Fight the opioid crisis with physician assistants

With over 300,000 opioid-related deaths reported since 2000 and two million patients battling addiction today, it’s evident that more qualified medical providers are needed to care for substance abuse patients. Psychiatrists and addiction specialists are struggling to meet the demands of this high need population. The good news amid this national health care epidemic is that more than 1,200 certified PAs practicing in psychiatry work hard to help fill these care gaps. With medical education supplemented by post-graduate training by psychiatrists, PAs in psychiatry are prepared to review medication histories, engage with patients, perform psychiatric evaluations, manage treatment plans and prescribe psychotropic drugs. Like physicians, PAs pass a rigorous national certification exam and maintain recertification through substantive CME and exams throughout our careers. Thus, PAs are highly-qualified medical providers who can ease psychiatric shortages and permit psychiatrists to perform more consultations while providing high-quality, cost-effective mental health care. In Virginia, I am a psychiatric PA working at two rural, “safety net” health care facilities where most of my patients are low-income, uninsured and dealing with co-occurring addictions (primarily heroin) and serious mental illnesses. I frequently work as the sole mental health provider at an inpatient facility and as part of a team of specialists at an outpatient center. I see patients during the acute pha...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Policy Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs