PAs and alternative medicine

[moukotkd 10]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a first year PA student and I've recently become really interested in complementary and alternative medicine. Is there any way I can pursue this area as a PA or am I just in the wrong field? Thanks for the help!

[Contrarian 225]

Might wanna explore the option of becoming a ND and/or Accupuncturist...

[EMEDPA 7,546]

There are pa, dc as well as pa, nd and pa, lac out there. Many of them work at alternative medicine practices.

[Contrarian 225]

Yep...

 

The problem arises when the roles are mixed and the supervision requirements get convoluted.

 

Ex: A PA/ND or a PA/DC, or a PA/L.A.C... doing allopathic stuff and prescribing allopathic meds/treatments without a MD/DO supervisor.

 

Or the above PA/ND or a PA/DC, or a PA/L.A.C... rounding in a inpatient Allopathic setting (presumably supervised by a Allopathic or Osteopathic physician in this setting) prescribing/proscribing non-authorized CAM to inpatients.

 

Simply put... this PA/L.A.C... doing accupucture on a patient in the telemetry unit or the ICU probably won't fly... and cause a bit of a mess because this PA is likely not credentialed by the hospital board to do this on inpatients in this facility and the average SP is not likely to be able to supervise this practice.

[EMEDPA 7,546]

the few pa's I know who do this have doc sp's with similar backgrounds( md, lac, etc) and they don't do any inpt work.

there is an alternative medicine clinic at a local hmo. a pa, lac is the director.

[Contrarian 225]

Yeah... I've seen both.

I've seen PAs in Alt Med with clearly delineated roles and supervision doing well and I've seen my share of PAs get into a mess by confusing roles and scopes of practice.

 

I.e... PA/DCs with "Dr." on their labcoats in Primary Care or Ortho Settings being sanctioned by the BOM.