Newly Established Physician Assistant Positions To Be Introduced to Saskatchewan This Fall

Released on October 5, 2023

Physician Assistants (PAs) will soon be a focus of recruitment efforts to join Saskatchewan’s health care teams and play an important role in strengthening the health system.

This fall, 12 PA positions will be advertised by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and community clinics across the province.

“The introduction of this new provider group will add more skilled professionals to the provincial health system to address demand for timely and high-quality health services and provide an enhanced team-based approach to health care,” Health Minister Everett Hindley said. “Our government is committed to ensuring we have the health professionals in place to provide essential health services for patients across the province. Integrating Physician Assistants into our health care teams will provide our health care professionals the ability to see more patients in a timely manner and reduce wait times.”

An investment of $1.3 million was included in the 2023-24 provincial budget to create Physician Assistant positions for the first time. This is part of Saskatchewan’s nearly $100 million investment to support the Health Human Resource (HHR) Action Plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain more health care professionals.

Physician Assistants are health professionals who have taken additional advanced training at one of the recognized programs in Canada. They practice medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician, often within a multidisciplinary health team. Physician Assistants provide services in primary care, long-term care, emergency medicine, cancer care, general internal medicine and surgical specialties. Some key duties include conducting patient examinations, prescribing medications, and ordering and interpreting tests. 

Earlier this year, Saskatchewan introduced legislative changes to allow the new profession of Physician Assistants to be licensed to practice in the province and establish their scope of practice. PAs will be regulated under the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. The positions will be posted at www.healthcareersinsask.ca and a variety of other job platforms.

Work is continuing on multiple initiatives under Saskatchewan's HHR Action Plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain more health care workers with progress being made in key areas.

HHR Progress Update Highlights

• The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has now hired 710 new nursing grads from Saskatchewan and out-of-province since December 2022.
• A total of 411 Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) from the Philippines have received conditional offers to work in Saskatchewan. Of these, 85 are completing a nine-month program, with several having arrived to Saskatchewan since July 2023 for clinical training.
• A further cohort of 50 IENs from the Philippines have enrolled in the 14-week “Transition to Registered Nursing in Canada (TRNC)” pathway that accelerates bridging timeframes and offers more options and supports. The Filipino IENs are currently participating in this shortened pathway, launched late August, and are expected to arrive in Saskatchewan this fall for clinical training.
• Once clinical training is complete, these IENs will be eligible for licensure and ready to begin working in Saskatchewan's health system.
• Five domestic internationally educated nurses (IENs) have completed training and started employment in Saskatchewan.
• The spring Final Clinical Placement Bursary program for a variety of health professions has seen a high level of interest with 146 applications received. Applications are now open for the fall call out through March 1, 2024. Those interested can visit the Final Clinical Placement Bursary webpage for information on eligibility criteria and application process.
• The Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive of up to $50,000 offered to new employees in nine high-priority health occupations continues to see success with 166 incentives approved to date in the majority of the 54 eligible communities. 
• 201 positions have been filled of the 250 new and enhanced permanent full-time positions targeted in nine high-priority occupations to stabilize staffing in rural and remote areas of the province.

A new marketing campaign to attract health-care workers was launched late September featuring Ariana, a young Medical Laboratory Technologist from Meadow Lake. The campaign includes online, newspaper, radio and cinema ads, social media and billboards, and is running across the province, as well as British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Watch Ariana’s story at Health-Care Opportunities In Rural Saskatchewan.

Details on health care opportunities, how to access them and more information on the province's HHR Action Plan are available at saskatchewan.ca/HHR.

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