Physician Assistants in Clinical Endocrinology: Characteristics and Demographics.

Abstract

Objective: Physician assistants (PAs) are employed in endocrinology, but little is known about their roles and activities. The study aimed to assess PAs' employment characteristics in endocrinology compared to those in all other specialties.

Methods: This descriptive observational study used the 2022 National Commission on Certification of PAs (NCCPA) dataset. The study includes 117,748 board-certified PAs who indicated a clinical specialty in 2022. The characteristics of PAs in endocrinology were examined using descriptive statistics, including counts and percentages for categorical variables; means (with standard deviations), and medians (with interquartile ranges) for continuous variables. Bivariate analyses (ꭙ² and Mann-Whitney U tests) were used to determine statistical differences between PAs practicing in endocrinology vs. PAs in all other specialties.

Results: This study found that as of 2022, 685 PAs reported practicing in endocrinology. PAs in endocrinology, compared to PAs in all other specialties (all p<0.001), were more likely to identify as female (82.0% vs. 69.6%), work in an office-based private practice (61.3% vs. 37.0%), and participate in telemedicine (70.8% vs. 40.1%). Conversely, PAs in endocrinology were less likely to work in a secondary position, saw slightly fewer patients weekly, and earned $10,000 less yearly than their PA colleagues in all other specialties.

Conclusion: Examining the PA endocrinology workforce is essential due to the shortage of endocrinologists and the increased prevalence of diabetes as the U.S. population ages. Understanding where PAs in endocrinology are employed and their attributes could assist efforts in specialty modeling to address supply and demand projections.