Exploring the scope of practice of physician assistant/physician associate comparable professions: an international scoping review

AimPhysician Assistant/Associate (PA)/PA comparable professions are classified by the 2012 International Labour Standards as paramedical providers. These professions exist in over 50 countries and have many different titles. There is no uniform, international scope of practice (SOP) for these professions. The World Health Organization created the Global Competency and Outcomes Framework for Universal Health Coverage which includes practice activities that paramedical providers may perform.Subject and methodsThe purpose of this scoping review was to determine to what extent the SOP for these professions is described in the literature, and how this varied by region.DesignLiterature through December 2020 was searched and filtered for eligibility. Covidence software was used to screen, review, and select literature that was categorized by date, geography, and themes. Identified literature was mapped to the World Health Organization Global Competency and Outcomes Framework for Universal Health Coverage. Three reviewers independently extracted data from identified articles.ResultsEurope had a total of 49 articles with 266 practice activities represented; Asia had 5 articles with 39 total practice activities; non-US North America had 8 articles with 55 practice activities; South Pacific/Oceania had 7 articles with 58 practice activities mentioned; Africa had a total of 56 articles with 268 practice activities represented.ConclusionLiterature on the SOP of PA/PA comparable professions was identified across the world, with significant differences in breadth and depth by region.