Health Minister Mary Schryer says the department is taking the time necessary to introduce physician assistants to the province's emergency rooms. (CBC)

The New Brunswick government is delaying the implementation of physician assistants for at least several more months.

Health Minister Mary Schryer said in an interview that there is still a lot of work to do before the physician assistants can be introduced into the province's emergency rooms.

"Sometimes people think, you know, it could be slow, but we need to get it right," Schryer said.

A Department of Health committee recommended a year ago the province should introduce physician assistants to improve access to health care, reduce wait times and save money.

'It's really now in the hands of the RHAs and it's up to them to decide how they want to proceed with this.'— Dr. Wayne MacDonald, senior health adviser

Former health minister Michael Murphy said in April 2009 that physician assistants would be working in some of the province's understaffed emergency departments by now.

Physician assistants have a two-year degree and can provide a range of tasks from doing sutures and casts to conducting patient histories and physicals to ordering and interpreting tests.

U.S. and Canadian military forces have used physician assistants for years. More recently, Manitoba and Ontario have also started using these health workers.

Schryer said her department has done a lot of work on the physician assistant file in the past year.

A committee recommended last April that physician assistants be introduced in New Brunswick, starting with about six in the emergency rooms.

RHAs' responsibility

Dr. Wayne MacDonald, a senior adviser with the health department who chaired New Brunswick's feasibility and implementation committees, said it's now up to the two regional health authorities to decide how many physician assistants they want and where they want them working.

Once those decisions are made, the authorities must apply to the Department of Health for approval.

"So it's really now in the hands of the RHAs and it's up to them to decide how they want to proceed with this," MacDonald said.

But the RHAs say they're still waiting for more information from the department, such as whether there will be any additional funding for hiring physician assistants or if they will have to pay for their $71,000 to $86,000 salaries from within existing budgets.

It's only after those issues are sorted out that the hospitals can start recruiting physician assistants.