Examining attitudes of referral specialist physicians regarding physician assistant referrals
Citation
Enns S, Lary MJ, Muma RD. Abstract: Examining attitudes of referral specialist physicians regarding physician assistant referrals. Perspectives on physician assistant education. 2002;13:110.
Abstract
The nature of the relationship between the primary care PA and the
specialist physician has not been well studied. It is apparent that although the majority of specialist
physicians accept referrals from PAs and are accepting of the role of primary care PAs in the referral
process, they are less satisfied with the appropriateness of the referral and patient management prior to referral. Certainly, referral to specialist physicians is an important facet of primary care practice and any
barriers to effective and timely patient care provided by PAs should be identified. The results of the study also
suggest that further exploration of the PA-specialist physician relationship is indicated and that results
need to be compared to the level of satisfaction with referral from primary care physicians.