Definition
Physician assistants work in medicine, including primary care and family medicine, emergency medicine, and psychiatry. Physician assistants are also known as PAs. Their primary duty is to provide basic healthcare facilities to patients and assist senior medical team members. However, they are medical experts and can help with pharmacy. They inspect, diagnose, and treat patients in a well-mannered fashion.
Role & Responsibilities
A physician assistant must be able to work with extreme efficiency, especially in such a serious environment. An employee in any field must exhibit specific characteristics that would make the working environment pleasant for them and their peers. These characteristics are known as soft skills. Soft skills at any workplace include things such as friendly behavior, being highly motivated, being passionate about their role, good attention to detail, and most of all, respect towards others.
However, the core responsibilities are also mandatory to be fulfilled, but any negligence in fulfilling these soft skills and obligations can also have a heavy impact on the job. With the rise of COVID, the demand for medical experts has increased to record-breaking levels. This has also caused PAs to become essential while working with expert medical officers or doctors. They boost access to quality health care for many populations and communities. An assistant holds the following duties:
- Make rounds and examine patients’ performances.
- Diagnosing illnesses
- Assisting in surgery
- Ordering and interpreting laboratory tests and X-rays
- Prescribing medications for patients.
- Developing and supervising treatment plans
- Upholding a positive work environment
Education & Training
A physician works in the medical field. This is one of the main reasons an assistant would be highly qualified to do the job. The minimum requirements to become a certified Physician Assistant are as follows:
- Acquire a Bachelor’s degree with significant subjects such as Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Immunology etc., to secure admission for a Master’s degree.
- Once the Bachelor’s degree has been achieved, the physicians are required to complete their Master’s degree to become a Physician Assistant.
- The minimum necessary CGPA to even apply for a PA job is 3.25.
- After clearing their Master’s degree, the assistants must take several exams and training to get a job as PA.
Licensing & Certificates
As mentioned previously, there are specific exams and certifications that physician assistants need to clear. These include tests and certifications, such as:
- Physician Assistant National Certificate. PAs have to pass this exam with scores higher than 95%.
- Any candidate can take this exam only six times in 6 years.
- Once they clear their tests, assistants appeal for a license to practice their skills.
- Besides this, physicians can also achieve additional certificates to ensure specialization.
- However, they must maintain their certification by renewing the certificate by taking the exam.
Salary
The salary of a Physician Assistant may vary depending on their location. Although it requires extensive hard work to achieve a physician assistant license, the salary may not be as much as it costs to become one. Average physician assistants make up to $125,000 per year, which means that the monthly gross income of PAs is about $10,500. This may seem low, as it costs a lot more in the training process. But once you become a PA, you can live a better life.
Employment
Are you dreaming of becoming a physician or physician assistant? Indeed, we will guide you about this, but keep in mind that finding your first job. It can be difficult for you at the start, as you have no prior training or hands-on experience. It can also take a while to score your first position as a physician assistant. But, we recommend you start with even the lowest possible field salary if you get the chance.
Now, the question may be: where will you find your first opportunity? Here are the steps you can try out to get your first designation in the field. First, we recommend you check out job search portals. These include platforms such as HealtheCareer and Indeed. But what if you want this process to be much more simplified? Don’t worry; you can check out our website. We have jobs related to physicians and related fields, which you can view by clicking here.
