Written by Rebecca Budde, SIU School of Medicine
Do you find yourself talking with your doctor’s nurse or physician assistant more often than you used to? Does it sometimes take longer than you wish to schedule an appointment with your doctor? Do you ever feel like you need more time at your appointment?
The disproportionate number of Americans needing health care and the amount of providers who can meet their needs continues to be an issue for the country.
The reasons:
- an increase in the aging population
- an increase in chronic conditions
- the Affordable Care Act giving medical coverage to more people
So what’s going on in the medical world to help this problem?
Increasing the number of health care providers such as physician assistants (PA) and nurse 
practitioners (NP) could alleviate the physician shortage, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Planning for the future has caused health education programs, including SIU School of Medicine, to think differently about how to train health care providers.
SIU School of Medicine’s rigorous Physician Assistant program in Carbondale runs consecutively for 26 months. (Read more about the program here.) Students learn from traditional studies as well as labs, lectures and hands-on clinical experience.
What does the future hold for these careers?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 38.4% increase in the employment of physician assistants from 2012-22, a much faster growth than other occupations. This need for providers combined with competitive salaries and flexible work hours makes physician assistants #1 on a list of the best jobs in America for 2015, according to U.S. News & World Report.
But what’s in it for the patient?
Some patients specifically ask for the PA or NP because they may have more time to spend listening to them or the patient may just have a better rapport with that person. Becky Hanna, a physician assistant for SIU Family and Community Medicine, says physician assistants can help with patients who have tight schedules or lack transportation and can only come to appointments on certain days when the doctor isn’t in clinic. (Read more about SIU’s PAs here.)
Physician assistants and advanced practice nurses are essential in the health care model: They can contract with insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid; order labs and tests; diagnose and even prescribe medication. The future of the health care system is dependent upon the growth of these providers working together with physicians.
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