Caring for the disadvantaged: the role of physician assistants.

Objective: We investigated community health centers (CHCs) and the roles of physician assistants (PAs) within them. Our goals were to broadly describe PA practice characteristics within CHCs, to explore why PAs work in CHCs, and to understand patient perspectives of PAs.

Methods: We evaluated 10 CHCs in Texas (5 urban and 5 rural), using an ethnographic approach to examine attitudes and beliefs of PAs, medical staff, and patients.

Results: Nine of the 10 clinics used PAs interchangeably with physicians, and most medical staff and patients perceived few differences between them. Patients view all providers as highly effective and genuinely concerned for their patients.

Conclusions: We found that clinicians and staff believe in the work they do, report that they function as a team, and seem to like their roles. It appears that working with the medically underserved and economically disadvantaged enables PAs to thrive.