Educational Requirements:

As this is a profession dealing with the medical assistance, educational qualifications of the candidate are given great importance. There are a set of qualifications required to practice this profession.

Following are the educational qualification of physical assistants:

• The position of a physical assistant requires candidates to complete two years of health care education to appear for Physician Assistant programs.
• Most often people who have completed their bachelor’s degree apply for the two years physical assistant programs.
• Medical schools and colleges offer training programs for these professionals which combines the classroom teaching along with clinical study experience in the final semester of the program.
• The education programs of physical assistants are generally accredited by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education.
• Different programs are offered based on the degree acquired by the candidate.
• Eighty percent of the programs accredited by this sector are for Master degree holders, twenty one of them are offered for Bachelor’s degree candidates and three for associate degree students.
• Many of the candidates who apply for this training program are registered nurses, paramedics or medical technicians.
• Graduates in the medical field can directly apply for a Physician Assistant post in clinics, hospitals or doctor’s office.
• College placement officer may also be helpful who will have a list of job openings for this profession.
• The education of Physician Assistants includes laboratory tests covering aspects of subjects like chemistry, pathology, physiology, clinical medicine and medical ethics.
• This program also demands the students to acquire clinical training experience in the areas of family medicine, prenatal care, surgery, emergency medical care, pediatrics, internal medicine etc. as part of the program.
• Candidates apply for internship services in any one or more of the following supervision areas under a reputed and experienced physician or Physician Assistant.
• This may sometimes lead to permanent employment of the student in the field he chose to gain experience.

What are the skills needed to be a physician assistant?

Apart from educational qualifications, there are certain others skills required by the candidate to excel in the profession. Following are some of the skills and abilities required for this professional:

Skill Set:

v  Excellent communication skills: Physician Assistants are expected to have excellent communication skills as are given the responsibility to communicate with all superiors and peers through telephone or e-mails. They should also have written skills as they prepare reports on the laboratory examinations of the patients.

v  Organizational skills: The entire work of the physician is overseen by the Physician Assistant. As such he must have reasonable amount of timeliness by giving priority in providing healthcare services to the patients.

v  Active Listening: Physician Assistants must have the ability listen carefully giving attention to every detail of what people are saying, taking time to understand and make a list of appropriate questions and not interruption at the wrong times.

v  Ability to think critically: These professionals must use their reasoning and logical senses to indentify the strength and weaknesses of the patient’s problem and then arriving at conclusions to the problem.

v  Other skills Include:

ü  Ability to take decisions without being biased.

ü  Ability to monitor yourself as well as the performance of other individuals and organization which would help in drafting new policies for the health sector.

ü  Must be updated with all the latest technology used in medical sciences.

What are the certifications and licensure to be a physician assistant?

• It is mandatory for Physician Assistants to be nationally certified and licensed.
• However, the requirements for certification vary from state to state, but every Physician Assistant who seeks for national certification must be state licensed.
• Physician Assistants must pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) which is conducted by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).
• Candidates who have completed an accredited course in Physician Assistant training can only apply for this examination.
• Students who pass this test are certified as “Physician Assistants Certified”.
• In order to maintain the certification, these professionals are required to complete hundred hours of medical education every two years and they should renew their certification every six months.
• On the other hand, state certification varies.
• For a state certification, a candidate needs to complete an experience term with any doctor.
• This experience must be in the supervising field and the supervision may not necessarily be on site and it may even include supervising through any form of communication such as telephone, e-mail etc or by personal house check-ups.
• Licensure is obtained by applying in the state the candidate wishes to be employed in.

What is the salary package for a physician assistant?

