National Physician Assistant Week - Federal Government, Uniformed Services, and U.S. Armed Forces

Federal Government, Uniformed Services, and U.S. Armed Forces

PAs are employed by the United States Department of State as Foreign Service Health Practitioners (FSHP). PAs working in this capacity may be deployed anywhere in the world where there is a State Department facility. They provide primary care to authorized members of the state department. In order to be considered for the position of FSHP these PAs must be licensed and have at least two years of recent experience in primary care.

U.S. Army PAs typically serve as Medical Specialist Corps officers within Army combat or combat support battalions located in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and overseas. These include infantry, armor, cavalry, airborne, artillery and (if the PA qualifies) Special Forces units. They serve as the "front line" of Army medicine and along with combat medics are responsible for the total health care of soldiers assigned to their unit, as well as of their family members.

PAs also serve in the Air Force and Navy as clinical practitioners and aviation medicine specialists, as well as in the Coast Guard and Public Health Service. The skills required for these PAs are similar to that of their civilian colleagues, but additional training is provided in advanced casualty care, medical management of chemical injuries, aviation medicine and military medicine. In addition, military PAs are also required to meet the officer commissioning requirements and maintain the professional and physical readiness standards of their respective services.

The Marine Physician Assistant (MPA) is a U.S. Merchant Mariner Staff Officer. A Certificate of Registry is granted through The United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center (NMC) located in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Formal training programs for Marine Physician Assistants began in September, 1966 at the Public Service Health Hospital located in Staten Island, N.Y.

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Famous quotes containing the words federal, armed and/or forces:

    Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.
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    Today we seek a moral basis for peace.... It cannot be a lasting peace if the fruit of it is oppression, or starvation, cruelty, or human life dominated by armed camps. It cannot be a sound peace if small nations must live in fear of powerful neighbors. It cannot be a moral peace if freedom from invasion is sold for tribute.
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    If in the opinion of the Tsars authors were to be the servants of the state, in the opinion of the radical critics writers were to be the servants of the masses. The two lines of thought were bound to meet and join forces when at last, in our times, a new kind of regime the synthesis of a Hegelian triad, combined the idea of the masses with the idea of the state.
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