In the United States, an assistant physician (AP) is a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who has graduated from a four-year medical school program and is licensed to practice, in a limited capacity, under the supervision of a physician who has completed their residency. The AP license is currently issued in Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas.[1] To be licensed, APs must have graduated from medical school and passed the USMLE Step 1 and USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge exams.[2] The expansion of the AP profession aims to provide primary care in underserved areas.[2][3] The position also provides a career pathway for the increasing number of unmatched physician graduates.[4]
In the United Kingdom, before the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, an AP was a junior physician attached to a hospital.[5][6]
References
edit- ^ "AAFP Backgrounder - Scope of Practice: Assistant Physicians" (PDF). January 1, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Lieb, David A. (May 14, 2017). "Missouri targets doctor dearth, expands first-in-nation law". AP News. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- ^ Singer, Jeffrey (May 18, 2023). "One simple fix for the primary care shortage: assistant physicians". STAT. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- ^ Van Way, Charles W III (May–June 2021). "Are Assistant Physicians a Good Idea? Should We Create Jobs for Unmatched Physicians?". Missouri Medicine. 118 (3): 179–181. PMC 8210997. PMID 34149069.
- ^ Abel-Smith 1964, p. 7.
- ^ Peterson 1978, pp. 137, 160, 162.
Works cited
edit- Abel-Smith, Brian (1964). The Hospitals, 1800-1948: A Study in Social Administration in England and Wales. Harvard University Press.
- Peterson, M. Jeanne (1978). The Medical Profession in Mid-Victorian London. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03343-6. Retrieved July 25, 2024 – via Internet Archive.