ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2021
Effect of a physician assistant on quality and efficiency metrics in an emergency department: Population cohort study.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) on the productivity, quality of care, patient and healthcare workforce satisfaction, and budget implications in various healthcare settings: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of physician assistants on quality of care: rapid review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Pooled it
- The cost-effectiveness of physician assistants/associates: A systematic review of international evidence.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Article
- Left Without Being Seen: A Scoping Review of a Silent Crisis in Emergency Departments.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2026Review
- Article
- The contribution of physician associates or assistants to the emergency department: A systematic scoping review.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the effect of a physician assistant (PA) working in a secondary care hospital emergency department (ED) on the overall performance of the ED.
designA retrospective review of ED data from April 1, 2017, to September 30, 2017.
settingBelleville General Hospital, a secondary care hospital, ED in Ontario.
participantsA physician assistant, 13 emergency physicians, and 7 family physicians.
main outcome measuresOverall ED performance was evaluated using metrics from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care: rate of patients who left without being seen, provider initial assessment time at the 90th percentile, and the average provider initial assessment time for all patients over a 6-month period.
resultsIn the PA group, there was a lower average daily left without being seen rate (3.4% vs 5.2%;
conclusionThis study suggests that a PA has a statistically significant positive effect on the overall performance of an ED. Future studies should examine the effect of a PA on quality of care and hospital funding.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.