Physician assistants (PAs) practice medicine under the supervision of physicians and surgeons. Within the physician-PA relationship, physician assistants often exercise autonomy in medical decision-making and provide a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services.
The education provided by the MCPHS premedical and health studies major provides an ideal preparation for application to physician assistant studies programs.
Description
Working as members of the health care team, PAs may perform these functions as delegated by a physician:
- Conduct physical exams
- Diagnose and treat illnesses
- Order and interpret laboratory tests
- Counsel patients on preventive health care
- Prescribe medications and other treatments
- Treat minor injuries by suturing, splinting, and casting
- Record progress notes
- Order or carry out therapy
- Promote wellness
Licensing
Upon graduation, physician assistants take a national certification examination developed by the National Commission on Certification of PAs in conjunction with the National Board of Medical Examiners.
To maintain their national certification, PAs must log 100 hours of continuing medical education every two years and sit for a recertification every six years. Graduation from an accredited physician assistant program and passage of the national certifying exam are required for state licensure.
Personal qualifications
- Excellent judgment, dependability, conscientious performance
- Close attention to detail, scrupulous recordkeeping
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- High ethical standards, integrity
- Dependability
- Ability to work cooperatively with others
- The capacity to react to emergencies in a calm and reasoned manner
- Commitment to patient’s welfare
- Leadership skills
- Confidence and emotional stability
Employment opportunities
- Excellent, ranking among the fastest growing occupations according to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Employment of PAs is expected to grow much faster than average (Increase 27 percent or more) through the year 2014
- Graduates with an MPAS from MCPHS are highly sought by employers; virtually all of our students are employed before or soon after they graduate
Salary
According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) Census Report for PAs in Internal Medicine 2005, the median annual income for respondents who work at least 32 hours per week for their primary employer is $77,402; the mean is $81,129.
Progression
Physician assistants can pursue additional education and specialize in an area such as surgery, neonatology, or emergency medicine. PA postgraduate educational programs are available in areas such as internal medicine, rural primary care, emergency medicine, surgery, pediatrics, neonatology, and occupational medicine.
Getting there: Your degree program at MCPHS
- BS Premedical and Health Studies (Boston)
After completing the first three years of the program in Premedical and Health Studies, qualified students apply to transition into the MCPHS-Boston Master of Physician Assistant Studies program
- MPAS (30-month) Physician Assistant Studies-Boston
A full time, intensive, 30-month degree program for applicants who have earned a baccalaureate degree and have completed perquisite course requirements, or for MCPHS students who have completed three years of appropriate undergraduate studies