Physician Associate

The Physician Associate or Physician Assistant (PA) will be accountable for ensuring that high quality patient care is always delivered, where they can be a source of continuity for service users by monitoring physical as well as mental health requirements. The PA will support the effective functioning of the multidisciplinary team and wider service developments through developing knowledge of assessing and managing mental disorders, undertaking quality improvement (QI) work such as clinical audit, gaining knowledge about psychotropic medication and taking a lead role in the physical health of service users. The PA will have regular supervision (for both clinical and professional supervision) from a designated Consultant, with regular meetings to support on-going development within the role, as well as attending regular continued professional development (CPD) sessions.

To provide clinical assessments of new referrals & reviews of existing service users under the care of the service the PA works for. To use medical & psychiatric history taking, physical examination, mental state examination, problem solving and clinical decision-making skills in carrying out this work. To formulate differential diagnoses and management plans with input as agreed by the supervising Consultant. The final or working diagnosis for a service user will need discussion at an appropriate time interval as agreed with the supervising Consultant. Maintain service user records i.e. record test results, patient contacts. Review and summarise patient notes for the purpose of contributing to discharge summaries and reports. Assist the consultant by writing letters, chasing referrals/treatments and preparing medical notes. Carry out agreed diagnostic and therapeutic procedures which will include (but not be limited to): Electrocardiogram (ECG) Venepuncture Interpretation of blood results Mental state examination and psychiatric history taking Cognitive assessment