The Integral Role of Physician Assistants in Modern Health Care
Physician assistants have been around since the 1960s and at first they served to bring medical care to a larger population in places where there weren’t enough physicians available. Since that time, the role of physician assistants (PAs) has grown substantially as private practices, hospitals, and even the armed forces have realized how effective they are in providing routine medical care on a cost-effective basis. The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) estimates that in 2008 alone PAs accounted for 257 million patient visits! Clearly PAs are indispensable to modern health care, and their pay reflects this, with the median annual salary at over $80,000.
Physicians hire PAs to work closely with them, and they delegate various medical duties to the PA that are relevant to the physician’s practice and that fall under the scope of the assistant’s training and experience. The various state medical boards allow physicians to have broad delegatory authority when it comes to their PAs, allowing practices to be flexible, efficient, and to provide the best possible care for patients. In hospitals, PAs have certain clinical privileges that they earn through a system similar to that used with physicians. In all 50 states, Washington DC, and Guam, PAs have authority to prescribe medications.
The AAPA keeps track of the practice settings that employ PAs, and recorded that in 2008, around 43% of PAs worked in solo or group medical practices. About one-third worked in hospitals, and the remainder worked in community health centers, rural clinics, nursing homes, outpatient surgical facilities, college and university based facilities, correctional facilities, and industrial settings. About one-fourth of PAs specialize in family and general medicine, with another quarter specializing in general surgery and surgical specialties. Other PA specializations include general internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, occupational medicine, and dermatology.
Most physician assistant programs require a minimum of two years of college study, and most require health care experience prior to admission to a program. Before applying to a PA training program, prospective students should have course work in anatomy, biology, chemistry, nutrition, medical terminology, college level mathematics, physiology, and social sciences. In the US, there are more than 140 accredited PA programs, most of which are associated with two and four-year colleges of medicine or allied health. Application deadlines usually occur between November and March, with the programs themselves starting from May to September, depending on the educational institution.
Most physicians assistant programs take about two years to complete. During the first year, the student completes mostly classroom studies in the essential sciences like anatomy, physiology, and microbiology. During the second year of studies, the PA student participates in clinical rotations in various private and institutional settings. Clinical rotations generally include family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, orthopedics, psychiatry and radiology. After graduation from a physician assistant program, PAs take the national certifying exam that’s given by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. After qualifying, PAs must participate in 100 hours of continuing medical education courses every two years to keep up with medical advances. They must also take recertification exams every six years.
If you are looking to become an physician assistant, you would benefit greatly by looking for physician assistant programs. By looking at the various physician assistant program schools you can start on the path to your career.
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