A healthcare system requires many different medical professions in order to function properly and deliver quality patient care, and a rapidly growing field is the physician assistant profession. It’s becoming more and more common to be seen by a physician assistant when you visit a medical office or hospital. There are physician assistants working in primary care, urgent care, and even hair transplant offices.
In this article, I’ll be going over everything there is to know about physician assistants – what they do, what it takes to become one, as well as the advantages and disadvantages to keep in mind. Let’s get started! 😀
Table of Contents
Physician Assistant/Associate (PA)
A PA, or physician assistant (sometimes referred to as physician associate), is a medical professional who has completed a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies and can legally practice medicine. PAs work alongside physicians and can diagnose and treat patients under physician supervision.
Fun fact: In the beginning, the PA profession was designed with military servicemen who had received prior medical training in mind. The physician assistant profession was founded in the United States in 1965 by Dr. Eugene A. Stead Jr
. He noticed a shortage in physicians and began the PA profession to bridge this gap.
Today, becoming a physician assistant is a career path available to those with or without a military background. As of 2020, there are around 125,000 practicing PAs, with approximately two-thirds of PAs being female.
What is the Role of a Physician Assistant/Associate?
The responsibilities of a PA lie somewhere between a doctor and a registered nurse. The main role of a PA is to provide direct patient care. With physician oversight, PAs can diagnose and treat patients, prescribe medications, and perform minor surgeries. In many healthcare settings, PAs also act as a link between the physician and other medical staff, helping with overall coordination of patient care.
Here’s a rundown of what a PA can do:
- Conduct physical examinations
- Order and interpret labs, scans, and tests
- Diagnose and treat patients
- Develop treatment plans
- Prescribe medications
- Assist on surgeries and perform minor medical procedures
- Provide health counseling and education
As you can see, what a PA versus what a doctor can do are comparable. Additionally, PAs are also regulated by strict guidelines that maintain proper and ethical practice. Finally, while it is less common, PAs can also conduct research, teach students, and work in administration/management.
Important note: A PA is a physician assistant, not physician’s assistant. PAs work with doctors, not for them. 🙂
Unlike doctors however, PAs cannot practice independently and need a supervising physician. This means that there must be a doctor double-checking and signing off on patient charts and treatment plans. That being said, supervision does not mean direct and constant oversight (since, at that point, there would be no need for a PA). As PAs undergo rigorous education and training, they have a high level of autonomy in their role and can thus operate accordingly. It is mainly when a situation arises that is outside of a PA’s legal scope of practice (e.g. needing to prescribe a medication that is outside of what the PA can legally prescribe) that consulting with a physician is required.
Important takeaway: The biggest differences between a doctor and physician assistant are scope of practice and ability to practice medicine independently.
What Are the Steps to Become a Physician Assistant?
Education and Training
In cases where a student takes no gap year(s) and immediately starts PA school following undergrad, it takes about six to seven years (including undergrad) to become a PA. However, the caveat is that PA programs expect high amounts of direct patient care experience (PCE) hours – some requiring up to 2,000 hours – prior to application. This can be difficult to achieve during undergrad, especially for full-time students, so many pre-PA students end up taking a gap year or two.
Here’s a table outlining the three steps required for becoming a physician assistant:
| Degree or Certification Earned | Duration | |
| Undergraduate program | Bachelor’s degree (B.S. or B.A.) | 4 years |
| PA school | Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies (M.S.) | 24-36 months (2-3 years) |
| Advanced training to specialize (residency/fellowship) | Board certification, specialty certification, and/or Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) | Varies |
The track to become a PA is the most similar to that of becoming a doctor, as it involves a didactic phase (school) followed by a clinical phase (rotations). The didactic and clinical phases are comparable to medical school and residency, respectively, with many PA programs even being taught at medical schools. Both learn the same content and undergo rigorous clinical training. The main difference between the two career paths is that the duration of PA school and training is much shorter.
Tests and Exams
As is the case with the path to becoming a doctor, there are also two main exams to become a PA: the GRE General Test and PANCE.
The GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) General Test is a standardized exam required by many schools for graduate program consideration. The test involves three sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing. While some PA programs no longer require the GRE, it is still best to take it, as it increases your options and can boost your application to any school that may not require but still accepts GRE scores.
PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam) is a standardized exam that tests medical and surgical knowledge and is required to earn NCCPA certification. PA students are eligible to take this exam after graduating PA school. Once a PA graduate passes PANCE, they are allowed to use the designation “PA-C” –the “C” indicating that they are certified.
Fun fact: The first class of PAs graduated from Duke University on October 6, 1967.
Becoming Certified
A PA may then choose to specialize in a specific area and earn a specialty certification, CAQ, and/or Board certification – much like how a doctor can specialize and become Board-certified. Similarly, specialty certification, CAQ, and Board certifications are all credentials that indicate a PA has passed rigorous testing and demonstrated expertise in a particular specialty or subspecialty.
Applying for a State Medical License
The final step to becoming a fully-fledged, practicing physician assistant is to apply for a state license, which enables a PA to legally practice medicine in a particular state. The PA must provide the required proof (verification of education, test scores, credentials, etc.), and an investigation for approval will follow. While each state has its own set of laws and statutes, the PA Licensure Compact exists so a physician assistant looking to practice in multiple states may not necessarily need to separately apply for each license and can instead complete a single application for multiple.
What Should I Know Before Deciding to Become a Physician Assistant?
Advantages of Being a Physician Assistant
Becoming a practicing PA can take as little as two to three years (excluding undergrad), and the profession entails high impact, job satisfaction, and compensation. It is currently rated #2 in Best Healthcare Jobs with a median salary of $115,390 and projected job growth of 31.3% in the next 10 years.
PAs do meaningful work; they bridge the gap between doctors and other medical staff, making quality medical care more accessible. Since they aren’t tasked with nearly as much paperwork as doctors, PAs get to spend more time actually seeing and treating patients, which is the reason why many (if not most) people want to pursue a career in healthcare to begin with. This amount of face-to-face interaction with patients allows PAs to make a positive difference and truly gauge their impact, resulting in overall high job satisfaction.
Another perk of being a PA is that you can train in virtually any specialty or subspecialty you can think of, including surgery. PAs can perform minor procedures and assist on major surgeries with physician supervision. Moreover, it’s relatively easy for a PA to change specialties, since a new certification is not required – only retraining. Retraining in a new specialty takes months for a PA (as opposed to years of another residency and fellowship for a doctor).
PAs can also choose to work full-time, part-time in one or multiple specialties, as well as in telemedicine. In addition to career flexibility, PAs generally enjoy a healthy work-life balance, since schedules and duties tend to be more predictable.
Disadvantages of Being a Physician Assistant
As with any profession, there are a few downsides to being a PA. Firstly, the average student loan debt for PA students is estimated to be between $100,000 and $200,000. While this is significantly lower than medical school debt, for instance, it’s still substantial.
As we’ve already discussed, physician assistants are unable to practice medicine independently and have a smaller scope of practice compared to doctors. This difference is reflected in compensation as well; PAs have a lower average salary, and that salary remains relatively constant throughout a PA’s career (as opposed to doctors whose salaries tend to increase with time and experience). This reality may be somewhat disappointing, since there is much overlap between what a PA does and what a doctor does.
Here’s a table outlining the main pros and cons of being a physician assistant:
Final Thoughts
Awesome job on making it to the end of this article! Hopefully now you have a thorough understanding of what a physician assistant is, as well as some of the differences between this particular career path and others in the healthcare field.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my “Jobs In Healthcare: What Is a Doctor?” article. In it, I similarly break down the ins and outs of being a doctor. Whether you’re a pre-health student trying to determine the best career path or a curious patient wanting to learn more about the type of care you’re receiving, it’s important to be familiar with these topics so you can continue to make the best health decisions for yourself. See you in my next article – Stay safe and keep learning! 😀