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allied NATION
In the past, general practitioners were expected to manage
the majority of medical issues, from arthritis to high blood
pressure, pneumonia to appendicitis. Today’s healthcare,
however, trends toward exceptionally individualized and
specialized patient care cases, requiring the specialist — like the
rheumatologist, internist, pulmonologist, and laparoscopic surgeon
— to provide more expertise on each specific concern. While this
trend builds, community hospitals must find ways to continue to
meet all general healthcare needs and to provide a wide variety
of services and care to keep up with every
patient. At Forest Hills Hospital, physician
assistants (PAs) help to achieve the level of
care necessary to provide all services for all
patients. They are the hospital staff who step
in to coordinate timely, safe and efficient
care for every patient. They are the new
generalists.
PAs are highly trained healthcare
professionals who are licensed and
credentialed to practice medicine in
physician-led teams. They conduct physical
exams and histories, diagnose and treat
illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel
patients, make rounds, assist in surgery and
write prescriptions. They are involved in
day-to-day care and make medical-related
decisions, turning to their supervising
physicians when complicated cases require
further medical expertise. PAs also handle
patient complaints and follow-up visits
while providing a broad range of diagnostic,
therapeutic, administrative, educational and
research services. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the PA profession is among
the fastest growing in the country.
“Given the challenges ahead — such
as regulatory compliance, pay-forperformance
and the increasing number
of Baby Boomers entering the health
system for care — the physician/PA team
will help to keep waiting times low and
patient satisfaction high while filling in
the gaps wherever there is a shortage of
physicians and residents,” said Martin Morales, corporate director
of physician assistant services.
At Forest Hills Hospital, PAs work closely with specialist
surgeons in all departments —including general, vascular, thoracic,
plastic, urological and bariatric surgeries — and coordinate the care
of patients requiring any of these services. The plan of care for any
patient is determined by his or her physician, but helping to develop
that plan and ensuring it is properly followed and assigned the proper
specialists is the role of the PA. They also respond to emergencies,
codes and rapid responses, are a resource for the nurses, manage
patients in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit and
provide expert surgical assistance in the Operating Room.
On average, the PAs at Forest Hills have 11 years of experience
in the medical field, more than twice the period of time it takes to
train a board-eligible surgeon. They practice in the Orthopedic,
Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Surgery Departments —
in fact, the 10-member surgery team assisted in almost 3,000
The New Generalists
Physician Assistants at Forest Hills Hospital
Physician assistants Rupert Evans, left, Diane Marchiafava and Khaim Babayev are on the Forest Hills
Hospital team that coordinates timely, safe and effective medical care.
operative procedures during the last year alone. Their competence
in and understanding of each surgeon’s practice lead to enormous
satisfaction among the surgeons, as well as the rest of the hospital
staff and patients, which in turn motivates this proud North
Shore-LIJ Health System team. Lead PA Diane Marchiafava,
RPA-C, says, “The best part of our PA team is, we get to use all of
our skills and everyone benefits.”
The New Standard 53