A Physician Associate (PA) is a member of the healthcare team, trained to practice in the field of medicine supporting the medical team in clinical practice under the direction of a Doctor. A Physician Associate will undertake many tasks including examination, diagnosis, and management of patients. A Physician Associate is trained as a generalist enabling them to work across a variety of specialisms in hospital or general practice.
"The clinical skills sessions on Friday are such fun, we learn everything from how to inject anesthesia (into oranges!) and suture incisions to learning the cardinal signs for someone in heart failure and the appropriate examination to take. Everyone on the cohort is so friendly and it honestly as cliché as it may sound, it feels like one big family, we run regular revision sessions to help each other out. Placement is also really great, the buzz of working in a hospital or general practice and seeing your own patients with the clinical supervision and support makes you feel as if you are already qualified and working as a PA."
Find out more about Rabhia's Story
Physician Associate Studies (MPAS) covers many of the topics in medicine and focuses on the knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes necessary to practice as a PA and to support doctors in the provision of medical care to patients. Throughout the two year MPAS programme you can expect to spend at least 50% of your time on clinical placement across Wales in general practice, general medicine and in a variety of speciality areas. Students can also expect to cover a range of topics from; clinical skills, healthcare law and ethics, research and evidenced based practice, public health and life long learning skills vital to maintaining practice throughout your career.
We have so much more we want to share with you, why not visit our Physician Associate course page, for a more detailed look at the course, entry requirements and how you will be taught.
