbins, 66 MDG commander, Army Captain David DiGregorio and 1st Lt. Michael Sciortino, 66 MDG physician assistants.

Physician assistants are board credentialed or licensed medical professionals who are trained to perform much of the same duties as the doctors in their fields and to work as their partners.

PAs work in a variety of fields, including general internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, general and thoracic surgery, dermatology, emergency medicine, geriatrics, orthopedics, psychology, pathology and radiology.

Physician assistants have become increasingly vital in healthcare since the first PAs, composed mainly of military medics who received their training during the Vietnam conflict, graduated from Duke University in 1967 and entered the workforce. The profession is currently one of the fastest growing in the U.S., with more than 141 accredited education programs.

PAs serve in all branches of the U.S. military, the U.S. Coast Guard and Public Health Service as practiced clinicians in advanced casualty care, medical management of chemical injuries and aviation medicine.