Attachment of a physician's assistant to an English general practice.

A final-year student from the physician's associate programme at Duke University in North Carolina, USA, worked in an English health centre for eight weeks between May and July. He managed 221 cases under supervision, and they were typical in terms of sex ratio, diagnosis, and the preponderance of children. Current social and economic trends in Britain suggest that selective under-doctoring, especially in inner urban areas, may become acute, and a type of physician's assistant specially selected and trained for the work in areas with serious and unusual problems should be considered as among the possible, even desirable, solutions.