Every year from October 6 to October 12, Cooper University Health Care recognizes National Physician Assistant (PA) Week and celebrates the many important contributions that PAs make to health care.
PAs Are Essential – Celebrating National Physician Assistant Week
PAs play an integral role in improving health care access and quality. They provide comprehensive care that emphasizes patient education, preventive care, and chronic care management, and often serve as a patient’s principal health care provider. With thousands of hours of medical training, PAs are versatile and collaborative – they practice in every medical setting and specialty.
During the COVID-19 response, PAs have stepped up like never before. They have shown how flexible, adaptable, and collaborative they can be: testing, diagnosing, and treating COVID-19 patients; conducting telemedicine visits; redeploying to different specialties; and continuing to provide health care for those who need it most.
At Cooper, in addition to their active role in caring for patients during the COVID pandemic, our PAs are a vital part of the clinical team and perform a number of essential duties, including:
- Taking medical histories.
- Conducting physical exams.
- Diagnosing and treating illnesses.
- Ordering and interpreting tests.
- Developing treatment plans.
- Prescribing medications.
- Counseling on preventive care.
- Performing procedures.
- Assisting in surgeries.
- Making rounds in hospitals and nursing homes.
- Conducting clinical research.
PAs are represented throughout Cooper in areas including but not limited to: inpatient and outpatient settings; specialty areas such as orthopaedics, cardiology, pulmonary, neurology, critical care, surgical specialties, and more; and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.
To watch a brief video featuring Andrew Harrison, a PA with Cooper Heart Institute, click here.
Thank you to our PAs for the outstanding care you provide to our patients and their families.
