THE SURGICAL PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT – THE MISSING LINK IN THE POLISH HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Abstract

The shortages of medical staff, especially medical ones, are increasingly contributing to the failure of Polish health care. The available data and forecasts are pessimistic, therefore it seems appropriate to create a new medical profession that will be able to fill the gap that has arisen among medical personnel (especially in terms of surgical specialties and closely related anasthesiology and intensive therapy). The Physican Assistant is a common and respected profession in the health care system of many developed and developing countries. Currently, 18 countries around the world have a fully developed PA training system in which, after training, Physician Assistants fully perform their specific duties. In many countries, the PA program is a pilot program. These countries include, among others, Poland, where the duties of PA have so far been performed in the pilot program by paramedics after undergraduate studies. The PA pilot program was very positively assessed by the entire hospital community, both medical staff and management.