Physician Assistants Healthcare is a rapidly growing field in our world. Everyone needs healthcare, regardless of who you are. One type of healthcare provider is a physician assistant. Physician assistants are vital components of a patient care team. My goal is to work as a physician assistant because of their versatility in specialties, their competitive salary, and my passion to help people through medicine. Physician assistants have a wide range of specialties and workplaces they can choose from. The versatility of being a physician assistant is an attractive quality of the job. According to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science, physician assistants have “the opportunity to excel in virtually any specialty area of medicine.” Some …show more content…
Firstly, prospective students need to complete the prerequisite courses required by physician assistant programs. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, some of the required courses include anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and organic chemistry. Most physician assistant schools will also require previous patient care hours for admissions. The number of patient care hours required may vary based on the program. There are many ways to acquire patient care hours. “Though it’s not an exhaustive list, you can get healthcare experience by being a: medical assistant, emergency medical technician, paramedic…” (American Academy of Physician Assistants). After completing their requirements, students must apply to a physician assistant program. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, “Most programs are approximately 27 months (3 academic years) and award master’s degrees.” After thorough training, students will need to become certified as physician assistants. To become certified, students will have to take a licensing exam called the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PACNE) (Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science). After gaining state licensure, they will be able to practice as physician assistants in their state. In addition to being trained properly, physician assistants must have certain personality traits to excel in this field. They must be compassionate to their patients. Physician assistants must also be determined to work the best they can. A few more important traits are the ability to think critically, good judgment and decision making, and good time management (O*NET