Written by Physician assistants enjoy a high degree of job security, since medical doctors are always going to be in demand and they will always need people to help them with the many tasks involved in maintaining and juggling heavy patient loads. You won’t need nearly as much education to become a physician assistant as you would need to become a doctor or physician, yet you will still earn a decent salary and full package of benefits. If you are interested in this area of the medical field, you will have to meet a few physician assistant prerequisites before you start applying for jobs.
The physician assistant prerequisites for licensing will vary from one state to another. In almost all cases, you will be expected to complete your bachelor’s degree in a related medical field, and then go into a training program that will prepare you to pass the national certification exam. The exam you ultimate pass is called the PANCE, which stands for Physician Assistant National Certification Exam. Once you have met all prerequisites to enter a training program, the training program will prepare you for this examination.
You can only enter a physician assistant training program after you have completed at least two years of college in a related field, though many programs require a bachelor’s degree. You may also be required to have some working experience in the medical field. Most future physician assistants start out with internships or part-time positions in doctor’s offices or hospitals. This experience can qualify them for training programs and postgraduate programs later in their educational journey.
Once you are accepted into a physician assistant training program, you will be fully prepared to pass the national examination and to meet all other prerequisites demanded by your state for certification. Some very competitive programs may even expect you to provide references from professionals in the medical field to gain admittance. If you have working experience, you should be able to rely upon those doctors to give those references.
In most states, you will be expected to continue your education or meet other requirements in order to maintain your license from one year to the next. Some states require a certain number of credit hours to be achieved every couple of years, but the specific requirements for maintaining a license can vary. You will learn what applies to your state when you enter an official physician assistant training program.
It is important to understand that a nurse’s physician and physician assistant are two different things. The training that a physician assistant must undergo is considerably more complex than what a nurse’s assistant must go through.
Physician assistants work hand-in-hand with medical doctors, and they are able to give authoritative medical advice and write out prescriptions. They can even take daily appointments and have their own patient base in a doctor’s office, as long as they are practicing among physicians for support. They contain quite a bit more independence and responsibility than a nurse’s assistant would ever obtain. This is why it is much more difficult to get into a career as a physician assistant than a nurse’s assistant.
A career as a physician assistant always starts with undergraduate coursework. It then progresses to an advanced studies program, which will prepare the candidate for the national certification test as well as any state certification requirements that must be met before employment. Once the training program is passed and registration with the state has been processed, you can legally take a job as a physician assistant.
For some, this is seen as a faster way to get into the medical field, but you cannot underestimate how difficult it is to get through all of these physician assistant prerequisites. Most physician assistants have gone through considerable amounts of advanced postgraduate education, so you cannot take their qualifications lightly.
From physician assistant prerequisites to the average physician assistant salary, you can find all the essential information here: Physician Assistant Salary
