Becoming a Physician Assistant
The Career that I chose to explore for the assignment is a Physician Assistant. A Physician Assistant, also known as a ‘PA’, is a healthcare professional who is a part of a healthcare team with collaborating doctors and providers. They can offer a broad range of health care services in preventing and treating illness and injury. Depending on the PA’s scope of practice, their work load may include review of patient histories, physical exams, diagnosing illnesses, treatment plans, immunizations, ordering and interpreting tests, prescribing medications, performing procedures and assisting in surgery. PA’s can work in all areas of medicine including but not limited to, primary care, urgent care, psychiatry, neurosurgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, etc.
Education
The educational requirements for getting into an accredited Physician’s Assistant program vary, depending on which program you choose. A general requirement that I found across the board is, at the very minimum, the student has a …show more content…
After graduation, the student must pass the PANCE, Physician’s Assistant Certifying Exam, administered by the NCCPA, before becoming certified and using the credentials. Once the student passes the PANCE and is certified through the NCCPA, National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, you may use the initials ‘PA-C’. When you see a PA with an ‘R’ initial it means they are registered but this unique and mainly seen just in the northeastern parts of the U.S.
All health professions require a certain amount of continuing education credits every year to remain certified. A Physician’s Assistant is required to have 100 hours of continuing medical education requirements every year. They also have to re-register with the NCCPA every 2 years and re-take the certification exam every 10 years, to continue working as a
The Career that I chose to explore for the assignment is a Physician Assistant. A Physician Assistant, also known as a ‘PA’, is a healthcare professional who is a part of a healthcare team with collaborating doctors and providers. They can offer a broad range of health care services in preventing and treating illness and injury. Depending on the PA’s scope of practice, their work load may include review of patient histories, physical exams, diagnosing illnesses, treatment plans, immunizations, ordering and interpreting tests, prescribing medications, performing procedures and assisting in surgery. PA’s can work in all areas of medicine including but not limited to, primary care, urgent care, psychiatry, neurosurgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, etc.
Education
The educational requirements for getting into an accredited Physician’s Assistant program vary, depending on which program you choose. A general requirement that I found across the board is, at the very minimum, the student has a …show more content…
After graduation, the student must pass the PANCE, Physician’s Assistant Certifying Exam, administered by the NCCPA, before becoming certified and using the credentials. Once the student passes the PANCE and is certified through the NCCPA, National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, you may use the initials ‘PA-C’. When you see a PA with an ‘R’ initial it means they are registered but this unique and mainly seen just in the northeastern parts of the U.S.
All health professions require a certain amount of continuing education credits every year to remain certified. A Physician’s Assistant is required to have 100 hours of continuing medical education requirements every year. They also have to re-register with the NCCPA every 2 years and re-take the certification exam every 10 years, to continue working as a