Role of the Funder:The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Disclaimers:The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Institutes of Health. In addition, Dr Chang is the Viewpoint Editor of JAMA Dermatology but was not involved in any of the decisions regarding review of the manuscript or its acceptance.1. Woodruff CM, Chang AY. More than skin deep: severe iron deficiency anemia and eosinophilia associated with pediculosis capitis and corporis infestation.

The dermatology workforce includes physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician associates/assistants (PAs). The number of dermatologists is growing slowly while the growth of PAs working in dermatology is rapid and accelerating. To understand their characteristics, a descriptive study of PAs practicing in dermatology utilizing the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) workforce dataset on PA practices was undertaken. NCCPA certifies PAs who practice in the United States and queries them about their role, employment, salary, and job satisfaction. Analyses consisted of descriptive statistics, Chi-Square, and Mann–Whitney tests for comparisons between PAs practicing in dermatology versus the total of all other PA specialties. As of 2021, 4,580 certified PAs reported practicing in dermatology—a nearly twofold increase since 2013, when 2323 worked in the specialty. This cohort's median age was 39 years, and 82% were female. Almost all (91.5%) are office based, and 81% work more than 31 h per week. The median salary was $125,000 (2020 dollars). Dermatology PAs work fewer hours and see more patients than their counterparts compared to all 69 PA specialties. At the same time, dermatology PAs are more satisfied and less burnt out when compared to all PAs. The increased number of PAs selecting dermatology as their discipline can help lessen the projected physician shortage in this field.

Background To determine physician assistant/associate (PA) perceptions of the value of certification and explore how they vary across demographic and practice characteristics. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional online survey between March and April 2020 with PAs participating in the longitudinal pilot program for recertification administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). The survey was distributed to 18,147 PAs, of which 10,965 participated (60.4% response rate). In addition to descriptive statistics, chi-square tests were conducted on demographics and specialty to examine if perceptions of value of certification (1 global and 10 items measuring specific domains) were associated with a particular PA profile. A series of fully adjusted multivariate logistic regressions were performed, exploring the relationship between PA characteristics and the value of certification items. Results Most PAs strongly agreed/agreed that certification helps with fulfilling licensure requirements (9,578/10,893; 87.9%), helps with updating medical knowledge (9,372/10,897; 86.0%), and provides objective evidence of continued competence (8,875/10,902; 81.4%). The items receiving the lowest percentage of responses for strongly agreeing/agreeing were for certification providing no value (1,925/10,887; 17.7%), helping with professional liability insurance (5,076/10,889; 46.6%), and competing with other providers for clinical positions (5,661/10,905; 51.9%). Age 55 and older and practicing in dermatology and psychiatry were among the strongest predictors of less favorable views. PAs from underrepresented in medicine (URiM) backgrounds had more positive perceptions. Conclusions Overall, the findings indicate that PAs value certification; however, perceptions varied by demographics and specialties. PAs who were younger, from URiM backgrounds, and practicing in primary care specialties had among the most favorable perspectives. Continued feedback monitoring is critical in ensuring certification is relevant and meaningful in supporting PAs across demographics and specialties. Measuring PA perceptions of the value of certification is essential to understanding how to support the PA profession's current and future credentialing needs and those who license and hire PAs.

Background Retirement patterns for American physician assistants/associates (PAs) are in flux as the first substantial cadre trained in the 1970s makes their retirement choices. The growing and aging of the US population is increasing the demand for healthcare services. At the same time, provider retirement can decrease patient access to care, disrupt continuity of care and lead to poorer health outcomes. Knowing PA intentions to retire and the retirement patterns can be useful to health system employers and workforce policymakers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the retirement patterns of PAs within the United States. We investigated their characteristics, career roles, and intent to depart from clinical practice. Methods Drawing on the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 2020 health workforce data (N = 105,699), the associations of demographics (age, gender, US region, and years certified), and practice attributes (specialty and practice setting) of clinically active PAs were assessed with intending to retire in the next five years. Analyses for this national cross-sectional study included descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Fisher’s Exact test, as appropriate. A p-value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant for all analyses where a comparison was made. Results Overall, 5.8% of respondents indicated that they intend to retire within five years. We detected significant differences (all p < 0.001) on intentions to retire by age group, gender, US region, years certified, specialty, and practice setting. Respondents 70 years and older compared to those 60–69 were more likely (66.5% vs. 48.9%), males compared to females (8.8% vs. 4.4%), those who have been certified for more than 21 years compared to 11–20 years (25.6% vs. 4.0%), PAs practicing in family medicine compared to dermatology (7.7% vs. 3.4%) and those in the federal government practice setting compared to rural health clinic (13.6% vs. 9.8%) reported they were more likely to retire in the next five years. Conclusions Our study provides a comprehensive snapshot of PA retirement intentions using a robust national dataset. Among the most important factors associated with intent to retire in this study were older age and duration of PA career. Most PAs are remaining clinically active into their seventh decade—suggesting that they are integrated into medical systems that value them and they, in turn, value their role.

AAPA 2022 POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS PURPOSEEvery year in the United States, more than 6 million patients require treatment in ICUs for life-threatening conditions. Health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during surging infection rates, have exponentially increased demand for acute, emergency, and intensive care. The number of PAs choosing to practice in critical care medicine has grown by 67% between 2016 and 2021; however, more research is needed in understanding the demographic characteristics of PAs in critical care and their practice patterns. We conducted a comprehensive, exploratory study in an effort to help quantify the contribution of PAs practicing in critical care medicine. METHODSNational Commission on Certifi cation of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) data from 2021 included responses from 111,726 PAs who worked in at least one clinical position, reported their specialty, and updated their information or certifi ed that their responses were up-to-date within the past 3 years. We compared personal and professional characteristics of 2,071 PAs practicing in critical care medicine with 109,358 PAs in all other specialties. Comparisons were made on the following: age, sex, race/ethnicity, speaking a language other than English with patients, armed forces service, highest degree completed, postgraduate training (PA residency or fellowship), US region, urban-rural setting, years certifi ed, practicing in a secondary position, practice setting, hours worked, patient volume, on-call hours, clinical services provided, burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave principal clinical position. Analyses included descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses consist-