Demographics of Physician Associates (PAs) in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Where They Work and How They Compare to Other PAs

Table 1

Current education and scope of practice for specialized women’s health clinicians.

Profession	Degree	Training time	Scope of practice
			Prenatal	Obstetrics/labor and delivery	Gynecology	Gynecological surgery
Physician (MD/DO)	Doctorate	8 years (4 years medical school + 4 years residency)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Physician associate	Master’s	3 years	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, first assistance
Women’s health nurse practitioner	Doctorate available	2-3 years	Yes	No	Yes	No
Nurse midwife	Master’s	2-3 years	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Modified from American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Task force on collaborative practice. Collaboration in practice: implementing team-based care/developed under the direction of the task force on collaborative practice. District of Columbia. 2016; American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 2020 AANP national nurse practitioner sample survey. https://storage.aanp.org/www/documents/no-index/research/2020-NP-Sample-Survey-Report.pdf; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022.