Physician Assistant

At Houston Methodist, the Physician Assistant (PA) functions as an advanced practice practitioner, responsible for maintaining and promoting the health of the patient requiring care, practicing medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician. This position will provide diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical and preventative care, under the supervision of a physician. The PA position exams, diagnoses and decides treatment for patients, including analyzing and interpreting x-rays and lab results, writes prescriptions, takes patients' histories, provides surgical assistance, and orders various forms of therapy. This position may work in both inpatient and outpatient situations and can perform independently under the license of a physician or as part of a treatment team. The PA position affects direct patient care according to the Board of Physician Assistant Examiners in the State of Texas and Houston Methodist policies and procedures.
Participates in rounding independently or with physicians/surgeons and attends interdisciplinary rounds, as appropriate, by specialty.
~Collaborates to foster healthy relationships in the work environment. May serve as first call for hospital staff. Serves as preceptor for Physician Assistant students and medical residents, as appropriate.
~Communicates organizational information and aspects of administrative and clinical practice in a respectful and positive manner when interacting with staff. Collaborates with inter-professional health care team members to manage/coordinate patient care. Coordinates appropriate, timely patient care between health care providers and other ancillary clinicians, as appropriate, under a physician license, for a defined patient population(s), focusing on identified expected unit/optimal outcomes, individualized to the patient. Helps drive improvement of department score for patient satisfaction, through peer-to-peer accountability to service standards.
~Collaborates quality health care with inter-professional team members to manage/coordinate patient care.
~Responds and is available timely to patient questions/issues that arise as triaged by clinical staff and provides assistance for emergencies, as needed.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
~Performs independent or delegated functions under physician license, such as diagnosis, use of prescriptive authority, and treatment according to practice guidelines, protocols, and/or standing orders.
~Conducts comprehensive health assessments (initial, ongoing, discharge), identifies normal/abnormal health characteristics, develops plan of care, initiates appropriate interventions, and evaluates care outcomes on defined patient populations. Performs quality and safe diagnostic, surgical and/or therapeutic procedures necessary for defined patient populations.
~Assists the inter-professional health care team in the development and implementation of protocols to ensure patient safety. Integrates and contributes to professional practice standards, policies, procedures, protocols and leads improvements in patient safety-related processes.

Performs accurate and timely documentation in medical records, including diagnosis and CPT coding.
~Implements department strategies to achieve financial target and mentors others to do the same through timely documentation of care, decreasing length of stay, optimizing efficiency, and other areas according to department specifications. Projects awareness and understanding of resource allocation based on patient needs and staff experience, knowledge, and skills.

Fosters identification and implementation of innovative solutions to improve patient care or department operations such as the organization's quality metrics or other department-specific measures by leading and/or participating in department and/or hospital projects/activities or a hospital committee.
~Expands individual nursing knowledge and coaches staff to grow in knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes. Bachelor's degree
~Graduate from accredited Physician Assistant program by National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)

WORK EXPERIENCE
~PA - Physician Assistant - State Licensure - by the Texas Board of Physician Assistants AND
~PA-C - Physician Assistant-Certified (NCCPA) AND
~Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through ongoing skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations
~Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security
~Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles
~Use of critical thinking skills and clinical judgment to work autonomously as defined by the Board of Physicians Assistants
~Accepts accountability for outcomes in healthcare
~Uses therapeutic communication to establish a relationship with patients, families and interprofessional team to collaborate on the plan of care
~Ability to exercise judgment in interactions with physicians, interprofessional care team and patients and their families
~Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (ie. TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**
May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area Yes
Houston Methodist Specialty Physician Group is an integral part of Houston Methodist’s overall strategy to become one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. Established as a nonprofit corporation certified by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, the Specialty Physician Group enables physicians to maintain autonomy with respect to clinical practice while growing their practice within an academic environment.