Physician assistants: education, practice and global interest.

Background: In the United States, the physician assistant (PA) model has proven to be a cost-effective way to train quality primary care providers with a high degree of acceptance of the PA role by patients and other healthcare providers.

Aim: Discuss PA model as it pertains to other countries.

Methods: Review of relevant literature related to physician assistant education, practice and global interest.

Results: Several countries including the United Kingdom, Scotland, Canada, The Netherlands, Taiwan, South Africa and Ghana are exploring or re-exploring the concept of the physician assistant as a way to quickly and efficiently train and employ autonomous and flexible health workers to address their nation's healthcare needs.

Conclusions: Physician assistant education is efficient and flexible and the PA model can be easily adapted to the specific health system needs of other nations. In addition, many PA programs have affiliation agreements with institutions outside of the United States to host PA students for clinical rotations and there is an ever-growing interest by students in international rotations. The Physician Assistant Education Association along with the American Academy of Physician Assistants is actively involved with sharing information about the PA profession with other countries.