Assessing Privilege Competency for Physician Assistants

Assessing and documenting privilege competency is a major focus of the 2007 and 2008 Joint Commission Hospital Standards. In addition to physicians, competency evaluation requirements also apply to mid level providers, i.e., Physician Assistants and Advanced Practice Nurses, who are privileged through the medical staff process.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants, in collaboration with the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, and the Physician Assistant Education Association worked to address the issue of competency assessment within the PA profession.

These organizations created the Physician Assistant Competencies Online Center, which provides references and resources, as well as a PA self-evaluation tool.

The collaborative work of these organizations provides a critical starting point to identify opportunities for improvement in the development and assessment of PA competencies.