Physician's Assistant Protocol

Many states and some clinical organizations require physician's assistants (PAs) to create a protocol, or detailed plan, of how they practice medicine, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, a trade group. Protocols vary depending on the practice setting, geographical location and objective of the protocol.

Considerations

• The American Academy of Physician Assistants notes that physician assistants -- and their employers -- use the term "protocol" to mean many different things. A physician's assistant protocol can be a job description, a practice description, a delegation agreement, or a specific approach to solve a clinical problem.

State Law

• Many states have laws mandating the use of a physician's assistant protocol, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants. States with such laws -- such as Tennessee -- require that a practicing physician's assistant create a documented description of his practice that is reviewable by the state's board of medicine. These laws are either amendments to the state's medical practice laws or separate laws created to specifically address physician's assistants.

Content

• Protocols describing a PA's scope of practice should describe the types of services the PA will perform, what likely diseases he will encounter, and how he will treat them under a physician's supervision, according to the Tennessee Academy of Physician Assistants. Clinical protocols provide a detailed template for management of a specific clinical problem, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.