Use of physician's assistants in a general surgical practice.

A study has been made of three PAS employed in a rural, small town, general surgical practice during a four year period. Their work was equally divided among three areas: minor trauma, obtaining and recording data for history and physical examinations, and assisting at routine surgical procedures and endoscopies. This resulted in a significant saving of time for each surgeon who was thus freed for more time in the care of the more critically ill or injured patients.