[heed]

if they are just like Nurse Practitioners, then why do we need yet another "mini-doctor" with a special name - why do we not just upskill the nurse practitioners and recruit more of them? the way this is heading its going to be harder and harder to actually see a doctor - and lets face it, there are plenty of patients who are not going to accept "hi im the physicians assistant - i have had half the training of the JHOs and im going to be looking after you" no matter how much supervision there is. does it really save doctors time when they need to supervise the physicians assistants to provide the "medical guidance" they need to diagnose and treat?

the deskilling is the major threat here - with "technicians" and "assistants" for pretty much everything now, like a previous poster said, when exactly are we expected to learn how to do these things - lets not forget that if a physicians assistant acting under a doctors "guidance" makes a mess of things, its gonna be both of you getting a phone call from the "no win - no fee - no self respect" lawyers at Blame4Claims.com... not a responsibility i want.

as yeliab said earlier - "half assed" solutions for an amply buttocked problem - not enough doctors, not enough money.

would the same thing be accepted anywhere else:
"good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome aboard your flight to new york. I am david - your pilots assistant for your flight today. I will be getting the plane in the air, pointing it in the general direction of "East" and hoping that all these buttons and switches and dials dont do anything that wasnt included in my 'aeroplane operating skills-acquisition course'. and if all else fails, i will call the proper pilot back at base and he can come and help us land - that is if i have actually taken you to new york and not Cape Town. oh well. here goes...."