Physicians Associates

I'd guess because they're cheaper..

Why do we have PAs when there aren't enough jobs for newly qualified doctors?

I changed doctors because all I keep getting was Appointments with PA .. was no continuation of care was diabolical

Just to add- this is my exact field and I can’t think of a single drug that has been convincingly linked to both clefting and deafness. Clefting would onlY be a concern with use in the first ~11 weeks and deafness would be later in pregnancy

I’d want to know what the drug was. Many drugs have the odd pregnancy study that has thrown up a possible safety concern. That has to be balanced against all of the other data as well as the benefits to you and your baby of treating your condition. Your stage of pregnancy also needs to be taken into account. Pharmacists are often not the best people to assess this as they veer towards blanket avoidance

I am not arguing, I am simply saying mistakes are more likely to happen when anyone, working within the scope of their training, is under pressure or services are under resourced.

Trimethoprim I would imagine. Folate antagonist.

Thats a paramedic practitioner, they are very commonplace and can prescribe. The ones I've come across are quite good as they're usually more knowledgeable and 'nicer' than GP.

If you can still make mistakes with 5 years medical school and 5-7 years postgrad training head training as a GP, how on earth are you arguing that a PA with a 2 year course isn’t going to make many, many more mistakes? Less training. Less exposure. Little basic medical science content in their course.

In my experience they are being over used and expected to do too much. They make prescription decisions well above their pay grade.

They can't prescribe but they do in practice. Some surgeries are staffed mainly by PAs and other none doctors such as nurse practitioner or ACP. Overseen by a GP who is ultimately responsible.
I had a PA miss a red flag which was picked up when I went back and saw a GP.
I'm equally concerned about nurse practitioners or nurse specialists making decisions on complex patients.

If I don’t have any training in health at all I would make mistakes all day, probably resulting in the deaths... But that is ok because everyone makes mistakes!

Yes, exactly and if someone with years of training and experience can make a mistake then someone with 2 years training and a tenuously-related undergraduate degree is much more likely to.

Of course anyone can make a mistake. That isn't an argument to allow unqualified people to attempt to diagnose and treat patients.

My one experience of a PA was dreadful, looked symptoms up on the internet and totally missed what was actually wrong. I now insist on seeing a GP.

Any HCP can make a mistake. My mum has been prescribed medication more than once by a GP which she shouldn't have been prescribed due to either her list of chronic health conditions or existing medications. She has also been taken off medication before she needed for life by a GP (that one she ended up in the hospital ICU). She has had pharmacists dispensing the wrong medication. We had to keep an eye on every medication change for her (when she let us, as she wanted to show she could be independent too!)

The issue is not unique to PAs.

Yes they are regulated by the GMC as of 13 December 2024. They were given two years grace for them to join the register though.

Yes, the GMC was set up to regulate Doctors thereby putting a stop to non doctors representing themselves as Doctors. This is why Drs are annoyed. Now PAs have a GMC number, which some are using alongside the phrase ‘GMC regulated ‘ to legitimise their many aesthetics practices or to fool the public in to thinking they are doctors. It’s a mess

Yes, the GMC was set up to regulate Doctors thereby putting a stop to non doctors representing themselves as Doctors. This is why Drs are annoyed. Now PAs have a GMC number, which some are using alongside the phrase ‘GMC regulated ‘ to legitimise their many aesthetics practices or to fool the public in to thinking they are doctors. It’s a mess

They are currently not regulated which is why it says “how will they be regulated” in the link. There’s currently a big argument because doctors are angry gmc would regulate as they are NOT doctors and they feel the regulation should come from elsewhere.

If it makes you feel any better OP my consultant obstetrician who I was seeing daily (was an inpatient for 6 weeks) prescribed me antibiotics that were not at all suitable for my unborn baby, who had major health issues. This type of AB is contraindicated for the issues my baby had. I flagged this up with a midwife who said this was correct and she sent word to him.

My DB is a dentist and in his first year post graduation he worked one day per week in an oral surgery ward. The nurses would tell him that a patient had increased blood pressure or heart rate or whatever other sudden ailments and it was up to them to prescribe medication. He was terrified and left that job as he knew very little about any medication that wasn't directly related to oral health. All the responsibility was on the dentists, most of whom were new graduates.

Some paramedics have done an extra course to allow them to prescribe yes thats correct however the context of your other post "do you think all paramedics carry a Dr around in an ambulance to prescribe drugs" is misleading as road paramedics will not be prescribers however will give medication under PGDs.

Hence there are prescribing paramedics, as you’ve said - same as there are prescribing nurses

only qualified staff can give under PGD - there’s no patient specific prescription in this though

Paramedics cannot prescribe routinely they administer medication under a legal framework called patient group directives or PGDs that enables the administration of certain drugs in certain situations, this is not the same as prescribing.

It might be helpful if the OP were to return to the thread to clarify some of the points raised …