Assisting for the Future:

the Physician Assistant

Profession
Alana Morgante
Independent Research
Period 3
Bagley

On December 21, 1966, Roger Whittaker was convicted of practicing medicine without a
valid physician's license, which constitutes a misdemeanor, meaning that Whittaker was doing
something considered to be illegal. On the same day, petitioner George C. Stevenson, M.D., was
convicted in the same court of the same crime as an aider and abettor, after Dr. Stevenson
performed an operation during which Whittaker acted as a surgical technician (Whittaker v.
Superior Court). Whittaker was a military-trained surgeon assistant, with thorough training,
comprehension, and proven skills to perform roles similar to that of a physician, but he did not
have a license to practice medicine. At this point in time, Physician Assistant (PA) programs had
been around for about a year, but the function and role of the PA was still open for debate,
meaning that many men trained in the military had no options to use their acquired skills
(Carter).

This court case was of particular interest to one man, Jerome Bredouw, who had served in
the Army, and had heard from many physician friends about the inability of the medical field to
meet growing demands, and the lack of funds and personnel to care for the poor (Carter). After
speaking with Stevenson, the physician involved in the case, Bredouw, became convinced that
the solution to this problem in the medical world was a simple one: legitimize the role of
Physician Assistants. But many felt that to get the career up and going, public pressure was
needed to convincepolicy makers to actively support the PA concept (Carter). Bredouw could
not be discouraged. He immediately took action, using his resources and connections to do what
he felt needed to be done.
After returning from the Army, one of Bredouws jobs was promoting a television. series
written by Roy Huggins, with whom Bredouw became good friends. At the time of the court
case, Huggins was producing episodes of a series called The Bold Ones (Carter). Bredouw
contacted Huggins and suggested to him a plot for one of the episodes. The story line is about a
court case involving the concept of the PA profession saving an Army medic who was charged
with murder. Huggins responded extremely positively to the idea and helped Bredouw to write a
script for an upcoming episode.
While Bredouw and Huggins were writing the script for the episode of The Bold Ones,
Bredouw corresponded with cartoonist Dick Moores to interest him in having the main character
of his popular comic strip Gasoline Alley become a PA (Carter). The character, named Chipper,
had been a military corpsman in Vietnam, and Bredouw felt that he was in the same situation as
many men who did not know what to do with their medical skills acquired in the war, and
believed that making the character a PA could motivate others to do the same, as well as inform

the public about the functions and importance of PAs. Bredouw commented that he hoped to do
more to advance the public image of a sensible solution to the medical crisis, and that the
impact of a highly successful comic strips endorsement of the concept could be of enormous
benefit where this problem really livesin public opinion (Carter). Moores, who was in the
process of deciding what Chipper was going to do now that he was back from Vietnam, was
intrigued and enthusiastic about the concept of Chipper going to PA school. In early 1971 the
comic strip, showing Chipper discussing the PA program with some of his friends, was featured
in 180 newspapers across the country. The comic strip and the episode of The Bold Ones were
received very positively by the public. Jerry Bredouws actions gave the Physician Assistant
concept some much-needed publicity, said the founder of the first PA program at Duke
University (Carter). Bredouw not only opened doors for many men returning from war, but also
provided another job option for people who wanted to practice medicine to some extent but
didnt necessarily want to get medical degrees.
There are many differences between being a Physician and being a Physician Assistant.
Depending on a persons goals and individual preferences, one career might be more ideal than
the other. Although many people believe that becoming a Physician is one of the most prestigious
career goals, it can be argued that becoming a Physician Assistant is more advantageous because
of factors such as time, money, and quality of life.
The difference between the time required to study to become a Physician and the
educational requirements to become a PA is monumental. To become a certified M.D., one must
not only complete four years of college and another four years of medical school, but also from
three to five years of a residency. During a residency, new physicians are working long hours and

are getting paid minimal wages, because they are not certified to practice medicine (Santiago).
This means a minimum of 11 years of schooling before one studying medicine can even consider
getting a full-time job. If a person wants to start a family, buy a house, or not be in debt for over
a decade, going to medical school might not be ideal. A good alternative could be studying to
become a PA. After completing four years of an undergraduate degree program, it takes two
years of PA school to become a certified PA. The PA educational program is modeled on the
medical school curriculum, a combination of classroom and clinical instruction (What is a
PA?). Physician Assistants are formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injuries and
illnesses, and provide treatment. Their functions are extremely similar to those of physicians, the
only difference being that PAs work under the supervision of physicians. Although this situation
might sound less than attractive to some, it is not as restricting as it sounds. Often PAs dont even
work in the same hospital or practice as their supervising physician, and will only contact them
over the phone when they need a second opinion. Although the Physician Assistant profession is
cursed with a bad title, PAs are far from assistants. They can do practically everything that
doctors can do, and are often thought to provide the same level of service as doctors. The major
difference is that PAs are able to graduate from school and start their careers long before medical
school students.
As well as a significant time difference, another distinction between the PA profession
and the Physician profession is the amount of debt that students have upon graduating from
school. The median education debt for indebted medical school graduates in 2012 was
$170,000, and 86 percent of graduates report having education debt (Physician Education
Debt). Being severely in debt at the beginning of ones career is an extremely difficult way to
start out, especially in a time when it is not always easy to find a job immediately after

