Physician Assistant - General Surgery

Job Title

Physician Assistant (PA)

Duties

The Physician Assistant (PA) will work closely with their respective team and assist in the management of General Surgery patients. They will be responsible for providing and coordinating General Surgery care for assigned patients including assessments, ordering appropriate laboratory and diagnostic studies, consulting and referring to physicians and other health care members as appropriate. The PA must also be able to perform independent direct patient care, including but not limited to history-taking, physical exams, and progress notes for General Surgery patients. PA's practice with clinical oversight, consultation, and input by a designated collaborating physician. Although PA's are not Licensed Independent Practitioners, they are authorized to practice with defined levels of autonomy and exercise independent medical decision making within their scope of practice.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Obtaining medical histories and performing physical examinations.
• Providing and coordinating medical care for assigned patients in any care setting, including establishing diagnoses, formulating, and implementing care plans, and providing follow-up care.
• Evaluating outpatients to determine the need for further health care.
• Ordering diagnostic studies and other special tests, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT) scans, etc.
• Carrying out health promotion, disease prevention, and patient education activities.
• Ordering or obtaining laboratory specimens.
• Ordering ancillary services, such as, pharmacy, social services, physical medicine and rehabilitation therapies, prosthetic services, etc.
• Ordering VA specialty service consults and initiating requests for non-VA medical care and consults in accordance with VHA and local facility policy and procedures.
• Ordering patient care supplies.
• Admitting and discharging patients in consultation with, and on behalf of, the collaborating physician, obtaining admission history and performing physical examinations, conducting patient rounds, documenting progress notes and summaries in the patient record, and writing patient orders on assigned patients.
• PAs may be delegated the responsibility of documenting operative notes if the PA was present for the procedure, but the operative surgeon must review and co-sign the note. The PA may also be delegated the task of documenting the discharge summary, but the collaborating physician must write a discharge note, or co-sign the discharge summary written by the PA in accordance with The Joint Commission standards that are applicable. Other patient record entries by PAs, including medical histories, physical examinations, progress notes, service consults, and patient orders do not require physician co-signature unless specifically required by Federal law, VA policy, or the standards of applicable external accrediting bodies.
• Obtaining and documenting informed consent for treatments and procedures for which the PA is responsible. The PA's Scope of Practice must authorize obtaining informed consent for the treatment or procedure being performed. In addition, the Scope of Practice must authorize the PA to perform the procedure or provide the treatment for which the consent is being obtained or to actively participate as an integral member of the treatment team performing the procedure such as assisting the primary surgeon. NOTE: The PA need not participate in the particular procedure the patient is scheduled to undergo but the PA must be authorized to perform or participate in the procedure by their Scope of Practice and must have sufficient knowledge and training in the treatment or procedure, its indications, risk and benefits, complications, and alternative treatments, to effectively counsel the patient.
• Providing education and counseling of patients and families in preventive care, medical conditions, and the use of prescribed treatments and drugs.
• Writing orders for or prescribing medications as allowed.
• Other related duties as assigned.