The physician’s assistants program last approximately 2 years. Their admission requirements usually vary by each program but they have to finish 2 years of college and possess some healthcare experience. They are one of the top 10 lists of most wanted professions in America. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is projected that physical assistants’ jobs are going to grow up to 30% through 2020. Considering that they may move into different areas of medicine and no additional training is required to do it,is what makes this profession very appealing. The following information below describes a physician assistant job description.
All physician assistants are allowed to prescribe medicine under the eye of a physician. They may work in various healthcare centers, facilities or nursing homes, but if trained they may also work in more specific areas such as emergency medicine, orthopedics, internist medicine or cardiology.
All physical assistants must be trained to provide healthcare services such as:
- Diagnosing diseases and providing therapeutic services
- If the physical assistant works as a part of the healthcare team, he is allowed to:
- Diagnose diseases or illnesses
- Examine patients
- Provide treatment
- Carry out therapies
- Order laboratory tests, ultrasound scans and X-rays
- Give prescriptions on medications
- Keep records
- Treat injuries
Not only they have all these duties, but sometimes they are given managerial duties. They must order lab supplies, equipment and medical supplies if needed. Physician assistants must supervise all the other assistants and technicians who are new and not that much experienced. Because the physician assistants work is under the eye of a physician, they must attend in all practices performed by the physician who may be only present for one or two days a week. The physician assistants have to consult with their supervisors and with the other healthcare workers when needed. Sometimes they must make house calls to nursing homes or hospitals in order to insure on patients and give report to their supervisor.
Work environment
Physical assistants usually work in comfortable environment. Those who work in surgery rooms may often be found standing on their feet for long hours. Their schedules may vary depending on the hours of their supervisor. This may include weekends, early-morning hospital rounds and nights. Most physical assistants may be on-call, but those PAs employed in clinics usually work 40 hours a week.
Salary & Earnings
It has been reported that physician assistants receive higher salaries now, than they were receiving in 2018, and they have strong confidence that their salaries will continue to grow as their careers progresses. . The PA’s median annual wage is $108,610 or they earn $52.22 an hour.
