A Career

By: A lex i s Georg ia

Physician Assistant

What is a Physician Assistant?

According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, a Physician Assistant (PA) is a nationally certified and state licensed medical professional that practices medicine on healthcare teams with physicians and other providers.

PAs are able to: Take a medical history Conduct physical exams Diagnose and treat illness Order and interoperate tests Develop treatment plans Assist in surgery Write prescriptions Make rounds in hospitals and nursing homes Counsel on preventative care

History

The PA profession was created to expand and improve healthcare.

Dr. Eugene A. Stead, chairman of the Duke University Medical Center, recognized a shortage of primary care physicians in the mid 1960s and to remedy this he put together the first class of PAs in 1965.

The new Duke University PA program graduated four Navy Hospital Corpsmen selected by Dr. Stead based off of their medical training during military service in the Vietnam War on October 6, 1967.

Dr. Stead created a 2 year program to formally educate these new medical professionals and based his curriculum on the fast-track training of doctors he experienced during World War II.

Current Day PAs

Currently there are 210 accredited PA programs throughout the country graduating roughly 8,900 new PAs per year.

According to the NCCPA there are over 108,500 certified PAs in the workforce today and the career is projected to grow 30% from 2014 to 2024.

PAs are able to practice and prescribe medicine in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories with the exception of Puerto Rico.

In 2015 the median pay was $98,180 per year and $47.20 per hour.

Types of Physician Assistants

Roughly ¼ of PAs practice in primary care, and ¾ practice specialty medicine.

½ of all PAs work in a physician or group practice, ¼ of PAs practice in hospitals, and the remaining ¼ work in a variety of settings (nursing homes, community health centers, correctional institutions, etc.)

The single largest employer of PAs is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

The top specialties for PAs are 1. Primary Care2. Surgical Subspecialties 3. Emergency Medicine4. Internal Medicine Subspecialties

However there are many areas of medicine that PAs can go into including: Urgent Care, Dermatology, OB/Gyn, Radiology, etc.

O*Net Profiler Results

I have known for a long time that I wanted to go into medicine some day. I was able to take the O*Net Profiler Test to determine if my personality would be a good fit for a medical profession, specifically as a Physician Assistant.

My top results were 30 points Social, 19 points Investigative,

and 14 points Enterprising.

O*Net Profiler Results cont.

Those with Social interests like working with people to help them learn and grow.

Those with Investigative interests like work that has to do with thinking and ideas.

Those with Enterprising interests like taking action and leading people.

Physician Assistant Qualities

As someone in the medical field a physician assistant will continually have to work with others, both patients and the other physicians on their team, causing a need for strong Social interests.

Figuring out medical problems will require an extensive amount of thinking and an interest in finding out how things work, applying Investigative interests.

And lastly, a physician assistant will need to be able to lead others, knowing when to take charge and make decisions with the patients best interest in mind. This means a physician assistant will need strong Enterprising interests.

Next Steps

In order to become a physician assistant I will have to continue my education past undergrad and apply to an accredited PA program.

There are 210 accredited programs throughout the country, leaving many options to choose from

Some of the programs I am looking at are: SUNY Upstate Medical Stony Brooke University Albany Medical College Emory University MUSC

PA School

Before applying most schools require between 1,000-4,000 hours of hands-on patient care experience, at least a 3.0 GPA, receive a C or higher in the required courses, and earn a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.

This healthcare experience can be gained many ways including: Medical Scribe Registered Nurse Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Phlebotomist

Once accepted to a school I will have to spend about 3 years there and complete over 2,000 hours of clinical rotations before earning a master’s degree.

Becoming Certified

Upon graduating from an accredited PA program, I will be able to sit for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE) and if I pass, become a certified PA.

Even after certification I will need to obtain a state license before practicing medicine.

In order to maintain national certification I will need to complete 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and take a recertification exam every 10 years.

Conclusion

Based on my desired career in medicine and interests becoming a PA would be a good fit for me.

My O*Net Profiler Results (Social, Enterprising, and Investigative) reflect a good match with a career as a physician assistant.

In order to pursue this career I will still need to earn my baccalaureate degree, complete between 1,000 and 4,000 hours of healthcare experience, finish undergrad with a 3.0 GPA average or better, and become accepted to an accredited PA program.

As of now, I am on track to pursue a career as a PA and look forward to continuing my education in hopes of achieving this goal.

Sources

https://www.aapa.org/twocolumn.aspx?id=2826

https://healthtechnology.stonybrookmedicine.edu/programs/pa/elpa/admissions/requirements

https://www.aapa.org/become-a-pa/http://www.arc-pa.org/acc_programs/https://www.aapa.org/what-is-a-pa/