Promoting the Physician Assistant profession in the UK since 2005

Introduction

UKAPA and Physician Assistant students feel that it is important to have a section of the UKAPA website written by and dedicated to students. Education of UK trained Physician Assistants is still at a very new and exciting stage and as governing body for the profession, UKAPA want to offer up to date information and support to prospective and current students.

This section of the website is a work in progress, so please bear with us and check back regularly. We welcome and encourage input from all students so please contact us with suggestions or articles that you would like published.

Benefits of Student UKAPA membership

A healthy membership number is important for moving forward with statutory regulation. By becoming a member you are supporting a key driving force behind the future of the profession.

Student membership only costs £15 for one year or £25 for two years.

As a student member you are also entitled to:

Run for election as a student representative to UKAPA
Discounted attendance fee to selected UKAPA events
Access the full details of recent PA posts open for application
Access to the student only forum

As a UKAPA member you also receive:

National representation
Professional advice
15% Discount on Skyscape Mobile Medical References

Click here to fill in the on-line application form.

Physician Assistants in the UK

In recognition of the need for a new breed of healthcare professional, a two year pilot project was established in 2002 to look at new ways of working. From this the Healthcare Practitioner was born. The pilot project was a collaboration between the Changing Workforce Programme and Kingston and St George’s University. At this time an American Physician Assistant was hired to teach clinical skills to the trainees on the programme. In 2004 this moved forward to the Medical Care Practitioner Programme and eventually became the Physician Assistant Programme.

PAs were formally introduced into the UK workforce in 2003 when the Tipton PCT imported two US-trained PA’s in response to local recruitment difficulties. In early 2004 12 additional US-trained Physician Assistants were recruited to work in GP and A&E settings in the Birmingham area. During the same year the Department of Health (NHS Modernisation Agency) Changing Workforce Programme (CWP) commissioned an evaluation by the Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) of the impact of the introduction of Physician Assistants. The results indicated a high level of both patient and physician satisfaction. In line with NHS goals, there was acceptance and appropriate provision of medical care with a strongly patient-centred focus. (The Introduction of US-Trained Physician Assistants to Primary Care and A&E depts. in Sandwell & Birmingham, Final Report, p.116-119)

Innovative PCT’s and GP surgeries continue to import US-trained Physician Assistants to expand access to care and shift workload. In 2006 the DoH released the Competence and Curriculum Framework for the Physician Assistant (CCF), developed in partnership RC of Phys and RC of GP. The CCF defines the role and scope of practice standards for education and assessment of Physician Assistants. This document is currently under review in order to update it in light of the changing role of the PA.

As of 2010 the establishment of a Managed Voluntary Register for Physician Assistants and application to the Health Professions Council for statutory regulation is underway.

Current UK courses

There are currently three universities running the Physician Assistant Diploma course in the UK:

The University of Birmingham
St George’s University of London
The University of Wolverhampton

All the PA courses are academically challenging, requiring hard work, dedication, motivation, time management and most definitely a sense of humour. The courses differ in their structure, number of contact/lecture hours and the amount of self directed learning. If considering applying to the course please feel free to contact the course directly to ask them any questions you might have, as well as asking for a contact email address for students on the course.

Please see the following web links for entry requirements and course information.

St George’s University of London

A student’s perspective on the St George’s PA Dip

At St George’s the course is a 2 year postgraduate course, requiring a 2.2 or above in a life-science or health-related subject. Inter-personal and communication skills are a must. The course runs from beginning of September to end of July in the first year and beginning of September to end of August in the second year. Holidays are few and far between and evenings at the pub are a distant undergraduate dream! This course is hard work, it is non-stop and demanding, but it is so very worth it.

Year 1 is mainly based at St George’s University of London in Tooting (SW London, southern end of the northern line). Although a new course it benefits greatly from the facilities and lecturers from the medical school. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the main lecture days, with lecturers on Fridays some weeks. Wednesdays are placement days. A typical week is shown below.

During the first year, the lectures fit into the following modules:

Basic medical Science (BMS)
Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM)
Applied Pharmacology (AP)
Personal and professional development (PPD)
Evidence based practice (EBP)

BMS covers anatomy, physiology, pathology and biochemistry. It is taught through lectures, self-directed learning and PBLs. It is examined by two written exams. FCM covers diseases, disease processes, investigations and diagnosis. It is taught and examined in a similar way to that of BMS. AP is taught and examined in a similar way to that of FCM and BMS. PPD includes communication lectures and role-plays, a portfolio of experience, mainly generated in relation to Wednesday placements and an OSCE exam. EBP teaches the importance of and methods of relating knowledge found in clinical trials to knowledge used to make clinical decisions in everyday practice.

Problem based learning (PBL) is a great way of learning medicine. The sessions run across two weeks with the case presented one week and then recapped the next. PBLs allow students to problem solve, discuss questions they would ask, investigations they would order and form a list of differential diagnoses. PBLs run best with participation from the whole group. In PBLs no question is a stupid question. PBLs help you to think in a way that text books can’t.

Each Wednesday students are at the same GP surgery, under the supervision of a Professional Development Supervisor (PDS). Initially students observe the PDS, other GPs and practice nurses, but with time students start seeing their own patients. Wednesdays give the opportunity to improve communication skills, build rapport with the practice team and patients and put scientific knowledge into practice.

University of Birmingham

University of Wolverhampton

Podcast - Interview with David Kuhns, Deputy Programme Lead at University of Birmingham and practicing US Physician Assistant