HUMMELSTOWN, Pa. — It is National Advanced Practice Provider Week, a week designed to recognize and honor the contributions of these highly trained healthcare providers.
People like Kylie Boruta, who always wanted to work in healthcare and decided to become physician assistant (PA).
“It definitely is something in health care that a lot of people might not know about,” explained Boruta. “It’s very versatile. You can do pediatrics, you can do surgery, you can do emergency medicine, any of the above and you can switch back and forth.”
Boruta is now a pediatrics physician assistant at UPMC CCP Hummelstown.
Along with nurse practitioners, PAs are known as advanced practice providers (APP). These health care providers have advanced degrees, go through clinical training and, in most states, are board certified. They provide care typically performed by a physician.
“I have my own patients that are listed as me as their primary caregiver,” explained Boruta. "I see them by myself, I can treat them by myself, order things by myself. So it’s nice to have that autonomy."
One difference is PAs and nurse practitioners can’t go and open up their own office.
“They always have to be affiliated or somehow associated with a physician,” explained Dr. Cynthia Elsner, a pediatrician at UPMC CCP Hummelstown, where she works with PAs.
Despite the small limitation, the APPs are still filling a void.
“They are very important,” said Dr. Elsner. “There’s a shortage in primary care physicians. There’s a lot of people who are retiring, and so they kind of fill that need.”
A need Boruta is happy to help fill.
“I just like making that relationship with families,” said Boruta. “You’re there for them when they have their new babies and then you just kind of follow them and grow with their family.”