Physician assistants in interventional radiology practice.

Interventional radiology (IR) is a clinical subspecialty; as such, there is a large amount of direct patient care. However, until recently, this topic has not been a major focus in radiology training programs. Additionally, as interventional radiologists develop busier and busier practices, there is less time to spend with individual patients. Physician extenders such as physician assistants (PAs) represent an excellent way to improve clinical patient care. This article describes what PAs are and how they work together with physicians. It illustrates differences between PAs and other physician extenders and describes the duties that may be delegated to PAs in the IR setting.