Careers as a PA
What
are PAs?
Physician
assistants (PAs) are highly qualified, health professionals
who are prepared, through a demanding curriculum
(increasingly at the master’s level), to practice medicine
with physician supervision. Within the physician/PA
relationship, PAs can have a great deal of autonomy and
independence. Some PAs, for example, are the principal
caregivers in rural or inner city clinics where a physician
provides supervision by phone and/or is present for only
one or two days each week.
The Work and Work Settings of PAs
PAs perform
many of the same tasks as physicians do. PAs interview and
examine patients. They order and interpret tests, diagnose
illness, and work with patients in developing feasible
management plans. They counsel and educate patients and
their families. Depending on their specialty and level of
training, PAs perform office procedures, make hospital
rounds, assist with surgery, write prescriptions, and much
more.
PAs are educated and credentialed as generalists. Almost
one-third (30%) of them work in the primary care
specialties of family medicine, pediatrics, internal
medicine, and obstetrics/gynecology. PAs also work in
specialty and subspecialty fields, such as general surgery
and the surgical subspecialties.
Medical practices, hospitals, community clinics, urban and
rural health clinics, HMOs, VA medical centers,
correctional institutions, military installations, nursing
homes, public health agencies, and research centers are
among the organizations that employ PAs. PAs have worked in
IHS for more than 30 years. They also work in Federal,
Urban and Tribal health care facilities.
In addition to their clinical responsibilities, some PAs
have administrative responsibilities that might include the
supervision of medical assistants and nurses. PAs with
advanced degrees and other credentials can serve as faculty
members in PA Programs. Some PAs also have research
responsibilities.
The PA profession was established in 1965. At the beginning
of 2010, there were more than 78,000 PAs in clinical
practice in the United States.
Excellent Job Opportunities
The
continuing expansion of the health care industry, sky
rocketing costs, and the urgent need for health care
providers in rural and inner city settings contribute to
the demand for PAs.
Money
Magazine and Salary.com
rated the PA profession fifth among the top 10 jobs. (Their
rating takes into account growth, pay, stress-levels, and
other factors.) The authors of the ratings write, “PAs can
specialize, from the E.R. to pediatrics to orthopedics, and
they can switch fields. Thanks to an aging population and
demand for more cost-effective care, this job offers a
level of security other professions can't match.”
According to the American Academy of Physician
Assistants’ 2008
Census Survey, the mean
total annual income from primary employer for
respondents who are not self-employed and who work at
least 32 hours per week for their primary employer and
who are not self-employed is $89,987. The median is
$87,710. Not
surprisingly, the physician assistant profession ranks
among the fastest growing occupations in the United
States.
American
Indian/ Alaska Native PAs
As in other
health professions, American Indian and Alaskan Native
people are underrepresented in the PA profession.
The profiles of American
Indian and Alaskan Native PAs and PA students illustrate
some of the many opportunities available to indigenous
PAs as well as the pride that Native communities display
when they are taken care of by one of their own.
Parts
of this article were originally published in the Winter
2007 issue of
Winds of Change.