Do PAs have a future in cardiothoracic surgery?

Coronary artery bypass grafting and other cardiac procedures are proving their efficacy, and the demand for surgical correction of coronary artery disease will increase in the future. Physician assistants will benefit from this development because cutbacks in surgical residencies, reductions in the number of available foreign medical graduates, and imposition of budget constraints have motivated cardiothoracic surgeons to recruit surgery team members from the PA profession.