In the health care industry, a physician assistant is a much needed asset. The fact is that they have huge responsibilities concerning patient care. PAs are health care workers that have a license that makes them able to practice medicine while they are being supervised by a physician. They absolutely have to consult a physician when it comes to decisions about patient care, and get the physician’s permission to perform a task. They are able to do a wide range of tasks and some of them are performing physical exams on patients who need them, they are responsible for arranging diagnostic tests for patients and they are able to be apart of interpreting the results from the tests, PAs can only assist when it comes to diagnosing and treating medical conditions and they can’t do this without the consultation of a physician. They have the privilege of being able to write out prescriptions for patients and they can educate patients on providing better health care for themselves.
To be honest, they really can do just about all the tasks that a physician does. These men and women working as assistants are doing a phenomenal job, and physicians most definitely appreciate them. Every physician assistant is doing the physician a favor because of the fact that they relieve a lot of the stress that physicians deal with while trying to handle so many patients in one day. Physicians have a lot of responsibility when working in all areas of the health care industry, which is there is a high demand for PAs right now.
Assistants work in health care establishments like nursing homes, and hospitals. You’ll also find them working in medical departments such as the pediatric department, internal medicine, emergency room, they’ll be in the surgery room, they’ll be working with the elderly in geriatrics, and they’ll be in orthopedics. There are many other specialties in which you’ll find a physician assistant. The best thing that comes with being a PA is the fact that you are able to have a life outside of work, unlike most physicians. From what I’ve seen, physicians are always being called in at odd hours and there have been sum circumstances when a physician has had to work a full 24 hours.
Becoming a Physician Assistant
When in school studying to become a PA, you’re going to take a lot of the same classes that physicians take. While you won’t take all the classes that a physician took, you will have to take the same internship and residency programs that they took. Make sure you go to and graduate from an accredited physician assistant program. After you graduate, take the national board certification exam so that you can get your state license. While a person is employed as a PA, they will have to follow the state rules and regulations that tell them what they can and can’t do while practicing medicine.
There are guidelines for each state that dictate what a health care profession can do within their scope of practice. A PA’s participation in patient care can only be limited based on how complex the patient’s condition may be. Based on your education, how much experience you have, and how much training you have done will determine how much you participate in patient care as determined by the physician you are being supervised by.
The physician and the assistant work collaboratively to provide the best care for the patient. PAs have the right to further their career to get a better salary and to challenge themselves. All you need to be a physician assistant is have passion, love helping those who are suffering, and be self motivated. Go to a university for two years and you can be a PA. Assistant programs usually lasts for 2 years where the first year gives the student clinical science courses and the last year has the student doing actual training using medical machines and tests in the field.
Every physician assistant has to continue take classes even when they get their certification and license, and they will be required to retake their certification test. This is a fulfilling and rewarding career.
