What are the advantages of seeing a PA for medical care?

A PA’s education and practice emphasize patient education, preventive care, and chronic care management. Their generalist medical training enables them to provide a wide spectrum of patient care, allowing them to treat the “whole patient.”

PAs also make it easier for patients to get the care they need, when they need it. A 2014 Harris Poll found that 92 percent of Americans who have seen a PA, or have a family member who has seen a PA, said that having a PA makes it easier to get a medical appointment.*

* “Attitudes Toward PAs: A 2014 Survey by the American Academy of PAs.” The Harris online survey was conducted September 15–22, 2014 among 1,544 adults age 18 and older living in
the US, including an oversample of 680 adults who have seen a PA and/or have accompanied a loved one to see a PA in the past 12 months. For full methodology visit aapa.org/media.