Chapter 1
Becoming a Physician Assistant
In This Chapter
Physician assistants have been around since the 1960s. Dr. Charles Hudson suggested the idea to the American Medical Association in 1961. Then Dr. Eugene Stead Jr. of the Duke University Medical Center assembled a class made up of U.S. Navy hospital corpsmen and applied techniques he had learned about fast-tracking doctors in World War II. The first class graduated in 1967.
To become a physician assistant today, you have to take and pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE). And to continue working in the field, you have to be recertified every 6 years by taking and passing the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Examination (PANRE). (Starting in 2014, recertification will be required every 10 years.) These tests are tough â theyâre lengthy and have challenging questions. But if you prepare well, youâll have a surprisingly easy time, and weâre confident that youâll rise to the challenge.
This chapter gives you a quick overview of what a physician assistant does. It also outlines the PANCE and PANRE.
Knowing What to Expect as a PA
A physician assistant (PA) is a well-educated healthcare professional who is nationally certified and licensed by the state in which he or she practices. The PA practices medicine under the supervision of a physician. A physician assistant can have a large degree of autonomy, depending on his or her experience and the doctorâs willingness to delegate.
PAs prevent, diagnose, and treat illness and injury by providing many healthcare services, including the following:
If you see the letters PA after a personâs name, that means physician assistant.
In this section, we discuss PA education programs, steps to take after you receive your certification, and your job prospects as a PA.
Training to become a PA
To become a PA, you must pass the PANCE. But first, you need to get an education through an accredited PA program. Currently, the United States has more than 160 such programs. The program at Duke University in North Carolina is probably best known because the nationâs first PAs were trained at and graduated from Duke.
PA training at the graduate level takes 2 to 3 years and involves a combination of classroom studies and clinical rotations. Admissions departments are selective, and for many programs, your GRE score must be relatively high. So why do we say this? Itâs a confidence builder. If you survived PA education and training, youâre more than capable of acing the PANCE!
What you do when youâre a PA
After youâre certified as a physician assistant, you have to fulfill some legal requirements, keep up with medical developments, and celebrate your profession, all the while treating patients. Hereâs a quick list of things to do:
www.aapa.org).
Sizing up your prospects
So after youâve gone through years of training and...