Physician associates: RCP guidance limits role to “basic clinical and administrative tasks”
Physician associates (PAs) must “never function as a senior decision maker,” and resident doctors should never be made responsible for supervising them, says interim guidance from the Royal College of Physicians of London on the scope, supervision, and employment of PAs working in medical specialties.1 The guidance, developed by the college’s PA oversight group and approved by its council, said that PAs should not prescribe medications, must “clearly explain” their role to patients, families, and carers, and should carry out only “basic clinical …
