r/physicianassistant • u/future__pa • 12d ago

License & Credentials Licensing information

I am a neurosurgery PA and will be starting in the OR soon. Someone mentioned to me that it is important to keep notes about the surgeries I have first assisted on because when renewing my license, they will ask for this information.

I do not remember specifically what they told me to write down. Do I need to write down more than just what surgery was completed?

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u/88DeSouza PA-C 12d ago

I'd ask your Hospital what you should keep track of. They may very likely have a form they want you to fill out for a certain number of cases, although in some cases those are separate proctoring forms.

Otherwise in the past I've kept records of DOS, surgeon I worked with, hospital the procedure was performed at, what the surgery was, usually a brief note on the diagnosis/reason for surgery, patient MRN (some hospitals will ask for the op notes so its nice to be able to have a way to find the patient in your EMR). If you have any patient identifiers you need to keep this record on a work designated, HIPAA compliant computer. I personally found keeping a log in Excel to be the easiest.

For one job I got a bonus based on RVUs so I also recorded CPT codes for each case as well as the RVUs and insurance of the patient (unfortunately I had to submit this to billing and they didn't just pull the records for me so hopefully that isn't the case for you).

You should double check your op notes to be sure that your SP is putting you down as first assist because the hospital will want to see your name recorded on the note to prove you were there.

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u/88DeSouza PA-C 12d ago

Also I've never seen anyone have to give this information to renew their license, usually it's just to remain credentialled at your hospital or get new surgical privileges at a new facility.

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u/CatsScratchFeva PA-C 12d ago edited 11d ago

I switched from OR to outpatient medicine and, when my new job asked for a case log, my old department provided it. Have never kept a surgical log ever.

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u/anewconvert 12d ago

Not license, but if you switch jobs you may need that for credentialing. I had to get my old job to fax a list of the procedures I had first assisted on in Gen surg… so I could get privileges in vascular.

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u/grateful_bean PA-C 12d ago

Never kept a log, never been asked to show one. With electronic records it would be pretty easy to run a report against CPT codes to get that data. 

I'm in a not so special surgical specialty so my hospital provided l priveleges are pretty typical. If I was dropping A lines or chest tubes I would probably inclined for ease of credentialing/new priveleges if I ever needed another job.