How Do Rheumatology PAs Stand Out Among Their Peers?

TOPLINE:

In recent years, the number of physician assistants (PAs) practicing in rheumatology has steadily increased, with most of them being women, working in office-based private practices, and engaging more in telemedicine services; they also report higher job satisfaction and lower burnout symptom rates than their peers in other specialties.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers utilized the administrative and 2022 PA Professional Profile workforce dataset to compare the demographic and practice characteristics of PAs working in rheumatology with those of PAs working in other specialties.
• A total of 117,748 board-certified PAs completed the PA Professional Profile at the end of 2022 and answered questions regarding their principal area of clinical practice.
• Among them, 430 identified rheumatology as their primary specialty (median age, 39 years; 84.7% women), with the proportion of PAs in rheumatology increasing by 93.7% since 2015.
• Demographic characteristics, income range, clinical practice attributes, job satisfaction, burnout symptoms, and retirement plans were included as variables.
• Data analysis utilized descriptive and bivariate statistics to compare the two groups.

TAKEAWAY:

• Compared with PAs in other disciplines, PAs in rheumatology were more likely to work in office-based private practices (37.0% vs 78.8%; P P
• The median work hours for PAs in rheumatology was 40 hours per week, similar to their peers in other specialties; however, they saw more middle-aged patients every week than PAs in other disciplines (66.4% vs 44.2%).
• Compared with PAs in other medical and surgical disciplines, PAs in rheumatology reported higher job satisfaction (83.6 % vs 87.6%; P = .026) and a tendency of lower burnout symptoms (67.8% vs 72.2% had no burnout symptoms; P = .050).
• However, PAs practicing in rheumatology reported a median income significantly lower than that of PAs in other specialties ($105,000 vs $115,000; P

IN PRACTICE:

“Recruiting, retaining, training, and supporting PAs throughout their careers in rheumatology must be a paramount priority, in parallel to similar activities for other rheumatology healthcare providers, to ensure the rheumatology workforce functions most efficiently and to the highest level of their training and licensure,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Benjamin J. Smith, DMSc, PA-C, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. It was published online on November 11, 2024, in Arthritis Care & Research.

LIMITATIONS:

This study relied on self-reported data, which may have introduced social desirability and recall biases. Moreover, the PA Professional Profile is voluntary, increasing the risk for incomplete responses.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any funding. Two authors reported serving as board members and chairs for certain committees.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.