Letter from the Chief Medical Officer
Dear Colleagues:
We have seen an amazing, four-fold growth in the physician assistant ranks here at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In conjunction with the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, we now have more than 100 physician assistants delivering the high-quality in which we all have pride.
As patient volume has increased in recent years and patient cases are becoming more complex, our care teams face increasingly difficult demands. The high level of training and the expert skill of our PAs enabled us to meet these demands without compromising our patient care. In addition to making integral contributions to our patient care teams, our PAs have taken a leadership role in caring for patients and orienting residents.
We now have 105 physicians assistants working in 19 departments throughout our distributed campus. Our PAs are prepping patients for surgery and assisting in procedures in our ORs. In our ambulatory settings, PAs are assessing patients and planning for care. Throughout the Tower and Connors Center, they are counseling patients and families and explaining discharge procedures. Through it all, they are performing all these duties with expert skill and innate compassion.
Now more than ever, caring for patients requires the efforts of a broad-based team whose members demonstrate a wide range of skills and expertise. Our PAs truly are valued members of our team alongside physicians, nurses and technicians. In October, we are recognizing our PAs with a celebration dinner—a long overdue thank you we expect to make an annual event. It’s a small token of appreciation for the enormous contributions physician assistants make every day at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.