This is part ten of a ten-part docuseries of PAs around the world. Today we travel to Kenya and meet the dedicated pioneers and healthcare heroes who would become Kenya’s first Clinical Officers (CO).
International Physician Assistant
Laos: The Birthplace of the U.S. Physician Assistant?
This is part nine of a ten-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. Today we go back to where some may say the PA profession first got its start. The country of Laos. Reincarnation: Returning to the Birthplace of the U.S. Physician Assistant This blog will be brief, as was […]
The Australian Physician Assistant: The PA Model Around the World
This is part eight of a ten-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. Today we take a captivating look into the life of Australia’s pioneering physician assistants. Holy Hell!: The Aussie PA’s determination If I learned anything about physician assistants from Australia, it is that the profession can […]
The Indian Physician Assistant (PA): Past, Present, and Future
The Indian PA: Past, Present, and Future This is part eight of a nine-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. Today we take a fascinating look into the real-life of India’s pioneering PAs. The Chicken Came from the Egg or Miles and Miles to Go before We Go […]
South Africa’s Clinical Associate (Clin-A): The PA Model Around The World
This is part seven of a nine-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. Today we take a fascinating look into the real-life of South Africa’s pioneering PA-like clinical associates. South Africa’s Clinical Associate (Clin-A) Starting with programs at Walter Sisulu University and the University of Pretoria (2008) and […]
Trials and Tribulations of the Liberian Physician Assistant
This is part five of a nine-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. As God Would Have It When I visited in 2017, Liberia was celebrating 150 years since its founding by Christian American slaves in 1867. It is the only country in the world that has had […]
Meet The PA Pioneers of Israel: The Israeli Physician Assistant
This is part four of a nine-part miniseries by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. The Test: PAs for Israel Israel, the only Middle East country other than Saudi Arabia to attempt a physician assistant program, graduated its first trial cadre in 2017, retrained emergency medical technicians to fill shortages […]
Why We Really Need PAs in the UK: The British Physician Associate
Welcome to part three of this nine-part miniseries by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the PA model around the world. Growing the Physician Associate in the UK In the United Kingdom, PA stands for physician associate. “This is a moniker with a more exacting ring,” according to Jeannie Watkins, then clinical placement lead in the […]
PAs in the Netherlands: The Dutch Physician Assistant
Welcome to part two of this powerful nine-part miniseries by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the physician assistant model around the world. The Advent of the Dutch Physician Assistant I met Quinten van den Driesschen, a pioneering Dutch physician assistant, at AAPA in Las Vegas, about which he quipped, “In the Netherlands, we say, ‘A […]
American Cheese: The Origin of the U.S. Physician Assistant
This is part one of a nine-part series by documentary filmmaker Adam Halbur on the physician assistant model around the world. What do American Cheese and PAs Have in Common? U.S. Patent 2759308, for the first American processed cheese wrapper, was submitted in 1956, and individually sheathed slices of imitation dairy started rolling out. At […]
As Good As You Can: The PA Model Around the World Part One
Welcome to part one of this powerful nine-part miniseries detailing filmmaker Adam Halbur’s spectacular new documentary film about the PA model around the world. Make sure to sign up below to receive all the posts in this series. Documenting The PA Model Around the World Adam Halbur is a filmmaker and poet who went […]
Infographic: Countries Where Physician Assistants Work
International Physician Assistants (PAs), Physician Associates, and Advanced Care Providers Infographic demonstrating the international development of the physician assistant profession. A graphical comparison of the countries where PAs can work, train, and practice around the globe. Including country-specific title, United States PA practice authority in that country, PA salary, number of physician assistants or physician […]
Where PAs and Physician Associates Can Work Internationally
The contemporary physician assistant/associate (PA) movement began in North America and Africa in the mid-1960s. As of 2022, the adoption of PAs has spread globally across a variety of health systems and at least sixteen countries have been in various stages of expansion of PA-like medical workers (nonphysician clinicians) that function under the supervision of a […]
The Tsum Valley Nepal Medical Mission: A Search for Clarity in the Valley
Written by Rabindra Adhikary, Nepali optometrist, and edited by Maria Ontiveros, team member. The essay originally appeared in Setopati, a Nepali digital newspaper. The Tsum Valley Medical Mission is recruiting physician assistants for its October 2018 fall effort. “These Himalayas are proof that God is real and that he loves us,” a delightful Canadian woman […]
How to Pay for Medical Mission Trips as a Broke Pre-PA
I have always found the dichotomy of time and money interesting. Either you have all the time in the world to do things like when you’re a student and have summer break, or you’re working and have a paycheck but no longer have the time to take off. If you’re the former and are interested in […]
165 US PA Programs That Accept International Students
Not every PA school in the United States is created equal. The good news is that if you are a foreign student interested in attending a US PA school, you have a range of options. Currently, 178 of the 265 active PA programs in the United States open their doors to international applicants. Ninety-nine of these […]
An Open Letter to all Graduates of Foreign Medical Schools and Others Interested in PA Programs in the United States
After reading a number of questions about acceptance into PA programs a prevailing theme has emerged. Many international physicians stated that their interest in becoming PAs stems from dissatisfaction with the hours or volume of patients they are seeing in their own practices in their native countries. So, what is my advice? That you make […]
Make a Difference – Train the Next Generation of PAs in Sub-Saharan Africa as a Clinical Associates Mentor
Note: The Clinical Associates twinning partnerships in South Africa are made possible through the support of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in South Africa. Activities are carried out through institutional partnerships linking South African universities with counterpart institutions in the United States. […]
Haiti Medical Mission Trip: Settling In, Resetting my Clock and Resetting my World View
This post is the third of a series about working as a physician assistant in Haiti. Growth happens at times when we are the most challenged And yes this almost always involves overcoming fear. There is no better way to travel than with the locals, no better way to experience the culture, no better way […]
Working as a Physician Assistant in Haiti: Organization & Logistics
This video is from the wonderful FREE EdX course: The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Health The idea of working overseas as a physician assistant had always perplexed me. The laws governing PAs and our scope of observed practice in foreign, third world countries seem nonexistent. I know what we can do and I am aware that our level […]
My First International Trip to Haiti as a Physician Assistant – Preperation
This post is the first of a series I am excited to be going to do some work in Haiti this October. My whole life I have wanted to do medical work overseas and now I am seeing a dream fulfilled. I will be flying from San Francisco to Washington DC where I will meet up […]
Most Social Problems Do Not Have a Quick Fix
When Good Intentions Are Not Enough As I prepare for my first medical missions trip to Haiti I question my intentions. I fear that this trip may turn out to be less about helping (because who can help anybody in a week) and more about fulfilling my desire to experience the “thrill” of international medicine. The question […]
The Globalization of Physician Assistants
As of 2020, the adoption of PAs has spread globally across a variety of health systems and at least fifteen countries have been in various stages of expansion of PA-like medical workers (nonphysician clinicians) that function under the supervision of a doctor. Several titles are in use for this important healthcare cadre including physician assistants, […]
