Saskatchewan gov’t to add physician assistants to health-care system

With Saskatchewan struggling to find more health-care workers, the provincial government is ready to add physician assistants to the roster.

The government introduced legislation Thursday to license physician assistants to practise in the province. In a media release, the government said it hopes the move will “address the demand for health human resources and provide a team-based approach to health care.”

The provincial government committed $1.3 million in the 2023-24 budget to create 12 physician assistant positions. The physician assistants would be regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan.

“Licensing and integrating physician assistants into our health-care teams will help meet the health-care needs of Saskatchewan people,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in the release. “We are making key investments in 2023-24 to recruit, train, incentivize and retain more health care workers, including physicians, nurses and other health professionals.”

The government’s Health Human Resources Action Plan is seeking to add more than 1,000 health-care professionals to the provincial system over the next few years. More than $60 million will be invested to try to address the shortage of trained workers in clinics and hospitals around the province.

According to the government, physician assistants practise under the supervision of a licensed physician, often within a multidisciplinary health team.

They’re typically used in primary care, long-term care, emergency medicine, cancer care, general internal medicine and surgical specialties, the government said. They do patient examinations, prescribe medications and order and interpret tests.

The government hopes the addition of the physician assistants will reduce wait times, improves patient discharge rates, and decreases the length of hospital stays.