Physician Assistant Training Programs

What Do Physician Assistants Do?

The physician assistant job description involves giving primary care to patients; the work includes preventing and treating the disease and injuries of people through a wide range of healthcare services. Moreover, as part of their job responsibilities, physician assistant conducts medical examination, order a medical test and interpret it and write prescriptions. Additionally, they provide support during surgery and gives medical counseling as part of their duties.

Most PAs work in the hospitals and clinics. They can also have their own independent institution wherein they can practice their profession. Either way, they have limited supervisory skills compared to physicians.

Job Outlook

Healthcare jobs can be found throughout the United States, since the demand for healthcare service is high. Years ago, the first group of physician assistants were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs previously known as the Veterans Administration. Nowadays, physical assistant can find employment in other government and private hospitals or institutions. However, the Department of Veterans Affairs provides the largest job openings for physician assistant. The licensed physician assistant is required to submit his or her resume and pass the interview conducted by the institution.

According to the statistics, there were almost 68, 124 practicing PAs as of January 2008. Around 56% of them have found their occupations in physician’s clinics, 24% found in the hospital and the remaining 20% found in the public health clinics, nursing homes, schools and prisons.

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States Department of Labor, employment of physician assistant has an average growth rate of 27% from year 2006 to 2016. Moreover, it surpassed the average growth rate of all occupations. This is associated with several factors including an increasing older population, the rising need for healthcare services and cost containment.

Where Do Physician Assistants Work?

Physician assistant is accommodated by almost all of the institutions related to the medical fields. This usually involves hospitals, public clinics, rural and inner city clinics, Air Force and Navy. PAs also work in several home health care services, community health centers and some of them even work as a researcher and/or as a teacher within the academic medical center.

The United States Department of State has a program called Foreign Service Health Practitioners (FSHP). Physician assistant under this program can be deployed in any location around the world where there is a State Department facility. Their task is to provide primary healthcare. However, in order to be a part of the program, the PA must have a license and has possessed it for at least two years with experience in providing primary healthcare.

Furthermore, the United States Army also employ PAs to serve as Medical Specialist Corps officers. They can be found within the Army combat or combat support groups that are located in different areas such as Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas. As part of the Special Force unit, they are in charge of providing total health care services to the soldiers and their families.

Besides those work places mentioned above, physician assistant can also have an occupation with the United States Air Force and Navy by being a clinical practitioners and aviation medicine specialists. Aside from the skills they acquired in physician assistant school, they need to undergo additional job training in advanced casualty care, medical management of chemical injuries, military and aviation medicine.

Therefore, if you are a licensed physician assistant, you can practice your profession using the traditional way of providing primary health care or you can go beyond the traditional role by doing health-related research and education.

How Much Do Physician Assistants Make?

If you are undecided about taking physician assistant as a profession, you might want to take a look at the salary.

In 2008, the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) has stated that the physician assistant salary is relatively high compared to other occupations. The starting salary for physician assistant per year is almost $70, 000. This pay can go higher as years of service lengthen. It can go as high as $100,000 to $120, 000, if the PA is working in emergency medicine, dermatology and surgical subspecialties.

The salaries by state for this profession vary. If you are located within an area where there is US Army, Air Force and Navy, the salary for physician assistant is higher. It is safe to assume that the average physician assistant salary is around $90, 000.

Curriculum for Physician Assistant Training

Currently, there are 159 accredited schools in many states that offer physician assistant education also known as PA education. While choosing schools, it is important to make sure the school you are interested in is accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). This Commission is a non-government organization that had set standards which must be followed by the schools that offer PA education as well as an evaluation tool for PA programs.

The accredited school may offer a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, associate degrees and certificate. Accredited PA programs also require students to take internship and training.

The Physician Assistant Bachelor’s Degree (BAPA) is an accelerated four-year programs that enable one to earn a bachelor’s degree. During the third and fourth years, it has nine months of clinical coursework and 1 year clinical rotations.

As for the Physician Assistant Master’s Degree (MA-PA), it requires a bachelor’s degree before admission to the program. During the first year, the study focuses on anatomy and physiology, obstetrics and gynecology, pharmacology, microbiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics and surgery and psychology. In the second year, the students are required to have a clinical experience.

Certification

Just like other professions that necessitate a license, there are certain prerequisites needed to be met in order to become a physician assistant. The requirements needed for a person to become a PA are to pass an accredited physician assistant school tests and to have the required hours of clinical practical training. Furthermore, he or she should pass the national certification examination known as the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) to receive a license. This is administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Certification to licensed Physician Assistant is issued by the NCCPA.

The vision of NCCPA is to transform the delivery of quality healthcare by certifying qualified PAs through programs that improve patient care while exemplifying a commitment to excellence unparalleled among certifying organizations. The NCCPA’s mission is to serve the public through exemplary programs that evaluate critical PA competencies and that require the pursuit of lifetime learning and improvement.

After six years of practicing in this profession, PA needs to pass a recertification examination. If you do not want to have a recertification examination, you can choose an alternative program. The later combines learning experience and take-home examination.

Physician Assistant-Certified are given as titles to physician assistant that have pass PANCE. These are the top choice of the employers, so it is a priority that every graduate of PA education passes the PANCE. To remain as a Physician Assistant-Certified, the 100 hours of continuing education is required.

It is imperative for the PAs to take continuing education to update their medical knowledge on this area as well as to improve their skills. Aside from having a bachelor’s degree, they should have enough hours of training and have a previous healthcare experience.

An excellent professional organization for PAs to check it out is called the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), where you can find AAPA professional development tools, info for PA employers and the links to other online resources including current research about the PA profession.

What Makes a Good Physician Assistant?

If you graduate from an accredited physician assistant school, you are a step ahead. However, there are some requirements you need to meet before you become a physician assistant. One of the basic requirements is that you should always provide a good customer service to the patients and your practice must be guided by professional ethics.

Obtaining good communication skills is also crucial. With that, the patient is able to understand you and on the other hand, you are able to give your patient a much better health care service. This can be done by establishing rapport during the first meeting with your patient. You should always be open to questions and suggestions by your patients.

Another important factor to consider is to have an excellent spelling and reading skills since there are a lot of medical information on different subjects related to health care that cannot be misunderstood or taken lightly. This is beneficial to the patients as well as any PAs that would like to advance their career and provide better healthcare services.

Last of all, PAs need to have emotional stability because they need to make decisions in times, especially during emergencies. They should also have several ways on how to cope with and adapt to stress to prevent the feeling of burn-out. However, these skills can most likely be acquired through the practice of such profession.

Do I Have What It Takes to Become a Physician Assistant?

Well, this question boils down to one answer. Becoming a physician assistant should be the interest and the passion of a person. It requires focus and dedication, from the intensive study sessions, long clinical hours and rotation that must be finished to earn a degree, to pass many school tests, job trainings, to earn a license by passing the national certification examination. And, of course, last but not least, you need to have the desire to help people to get better health.

So, are you ready for this exciting career as a physician assistant?