Physician Assistant (ENT)

Job Title

Physician Assistant

Duties

The VA West Palm Beach Healthcare System offers a wide range of services from minor same day surgery procedures to complex procedures involving specialized high-tech equipment including cardiothoracic and general surgery, hand surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, plastic surgery and vascular surgery. The physician assistant will work closely with their respective team and assist in the management of surgical patients. They will be responsible for providing and coordinating comprehensive care for assigned patients including comprehensive assessments, ordering appropriate laboratory and x-ray studies, consulting and referring to physicians and other health care members as appropriate. The Surgical Physician Assistant will practice medicine as a member of a team with their Supervising Surgeon. The Surgical Physician Assistant will provide on-call coverage as needed/required by the Surgical Service and actively participate and comply with hospital policies and initiatives regarding patient safety and care. Working as a member of the health care team they will promote and maintain health by providing the following medical services:

• 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.
• Carrying out health promotion, disease prevention, and patient education activities.
• Ordering 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.
• Writing orders for or prescribing medications.
• 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. The PA may be delegated the responsibility of documenting operative notes if present for the procedure, but the operative surgeon must review and co-sign the note. They 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.
• Obtaining and documenting informed consent for treatments and procedures for which the PA is responsible.
• Providing education and counseling of patients and families in preventive care, medical conditions, and the use of prescribed treatments and drugs.