Posted by Jim on December 8, 2007, 8:56 pm, in reply to "Re: CRNAs == AAs"
PA school is an entirely different entity.
You need to spend time in a hospital on a general floor to know the difference. Its more than just reading a book and understanding what everyone does.
Here is the difference.
A PA sees a patinet in office that has a type of hypertension that is not responding to the drugs that he/she has prescribed. At that point a PA has all the time he/she needs to seek a consulting physician and get a "Second opinion."
In the OR, ER, or ICU, you have minutes to seconds to make a split second decision that will either save or kill the patient.
In the OR, you have no wiggle room. Its just you. MDA float. Meaning you can't find them in a pinch.