Hard Limits on Scope of Duty

[Labrat2PA]

Hey guys,

 

PA-S hopeful here, I was wondering if you practicing PA's could enlighten me on some(if any) hard limits there are to the scope of duty as a PA. For example a physician MUST perform this procedure or order those meds........

 

I know it must vary from employer to employer to some extent.

 

Also, does a post grad residency per say in EM help increase your scope of duty?

[UGoLong]

Varies from state to state by statute.

 

A physician also sometimes has to do some procedures for Medicare billing reasons.

 

Some states have drug formularies and only physicians can initiate some meds (but there are fewer limitations -- if any -- in the hospital.)

 

And, of course, your sp might impose his or her own personal limitations. That is the only category I know that would likely be adjustable by one's prior experience.

 

 

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[jmj11]

I will say that the SP does not have to practice the same way you do, but be qualified and knowledgeable about the kind of treatments you do.  For example, I use several medications that my SP does not use. Yet, he is educated on them and knows how to use them. I also do things like Botox that my SP doesn't do. But he is knowledgeable about it and could do it if he wanted. 

 

An example of "outside the scope of practice" is a Urgent Care PA hiring a gynecologist as a SP and the PA does all kinds of things in the Urgent Care setting that gynecologist would not even know about or how to do.

 

The intention of the law is that the SP knows enough about what you are doing that they can be a fair judge if you are doing it correctly.