graduating from school. Student debt is especially something that women should take into
consideration. Recent studies find that womens incomes lag those of men which makes one
question if their [medical] degrees actually paid off (Chen, Keith and Chevalier). It is true that
doctors salaries significantly exceed those of PAs, but the amount of debt accumulated from a
person going through medical school is much higher than the debt of a PA student. To make the
higher wage pay off, one needs to be willing to work enough hours. In a study conducted by
The Atlantic, it was found that the average female primary-care physician would have been
financially better off becoming a physician assistant. This is due to two major factors: wage
gaps and hour gaps. Male doctors earn more per hour relative to the male PA than the female
doctor earns relative to the female PA (Chen, Keith and Chevalier). However the factor that
makes the most difference is that most male doctors work significantly more than the standard
40-hour work week, whereas more female doctors work fewer hours per week. Even though
both male and female doctors both earn higher wages than their PA counterparts, most female
doctors dont work enough hours at those wages to financially justify the costs of becoming a
doctor (Chen, Keith and Chevalier). If women become mothers, they need to take time off of
work and will often return to work part-time, if at all. If one scales down [their hours] enough,
the upfront investment of becoming a doctor isnt recouped (Chen, Keith and Chevalier).
Although the wages of one with a medical degree can be significantly greater than that of a PA,
there are numerous factors that prove, especially for women, that becoming a PA can be a
smarter decision.
With these factors in mind, it can be argued that becoming a Physician Assistant would
provide one with a higher quality of life. This point can be supported by the arguments
previously made in this paper. From compiling excessive debt to needing to work an extreme

amount of hours, the Physician profession can be stressful, and not always rewarding. Knowing
that one needs to work a specific number of hours a week just to make up for all the debt that
was compiled from schooling does not sound like a positive way to live. Physicians often need to
be on call during holidays or in the middle of the night, or are disrupted during family gatherings
to talk to a distressed patient. It is important to have Physicians who are willing to put their jobs
before all else to care for their patients, but this might not be a role that everyone would be
willing to fulfill, or something that a student applying to medical school realizes that theyre
signing up for. It is important to draw a line between ones works and the rest of ones life, and it
seems that this can often be hard for Physicians. This is why becoming a Physician Assistant
would be extremely advantageous for many people. The flexibility that the profession entails
allows for a balanced, stable life. PAs can work anywhere from full-time to a few days a week
depending on the circumstances or what they want. Since PAs generally do not run a practice,
their careers are much more flexible. The quality of life for a person who has a flexible career
and doesnt need to shape their lives around their job may be much higher.
If Jerry Bredouw had never made the efforts that he did to advertise the PA concept to the
public, the profession may never have gotten the leverage it needed to get off the ground and
reach the level of importance that it has today. But the profession has not always been as it is
presently. Originally, the profession was created to provide care for underserved communities
and to meet military and public health care needs. Over time, the profession has expanded to now
be involved in every specialty field. Also, PAs can now prescribe medications, meaning that they
rely even less on their supervising physician. In the present day, PAs are more in demand than
ever before. The Affordable Care Act doubles the projected need for PAs. Forbes and Money
magazines rate the physician assistant Masters degree as the most desirable advanced degree in

terms of employment opportunity, income potential, and job satisfaction ("Timeline."). The
Physician Assistant profession is vitally important to the balance of the medical world. The PA
concept is a relatively new one and will continue to change and improve to be of as much
importance as possible for the medical world in the present and future.

Works Cited
Carter, Reginald D. "Marketing the Physician Assistant Concept to the American Public: The
Bold Ones TV Episode and Gasoline Alley Comic Strip." Physician Assistant History
Society: n. pag. Print.

Chen, Keith, and Judith Chevalier. "Is Medical School a Worthwhile Investment for Women?"
The Atlantic 13 July 2012: n. pag. Print.

"Physician Education Debt and the Cost to Attend Medical School 2012 Update." Association of
American Medical Colleges: n. pag. Print.

Santiago, Andrea. "What is Medical Residency Training? All About Medical Residency
Training." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.

"Timeline." Physician Assistant History Society. Physician Assistant History Society, n.d. Web.
23 Dec. 2013.

"What is a PA?" American Academy of Physician Assistants. American Academy of Physician

Assistants, n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.

"Whittaker v. Superior Court." Standford Law School. Standford University, n.d. Web. 26 Dec.
2013.