From today, the Medical Council can begin registering physician associates (PAs) after rule changes earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The role<\/a> is hoped to unlock more pairs of hands for medical care and attract more overseas workers to rural practices.<\/p>\n Despite the role being newly regulated in NZ, physician associates are recognised medical professionals in healthcare systems around the world – particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada.<\/p>\n They work alongside doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to support the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of patients.<\/p>\n Health minister Simeon Brown previously explained it was a “mid-level role” – the medical paradigm’s equivalent of a nurse practitioner – working under the strict supervision of a doctor, helping with various tasks and taking the pressure off.<\/p>\n There had been some resistance to regulating the role, with health workers saying replacing them with PAs would be a poor use of money.<\/a><\/p>\n But the New Zealand Physician Associate Society hoped formalising their roles within the NZ system would improve access to timely care for patients.<\/p>\n About 60 PAs were already working in urban and rural communities throughout Aotearoa, in primary care and other clinical settings, it said.<\/p>\n Regulating the progression meant putting in place defined professional standards and ensuring accountability to the public.<\/p>\n All physician associates working in New Zealand had been trained internationally, due to the previous lack of regulation or training programmes.<\/p>\n The change meant local training can be put in place.<\/p>\n The New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association (NZRDA), union for junior doctors, urged people to be aware of the difference between doctors and physician associates – and remember they always had to right to clarify, and ask to see a doctor.<\/p>\n Dr Deborah Powell, national secretary of the NZRDA, said overseas evidence had shown confusion over this role had led to serious patient harm, and in the worst cases, preventable deaths.<\/p>\n