Physician Assistant
Field Description
Physician assistants (PAs) provide diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health-care services under the supervision of physicians.
Working as members of the health-care team, PAs take medical histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret laboratory tests and X-rays, make diagnoses and prescribe medications. They also treat minor injuries by suturing, splinting and casting. PAs record progress notes, instruct and counsel patients, and order or carry out therapy.
Physician assistants may be the principal care providers in rural or inner city clinics, where a physician is present for only one or two days each week. In such cases, the PA confers with the supervising physician and other medical professionals as needed or as required by law. PAs also may make house calls or go to hospitals and nursing homes to check on patients and report back to the physician.
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Many PAs work in primary care areas, such as family medicine, general internal medicine and pediatrics. Others work in specialty areas, such as general and thoracic surgery, emergency medicine, orthopedics and geriatrics. PAs specializing in surgery provide preoperative and postoperative care, and may work as first or second assistants during major surgery. PAs also may supervise technicians and assistants.
The duties of physician assistants are determined by the supervising physician and by state law. For example, in most of the United States and the District of Columbia, physician assistants are licensed to prescribe medications. Physician assistants should not be confused with medical assistants, who perform clinical and administrative clerical tasks.
Career Opportunities
Employment opportunities are excellent for physician assistants, particularly in areas or settings that have difficulty attracting physicians, such as rural and inner-city clinics. Employment of PAs is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2010, due to anticipated expansion of the health services industry and an emphasis on cost containment.
Today, more than 45,000 PAs are working across the United States. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting a 48 percent increase in the number of jobs available for PAs through 2008, the job market for PAs is strong in much of the country.
Physicians and institutions are expected to employ more PAs to provide primary care and to assist with medical and surgical procedures because PAs are cost-effective, productive members of the health-care team. Physician assistants can relieve physicians of routine duties and procedures. Telemedicine — using technology to facilitate interactive consultations between physicians and physician assistants — also will expand the use of physician assistants.
Besides the traditional office-based setting, PAs should find a growing number of jobs in institutional settings, such as hospitals, academic medical centers, public clinics and prisons.
In addition, state-imposed legal limitations on the numbers of hours worked by physician residents are increasingly common and encourage hospitals to use PAs to supply some physician resident services. Opportunities will be best in states that allow PAs a wider scope of practice.
Earning Potential
According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, median income for physician assistants in full-time clinical practice in 2006 was $80,356; median income for first-year graduates was $69,517. Income varies by specialty, practice setting, geographical location and years of experience.
Professional Organizations
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