Abstract

The physician assistant workforce in Utah is experiencing remarkable growth, with a 9% net annual rate of increase since 1998. An additional 84 PAs provided patient care in Utah in the 4-year period of 1998 through 2001, an average increase of 21 per year. The Utah Medical Education Council believes that the demand for PAs will be high over the next 10 to 15 years, with several factors fueling this growth. Productivity is one of these factors. Even though Utah PAs make up only approximately 6.3% of the state's combined clinician (physician, PA, advanced practice registered nurse [APRN]) workforce; the PAs contribute approximately 7.2% of the patient care full-time equivalents (FTE) in the state. This is in contrast to the 10% FTE contribution made by the state's APRN workforce, which has nearly triple the number of clinicians providing patient care in the state. The majority (73%) of Utah PAs work at least 36 hours per week. Utah PAs also spend a greater percentage of the total hours worked in patient care, when compared to the physician workforce. The rural PA workforce reported working a greater number of total hours and patient care hours when compared to the overall PA workforce.