Assistant physician should not be confused with Physician assistant.
In the United States, an assistant physician (AP) is a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who has graduated from a four-year medical school program and is licensed to practice, in a limited capacity, under the supervision of a physician who has completed their residency. The AP license is currently issued in Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas.[1] To be licensed, APs must have graduated from medical school and passed the USMLE Step 1 and USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge exams.[2] The expansion of the AP profession aims to provide primary care in underserved areas.[2] [3] The position also provides a career pathway for the increasing number of unmatched physician graduates.[4]
In the United Kingdom, before the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, an AP was a junior physician attached to a hospital.