In the United States, an assistant physician (AP) is a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who has graduated from a four-year medical school program and is licensed to practice, in a limited capacity, under the supervision of a physician who has completed their residency. The AP license is currently issued in Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas. To be licensed, APs must have graduated from medical school and passed the USMLE Step 1 and USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge exams. The expansion of the AP profession aims to provide primary care in underserved areas. The position also provides a career pathway for the increasing number of unmatched physician graduates.
In the United Kingdom, before the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, an AP was a junior physician attached to a hospital.
References
- "AAFP Backgrounder - Scope of Practice: Assistant Physicians" (PDF). January 1, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
- ^ Lieb, David A. (May 14, 2017). "Missouri targets doctor dearth, expands first-in-nation law". AP News. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- Singer, Jeffrey (May 18, 2023). "One simple fix for the primary care shortage: assistant physicians". STAT. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- Van Way, Charles W III (May–June 2021). "Are Assistant Physicians a Good Idea? Should We Create Jobs for Unmatched Physicians?". Missouri Medicine. 118 (3): 179–181. PMC 8210997. PMID 34149069.
- Abel-Smith 1964, p. 7.
- Peterson 1978, pp. 137, 160, 162.
Works cited
- Abel-Smith, Brian (1964). The Hospitals, 1800-1948: A Study in Social Administration in England and Wales. Harvard University Press.
- Peterson, M. Jeanne (1978). The Medical Profession in Mid-Victorian London. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03343-6. Retrieved July 25, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
