Aloha,

    This web site is designed to familiarize healthcare professionals and patients with both myself, and the professional merits of other Physician Assistants worldwide.

    As a Physician Assistant (PA) in Hawaii, where there is not currently a PA school, I spend a great deal of time explaining the role and function of PA's in healthcare.  This web site is not affiliated with any medical clinic or institution, but serves to introduce myself and PA's in general to interested readers.

    Many people understandably confuse Physician Assistants with other healthcare workers with similar sounding titles.  A Physician Assistant does the same kind of work as a regular (M.D.) Physician:  seeing patients; performing procedures; writing prescriptions; filling out charts and so forth.

    Physician Assistants like myself attend medical schools as doctors, but generally start with at least 8 years of work experience in medicine, as well as an undergraduate degree.  Unlike doctors, PA's do not generally have a Ph.D. or M.D., so the title "doctor" is not used.  Like my PA school, many others offer a Master's of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degree.  So, although I do the same kind of work as doctors, my patients should call me "Christine", rather than "Dr. Pratt", which would be inappropriate for my degree.

    Some schools graduate their PA students as "Physician Associates", which better describes the role of a PA.  A PA is regulated slightly differently from state to state, but a general principle is that a PA is always associated with a doctor who serves as their medical supervisor.  The doctor and PA share a peer to peer relationship in seeing patients individually, and they consult with each other regularly on patient cases.

    Physician Assistants have widely varied backgrounds, and come from any kind of professional previous experience.  PA schools are not directly connected to the nursing profession in any way, and are designed to provide "under-served" communities with healthcare providers where conditions make it difficult for a regular medical doctor to provide services, like in remote rural areas, or other communities facing a shortage of doctors.

    One mission of PA's is to serve in providing top quality medicine in every way, but at a lower total cost because of their prior experience, accelerated medical school, and affiliation with supervising doctors as preceptors on the job.

    My life mission is to serve the people of Hawaii with the excellent education I have received from my sojourn to the University of Utah School of Medicine, following my growing up and college years here.  I have been privileged to work with excellent teachers in clinical rotations in all the major fields of medicine, as well as on the job experience with local doctors as a PA in Women's and Family Medicine, Cardiology, Surgery, Internal Medicine and Infertility.

    Please feel free to browse this site for more professional information about myself and the profession of Physician Assistants!

Mahalo,

Christine