• The remuneration package for these professionals is very high as it is a field related to health sector.
• Various factors determine the salary of a Physician Assistant some of which include educational qualifications, experience in the field, and area of employment and most importantly geographical location of employment of the professional.
• The average median salary of a Physician Assistant is estimated to be $98,240 annually.
• While the lowest ten percentile of professionals receive a salary up to $74,353 per year the top ten professionals earn more than $106,057 per annum.
• They are also given bonus for their achievements in the industry which ranges around $497.61 – $15,088 per annum thus, increasing their average salary range to a range around $63,832 – $109,328.
• Professionals with less than one year of experience in the field earn a salary ranging round $57,603 – $83,617 for a year where as on the other hand, Physician Assistants with experience of one to five years earn a salary ranging around $60,266 – $91,585 annually.
• Geographical location of employment also forms an important factor to determine the salary of a physical assistant.
• It is observed that a Physician Assistantt employed in the state of Illinois earns a salary ranging around $62,377 – $96,417 compared to a Physician Assistantt who is employed in the state of New York and receives a salary which ranges around $64,293 – $101,165 per annum.
• The difference is because of the variation in the economic rate and also the demand for these professionals in that state.
• Apart from the usual salaries, these professionals are also gifted with additional incentives which include paid holiday trips, paid sick leaves, retirement pension policies etc which would encourage them to give their best while not feeling the work pressure.

What is the role of a physician assistant?

A physical assistant performs a varied number of medical duties which helps the patient to cope and gives them courage to live.

But at the end of the day, a physical assistant must report his activities to the senior doctor and without his permission is not liable to perform any kind of medications on the patient.

Following are some of the duties a physical assistant is vested with as part of his profession:

Duties:

• The primary duty of a physical assistant is to examine the patient and gather information about the physical and mental cause of the health condition.
• It is the duty of this professional to perform indefinite diagnoses tests on the patient which would help the panel of doctors to take a decision on what kind of treatment must be given to the patient.
• It forms the duty of a physical assistant to obtain, compose and record diagnoses medical data of the patient which includes the patient’s health history, progress documents and other results of the laboratory examinations.
• It is the duty of the physical assistant to conduct remedial procedures such as immunizations, would care, emergency tests, injections, x-rays, infection management and other small laboratory tests.
• Another important duty of the physical assistants is to provide assistance to physicians during complex medical surgeries or medical procedures.

Responsibilities:

• Physical assistants are responsible to carry out research experiments, recording and interpreting laboratory information, monitoring the patient’s medication and other tasks related to research programs.
• They are responsible for preparing new laws, rules and regulations for the hospital to serve the welfare and satisfaction of both the customer’s to the hospital and also the health centre.
• Physical assistants stand responsible for supervising and coordinating the activities of the technical assistants and providing therapy to the patients as prescribed by the physician’s approval.
• These professionals are also responsible for designing and counseling patients about the prescribed remedial measures by the physician.
• These counseling sessions helps the patient understand his development procedures, family planning and builds a strong emotional brigade to deal with their daily living and health conditions.
• They are responsible for conducting frequent visits to the patient in the hospital or to the patient’s house and also to update charts and report the health condition to the physician.

An overview of the job of a Physical Assistant:

A physical assistant is a professional who helps the doctors with their daily errands. They relieve the doctors by providing them with patient care which requires highly specialized educational qualifications. Physical assistants are employed to take medical examinations like X-rays, diagnoses, treating patients with minor problems, participating in laboratory tests and other therapy programs. These professionals work under the supervision of doctors in hospitals, private clinics and government health agencies. In the rural areas, physical assistants provide direct medical care to the patients who approach then and this professional will be available only two to three days each week. Physical assistants specialize in one particular field of medicine which may include pediatrics, internal medical surgery, emergency medicine, orthopedics, geriatrics etc.

They are appointed to provide the patients with post-operative and pre-operative treatments as part of their profession. It must be noted that physical assistants and medical assistants are not the same. Although, these professionals require the same education for the post they perform different clerical and administrative duties. A physical assistant job is specified only to complete medical care and does not perform any kind of administrative or clerical duties as part of their profession. Physical assistants are also responsible for making house calls to ensure the health conditions of patients and also to take care of all the nursing facilities of the patients by attending to them at home after which they are expected to report back to the doctor of the hospital or clinic.

Most of the duties of a physical assistant are determined by the State Law and aspiring individual must be updated with the laws and regulations of the field in which that wish to practice. In large hospitals, these professionals act as mediators for the recruitment of other physical assistants and also to draft new guidelines or make amendments which will serves the welfare of both the hospital and the patient. The job prospect of this field is very high with the health sector increasing as a quick pace. Undoubtedly, it is a very rewarding field as it gives you the satisfaction of making a difference in the lives of the patients.