Using physician assistants is a way for doctors in Ontario and other jurisdictions to increase their productivity. However, the rules regarding when and how to use a physician assistant are open to interpretation because physician assistants are unregulated, and this may be because doctors like it this way.
- Communicating to the individual or his or her personal representative a diagnosis identifying a disease or disorder as the cause of symptoms of the individual in circumstances in which it is reasonably foreseeable that the individual or his or her personal representative will rely on the diagnosis.
- Performing a procedure on tissue below the dermis, below the surface of a mucous membrane, in or below the surface of the cornea, or in or below the surfaces of the teeth, including the scaling of teeth.
- Setting or casting a fracture of a bone or a dislocation of a joint.
- Moving the joints of the spine beyond the individual’s usual physiological range of motion using a fast, low amplitude thrust.
- Administering a substance by injection or inhalation.
- Putting an instrument, hand or finger,
- beyond the external ear canal,
- beyond the point in the nasal passages where they normally narrow,
- beyond the larynx,
- beyond the opening of the urethra,
- beyond the labia majora,
- beyond the anal verge, or
- into an artificial opening in the body.
- Applying or ordering the application of a form of energy prescribed by the regulations under the RHPA.
- Prescribing, dispensing, selling or compounding a drug as defined in the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act, or supervising the part of a pharmacy where such drugs are kept.
- Prescribing or dispensing, for vision or eye problems, subnormal vision devices, contact lenses or eye glasses other than simple magnifiers.
- Prescribing a hearing aid for a hearing impaired person.
- Fitting or dispensing a dental prosthesis, orthodontic or periodontal appliance or device used inside the mouth to prevent the teeth from abnormal functioning.
- Managing labour or conducting the delivery of a baby.
- Allergy challenge testing of a kind in which a positive result of the test is a significant allergic response.
- Treating, by means of psychotherapy technique, delivered through a therapeutic relationship, an individual’s serious disorder of thought, cognition, mood, emotional regulation, perception or memory that may seriously impair the individual’s judgement, insight, behaviour, communication or social functioning.
The PA’s scope of practice is determined on an individual basis and formally outlined in a practice contract or agreement between the supervising physician(s), the PA and often the facility or service where the PA will work. Activities may include conducting patient interviews, histories and physical examinations; performing selected diagnostic and therapeutic interventions or procedures; and counseling patients on preventive health care. See CPSO Policy re Delegation of Controlled Acts.