"The Physician Associate profession really is being led by people at St George’s"

Published: 18 July 2023

St George's Masters in Physician Associate Studies (MPAS) teaches students how to take medical histories, perform physical examinations, request and analyse investigations, diagnose illnesses and develop treatment and management plans. The profession has recently had a number of successes, with St George’s at the forefront, as Course Director, Amy Donaldson-Perrott, and Deputy Course Director, Tripti Chakraborty explain.

Amy says, “St George’s is leading the way when it comes to the Physician Associate (PA) profession. There are 3,500 PAs in the country, and we have a professional body called the Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA). The Vice-President is Chandran Louis who is the chief examiner for our PA course here at St George’s and is also a urology PA in St George’s Hospital. Chandran has also been heavily involved in legislation which will soon bring the PA profession under the regulation of the GMC (General Medical Council). This is a big coup for the profession as the GMC has only previously regulated doctors.

“Chandran has also been spearheading the career development pathway for PAs which is a significant priority within the profession. I was elected to the FPA board in 2021 and am the Chair of the Education Committee - the profession really is being led by people at St George’s.

“For example, one of the things that I am leading on as Chair of the Education Committee is the replacement of the recertification exam, which was removed earlier in the year. Physician Associates will need to demonstrate continued competence through an e-portfolio which will collate a wide array of evidence over a five-year cycle. This will have a massive impact nationally on the profession.”

“St George’s is the only institution which has run a PA course continually since we began in 2008, and we are consistently amongst the highest performers of the 40 plus institutions which now offer the course. A large reason for this is our seat at the table at a national level”.

Tripti adds, “We are often approached by hospitals who request a St George’s graduate for Physician Associate vacancies as they know that their clinical communication will be very strong. For example, one of our PA educators is very passionate about LGBTQ+ health and delivers a session on transgender communication in healthcare which consistently scores highly in student feedback. She is presenting this innovative session at an international conference in October.”