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Abstract: Physician associate/assistant (PA) leaders are essential to healthcare and critical to a healthcare organization's success. In this article, the second of a two-part series on PA leadership, we summarize methods for implementing and sustaining PA leadership opportunities and organizational structures., (Copyright © 2024 American Academy of Physician Associates.)

Abstract: Physician associate/assistant (PA) leaders are essential to healthcare and are critical to a healthcare organization's success. This article, the first of a two-part series on PA leadership, summarizes the importance of PA leaders and the benefits of PAs serving in administrative and leadership roles., (Copyright © 2024 American Academy of Physician Associates.)

Regulatory and accrediting standards require hospitals to have a medical staff responsible for quality of care, patient safety, and clinician self-governance. PAs are on about 20% of hospital medical staffs in the United States and the number is growing.

We assessed overall job satisfaction and factors of job satisfaction among physician assistants (PAs) practicing cardiovascular medicine in the United States. Job satisfaction among health care providers is associated with provider satisfaction and retention, reduced health care costs, increased patient satisfaction, and improved health care. Research regarding job satisfaction among physicians and nurse practitioners has been conducted, but knowledge of job satisfaction among PAs is limited, dated, and inadequate. Job satisfaction among PAs in cardiology, a specialty with a disparity between provider supply and demand, has not been investigated. A quantitative, correlational, descriptive study was conducted using participants from the Association of Physician Assistants in Cardiology database. Overall job satisfaction, 45 factors of job satisfaction, and 6 composite factors were calculated. Correlational analysis was performed for factors most associated with overall job satisfaction. Overall job satisfaction was high. Most PAs (87.3%) were satisfied or very satisfied. Physician assistants were most satisfied with job factors related to challenge and autonomy, and these factors had the greatest correlation to overall job satisfaction. Findings can guide employers, health care administrators, and policy makers to promote job satisfaction among PAs in cardiology and provide insights into job satisfaction among PAs in general.

The ACC/AHA's lower BP goals are supported by previously unavailable evidence, the strongest of which is for patients with CVD. But others can benefit, too.

In the United States, hypertension affects about one-third of adults and contributes to one out of every seven deaths. Evidence-based treatment is associated with reductions in incidence of stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure as well as associated disability and death. This article reviews the ACC/AHA Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines' 2017 Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults. Key changes include reclassification of BP stages and lowering of hypertension treatment goals.

In 2016, the American College of Cardiology published the first expert consensus decision pathway (ECDP) on the role of non-statin therapies for low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol lowering in the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. Since the publication of that document, additional evidence and perspectives have emerged from randomized clinical trials and other sources, particularly considering the longer-term efficacy and safety of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors in secondary prevention of ASCVD. Most notably, the FOURIER (Further Cardiovascular Outcomes Research with PCSK9 Inhibition in Subjects with Elevated Risk) trial and SPIRE-1 and -2 (Studies of PCSK9 Inhibition and the Reduction of Vascular Events), assessing evolocumab and bococizumab, respectively, have published final results of cardiovascular outcomes trials in patients with clinical ASCVD and in a smaller number of high-risk primary prevention patients. In addition, further evidence on the types of patients most likely to benefit from the use of ezetimibe in addition to statin therapy after acute coronary syndrome has been published. Based on results from these important analyses, the ECDP writing committee judged that it would be desirable to provide a focused update to help guide clinicians more clearly on decision making regarding the use of ezetimibe and PCSK9 inhibitors in patients with clinical ASCVD with or without comorbidities. In the following summary table, changes from the 2016 ECDP to the 2017 ECDP Focused Update are highlighted, and a brief rationale is provided. The content of the full document has been changed accordingly, with more extensive and detailed guidance regarding decision making provided both in the text and in the updated algorithms. Revised recommendations are provided for patients with clinical ASCVD with or without comorbidities on statin therapy for secondary prevention. The ECDP writing committee judged that these new data did not warrant changes to the decision pathways and algorithms regarding the use of ezetimibe or PCSK9 inhibitors in primary prevention patients with LDL-C <190 mg/dL with or without diabetes mellitus or patients without ASCVD and LDL-C ≥190 mg/dL not due to secondary causes. Based on feedback and further deliberation, the ECDP writing committee down-graded recommendations regarding bile acid sequestrant use, recommending bile acid sequestrants only as optional secondary agents for consideration in patients intolerant to ezetimibe. For clarification, the writing committee has also included new information on diagnostic categories of heterozygous and homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, based on clinical criteria with and without genetic testing. Other changes to the original document were kept to a minimum to provide consistent guidance to clinicians, unless there was a compelling reason or new evidence, in which case justification is provided., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Primary care providers frequently encounter patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), a dysrhythmia associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This article examines two common treatment strategies, rate control and rhythm control, for regulating AF and managing symptoms.