Physician Associates can play an important part in relieving a proportion of the clinical burden on GPs and their wider staff, but only with the right training and support in place. In this episode, we chat to Sheffield based PA Ria Agarwal who is an experienced primary care PA. Ria and her team have published a couple of papers recently about an innovative preceptorship year that they have launched to help newly qualified PAs transition into working in primary care effectively, and the levels of supervision that PAs might need as they begin working in GPs surgeries. With the expansion of Physician Associates in the primary care workforce, partly due to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, Ria kindly shares her experiences and 5 step plan for how best to support a newly qualified PA in primary care; to help GP based PAs and their employers get the best out of their employment. You can find Ria on Twitter @riaagarwal19 and the research papers discussed in the episode belowPaper 1 - Preceptorship scheme for newly qualified physician associates working in general practice in SheffieldPaper 2 - Clinical supervision of physician associates (PAs) in primary care: who, what and how is it done?And you can connect with the Physician Associate Podcast on social media tooFacebook @PApodcastUKTwitter @PApodcastUK
