Physician Assistant Competencies DRAFT

  1. Practice patient-centered and relationship-based care.
    • Recognize ways in which relationship-centered care facilitates healing.
    • Demonstrate and practice respectful communication skills and interactions of patients' interpretations of health, disease, and illness that are based upon their cultural beliefs and practices.
    • Incorporate the practice of self-reflection of patient encounters, including personal bias and belief, to facilitate relationship-centered care.
  2. Obtain a comprehensive health history which includes mind-body-spirit, nutrition, and the use of conventional, complementary and integrative therapies and disciplines.
    • Demonstrate patient-centered history taking using a biopsychosocial approach that includes inquiry of conventional and complementary treatments.
  3. Collaborate with individuals and families to develop a personalized plan of care to promote health and well-being which incorporates integrative approaches including lifestyle counseling and the use of mind-body strategies.
    • Collaborate with patients in developing and carrying out a health screening and management plan for disease prevention and treatment using conventional and complementary therapies when indicated.
  4. Demonstrate skills in utilizing the evidence as it pertains to integrative healthcare.
    • Evaluate the strengths and limitations of evidence-based medicine (EBM) as it applies to conventional and complementary approaches and its translation into patient care.
    • Locate and use EBM resources, including those related to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), at the point of care.
    • Identify reputable resources on conventional and complementary approaches.
  5. Demonstrate knowledge about the major conventional, complementary and integrative health professions.
    • Discriminate the common complementary medicine therapies, including their history, theory, proposed mechanisms, safety/efficacy profile, contraindications, prevalence, and patterns of use.
    • Recognize the national and state standards related to training, licensing, credentialing, and reimbursement of community CAM practitioners.
  6. Facilitate behavior change in individuals, families and communities.
    • Facilitate health behavior changes in patients using techniques such as motivational interviewing or appreciative inquiry.
  7. Work effectively as a member of an interprofessional team.
    • Demonstrate respect for peers, staff, consultants, and CAM practitioners who share in the care of patients.
    • Understand the roles and responsibilities of CAM practitioners as members of an interprofessional team.
    • Collaborate with community CAM practitioners and other healthcare specialists in the care of patients and recognize legal and practice implications and appropriate documentation issues.
  8. Engage in personal behaviors and self-care practices that promote optimal health and wellbeing.
    • Integrate and incorporate self-care practices to improve personal health, maintain work-life equilibrium, and to serve as a role model for patients, staff, and colleagues.
  9. Incorporate integrative healthcare into community settings and into the healthcare system at large.
    • Identify strategies for facilitating access to Integrative Medicine services for their patients, including low-income populations.
    • Compare and consider different reimbursement systems and their impact on patient access.
    • Recognize and support the principles of designing a healthcare setting that reflects a healing environment.
  10. Incorporate ethical standards of practice into all interactions with individuals, organizations and communities.
    • Recognize the importance of ethical behavior as an integral part of the work and culture of healthcare.
    • Develop and demonstrate ethical principles and moral reasoning.

Competency Development

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